In-Depth Guide on How to Play Baccarat Online

Baccarat is a card game that dates back to the start of the 15th century. Back then it was a form of entertainment intended for those in the upper echelon, and today anyone can play it on the internet. All you need to do is pick one of the safe online casinos Canada has to offer and make an account.

Here we will tell you how to play baccarat, or more precisely how to play baccarat online. We’ll go over the rules, and commonly used strategies, and mention some of the popular variations of the game.

Baccarat Rules for Dealing Cards

Let’s start with baccarat basics. It’s a game that is played using up to 8 decks of cards. The goal is to accurately predict the outcome of the round between the imaginary “banker,” and “player”. Cards are dealt to each one and whoever has the higher hand score wins. When you are playing you get to choose whether to bet on Banker, Player, or Tie option.

The next thing you should know is the rules of baccarat for dealing cards:

• If the player’s 2-card total is between 0–5 they draw another card
• If the player’s 2-card total is 6 or 7 the player stands
• If the player’s 2-card total is 8 or 9 he stands, and no side draws additional cards
• If the banker’s 2-card total is 3 he draws another card unless the player has 8
• If the banker’s 2-card total is 4 and the player’s hand worth is between 2 and 7 he draws another card, otherwise he stands
• If the banker’s 2-card total is 5 and the player’s hand worth is between 4 and 7 he draws another card, otherwise he stands
• If the banker’s 2-card total is 6 and the player’s hand worth is 6 or 7 he draws another card, otherwise he stands
• If the banker’s 2-card total is 7 he stands
• If the banker’s 2-card total is 8 or 9 no one draws cards

You don’t really need to know these dealer rules to play online Baccarat for real money. It’s all coded and automated in RNGs in casino games, and in real or live casinos the dealer knows these things.

Baccarat Rules for Card Values and Hand Totals

Now that you know how cards are dealt, let’s talk about how to score baccarat points. The hand score is calculated by adding together the value of the card dealt to each party.

Cards between 2 and 9 are scored based on their face value, 10, Jacks, Kings, and Queens, all have a value of 0, and Ace cards count as 1. If the combined number of card values in a hand exceeds 10, then the hand worth is equal to the number that remains once you subtract 10. The points calculation is designed in a unique way to always drop the 10 digits and focus on what remains.

For example, if the Player has 7 and 6, while the Banker has 5 and 2, the Player’s hand worth is 3 whereas the Banker’s hand worth is 7.

How to Play Baccarat at Online Casinos

Learning how to play baccarat online is very straightforward. You can even do it for free without an account if you opt to play in demo mode. First, pick one of the top casinos in Canada for real money and visit their site.

Go to their game lobby and select the “Table Games” category or just type “Baccarat” in the search bar. Bear in mind that some versions even have different rules and unique jackpots. Winning in jackpot progressive games usually demands you place a specific side-bet, and you need to make sure the version you picked actually has a progressive jackpot.

Now let’s go to the actual steps to play baccarat.

Step 1: Decide How Much to Spend

First off, this game is usually played by using a careful bankroll strategy. So, before you come up with the game plan just determine how much money you are willing to spend.

• Make sure it’s an amount you are comfortable losing
• If you want to gamble on a budget use the casino’s minimum deposit policy as the limit
• The budget should be a number that you can divide by 20 to easily determine your minimum betting unit. This will come into play later.

Step 2: Place Your Bet

Let’s see how to bet once you are at the virtual baccarat table:

• Choose the amount you wish to bet by clicking on the corresponding chip button
• Click on the option you want to bet on Player/Banker/Tie the chips will be placed there automatically
• Place a side bet if you wish. These side bets are different depending on the game variant

Generally, you should avoid Tie bets, as there is no betting strategy that uses this option. If you want to have more budget management flexibility then you should try playing on the best 1 dollar deposit online casino site.

Step 3: Dealing Cards

When the bets are placed click on the deal button and the round will start. The game will use the card dealing rules mentioned above to determine if an additional card needs to be dealt. Once the draw phase is over it’s time to calculate who won.

The side bets are also resolved once the cards are dealt, and if you are playing on a new online casino site you’ll likely find multiple baccarat games with all sorts of side bets.

Step 4: Determining the Winner

Once the card dealing phase is finished it’s time to determine who got the higher hand score (player or banker), and whether your bet was correct. When paying winners the casino uses the following payout structure:

• Banker win pays 1:1
• Player win pays 1:1
• Tie win pays 8:1 or 9:1 (in some versions)

However, there is a 5% commission on banker wins because the odds are slightly better.

Popular Baccarat Variants in Online Casinos

If you were to play at Canadian casinos licensed by the MGA you will likely see two types of baccarat games. One is a live dealer and the other one is a digital browser game. But each of these has multiple baccarat variations you can try.

There is Punto Banco, Squeeze Baccarat, Mini Baccarat, Lightning Baccarat, and many others. So, let’s go over some of these popular casino games in Canadian casinos, and see how they differ from the classic version we talked about so far.

Punto Banco

The standard version of Baccarat is actually Punto Banco. So, all of the rules we have mentioned so far are actually for this variation.

Mini Baccarat

Regular and Mini Baccarat have identical rules, the only difference is in betting limits. You can easily find this game on the best Google Pay casino or any operator who hosts games by Play n’ Go studio.

However, in real casinos, there is a crucial difference between this and the regular version. In the regular version, especially at high roller tables, there is no dealer. So, players are the ones who deal cards and take turns when dealing. In Mini Baccarat, the dealer does that.

Squeeze Baccarat

This is a more exciting version of the base game. Why? Well, in Squeeze Baccarat cards are dealt face down, and then turned face up slowly. The rules are the same but this way the outcome is more unpredictable and exciting.

Lightning Baccarat

A live dealer version of the game made by Evolution Gaming. In Lightning Baccarat players add 20% to each bet to cover the costs of a lightning round. Once the round starts, 5 cards are drawn and based on these cards random multipliers are assigned to that round. So anyone who wins during the lightning round can have their payout multiplied by 2, 3, 4, 5, or even by 8.

Baccarat Main Bets and Odds

All casino games are designed to favour the house, but you’ll rarely find a game that can beat baccarat odds when it comes to fairness. Here you have two types of bets that pay 1:1 and have a nearly 50% win rate. These are of course “Player” bet and “Banker” bet. The house edge on the Player bet is just 1.24%, and it’s 1.06% on the Banker bet. In other words, even with a 5% commission on Banker bets, you are still better off playing that option.

This is why it’s almost impossible to find online bonuses at casinos that can be used on Baccarat or any of its variants. In fact, most bonuses aim to push players towards playing new games titles in the slot section. What’s more, meeting promo’s playthrough terms is incredibly tough if you only spend money on this game. Tie bet that pays 8:1 has a house edge of 14.4%, and if it pays 9:1 it has a 4.85% house edge. In other words, these are betting options that are most profitable for the casino.

Betting Areas in Online and Retail Casinos

Another thing we should talk about is betting areas. This isn’t something you need to worry about when playing at the highest paying online casino sites, regardless of whether you are playing the virtual or live dealer version. It’s all automated in a virtual game, and in the live casino game, the dealer is the one who places the chips.

If you are playing at a retail casino you need to be mindful of your table area and make sure to place your chips there. The reason for this is simple, there are more players at a single table. Therefore, using baccarat betting areas that aren’t designated for you would only cause confusion and even ruin the experience.

Popular Baccarat Side Bets

In both retail and online casino baccarat tables you will likely see various options for side bets. You are extremely unlikely to guess right, but the payouts on some of these are so high you might be tempted to try just for fun. The table below shows the most popular ones, their explanations and their payouts.

Common Baccarat Strategies

If you want to know how to win baccarat games then we’ll have to disappoint you. There are no strategies that help you win consistently, as after all this is a luck-based game. That said, there is an easy-to-memorize game strategy that will help you manage your bankroll effectively. The idea is that you ramp up your bets until you recover your losses. Of course, even this isn’t 100% guaranteed so having a good cashback casino in Canada as a backup is a good idea.

The Martingale System

The idea is to alternate your bets between banker and player options. Also whenever you lose, double your bet in the next round. This way when you eventually win you recover all of your previous losses. But, because you are ramping up bet size aggressively, it’s safer to start with small initial bets.

Fibonacci Sequence

In case you don’t know what it is, here is an example of Fibonacci sequence 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55… Basically, the two previous numbers in the sequence are added together to continue the string.

In this baccarat strategy, you can use this as a value of your bet size, or treat it as the number of betting units you need to wager. For example, let’s say your betting unit is 5. Whenever you win, you increase your bet by multiplying it with the next number in the sequence, in our case it’s 5,5,10,15,25,40, etc. But whenever you lose, you go back two numbers.

It’s an elegant solution to capitalize on victories and to slow down when you start losing.

Beginner Tips for Playing Baccarat

In short, if you want to be good at this game, use the following baccarat tips:

• Pick a trustworthy operator from the list of the best Ontario online casino sites
• Set a budget that you are comfortable losing
• Divide that budget into equal bet units — a good rule of thumb is that 10% of your budget should be a single betting unit
• Practice the game in demo mode to see if you got a hang of a strategy you intend to use
• Make sure to only bet on either Player or Banker to maximize the win potential
• See if there are any promos that are up for grabs and that can be used on table or live dealer games
• Avoid betting on the Tie option, or betting big on side bets
• Remember there is no surefire guide on how to win at this game, so don’t get frustrated it’s out of your hands