Baccarat Chart Reading
Baccarat seems like a very simplistic game as its objective is very clear – bet on either Player or Banker and hope your hand is the winning one. However, if you go the whole nine yards and dive deep into the intricacies woven in by both experience and superstitious players, you will see there’s much more to it. Some players will try to predict their outcome based on previous results, while others will employ betting systems – both logic and superstition are equally influencing the game. In this article, we will explain the basic rules for drawing cards and how to use score boards, but before we begin, let’s have a look at the basics – card values and hands.
Baccarat Card Values
A fun fact you need to know about Baccarat besides that the “t” is silent – yes, it’s pronounced [bakaʀa] – is also the fact that the word means “zero” or “nothing”. This piece of trivia is all you need to go “Ahh!” when you learn that Tens, Jacks, Queens, and Kings have zero value in Baccarat. Ace counts as one and all other cards count as their face value 2 – 9. Total hand values cannot exceed 9, so ten is subtracted if the hand totals more than 9. If the hand is, say 4 – 9 – 5 the total would be 8 or 18 minus 10. Two 10s is a zero. A total of 8 or 9 is called a natural.
Players from Germany accepted
This Baccarat rules chart covers the most difficult information to remember about the game. However, there's still more to know. Charts for the Odds on the Bets. You need to know two pieces of information for each of the four bets: the house advantage with eight decks and the house advantage for one deck. For the banker bet, it's 1.06% and 1.01%. Games 3.2: Baccarat – An Analysis on Side Wagers Concepts 1: Comparisons using T-Tests Concepts 2: Maximise the Profitability of Your Casino by understanding Probability and Expectation in Gaming. THE ONE-SIDED BACCARAT STRATEGY. On the face of it taking one side (Banker or Player) may.
Chinese Baccarat Strategy PDF. Are you looking for a Baccarat Strategy with big consistent wins? Are you tired of playing with a gambling or betting strategy that only wins part-time? You have just found the two best Chinese baccarat systems available. Continue reading, to learn more, about these money-making betting strategies. Beautiful gifts. Baccarat is a French luxury brand internationally recognized as the leader for high-end, exclusive crystal products. Since it was founded in 1764, the Company, whose manufactory is based in Baccarat, Lorraine in Eastern France, has been synonymous with.
*T&Cs apply
Player’s Hand
The Player’s hand is always the first one to be acted upon. It’s dealt two cards initially. They are turned over by the dealer and if the total is between zero and five, a third card is dealt. If the total is between six and nine, the Player stands, which means that no cards are dealt. A “natural” is a hand of eight or nine and it’s automatically a winner against any Banker hands except 8 or 9. If the Player has a total of 8 and the Banker – 9, the Banker wins and vice versa. The house edge on Player hand is 1.24 percent and the payout is 1:1.
Banker’s Hand
The Banker’s hand is also dealt two cards and if the total is 7, 8, or 9 no additional cards will be dealt. If, however, the two-card total is between zero and three, and a three if the Player’s total is 8. Depending on the Player’s total, the Banker may still hit some 4, 5, or 6 totals. Lucky for you, you don’t need to memorize all of those as the dealers have already done it for you and will do all the hitting. And also, because you can use our handy Baccarat drawing guide that you can download for your perusal. The Banker is considered to have a slight advantage over the Player because it’s dealt second and some experts advise betting on it as they believe it will win slightly over 50 percent of the time. It does have a lower house edge – 1.06 percent and although it pays 1:1, there’s a 5 percent commission on Banker bets.
Rules for Drawing Additional Cards
In certain instances, additional cards will be drawn to either the Player or the Banker hand. These complicated rules certainly add to the sense of mystery that still surrounds the game. Which tends to give it the cachet of a more sophisticated game than it really is.
If either the player or the banker has a total of an 8 or a 9 they both stand. There is no exceptions and this rule overrides all other rules. And here are the other instances:
- If the player has total of 6 or 7, the player stands.
- If the player stands, the banker hits on a total of 5 or less.
- If the player has total of 5 or less, the player automatically hits and the banker gives the player a third card.
If the player gets the third card then the banker draws a third card according to the following rules:
- Banker has total of 0, 1, 2: Banker always draws a third card.
- Banker has total of 3: Banker draws if Player’s Third Card is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9-0 (not 8)
- Banker has total of 4: Banker draws if Player’s Third Card is 2-3-4-5-6-7
- Banker has total of 5: Banker draws if Player’s Third Card is 4-5-6-7
- Banker has total of 6: Banker draws if Player’s Third Card is of 6-7
- Banker has total of 7: Banker always stands.
You don’t really need to understand why these rules are as they are, and why they need to be so complicated, as this is simply how the game is played and that is that. To be fair, if the winner of the game was determined solely on the first two cards dealt then it would be more like a game of hi-lo than anything else.
Pattern Spotting
Based on the gambler’s fallacy, some players believe that the sequence of results in past hands can offer some clue as to what the outcome of the hands to come will be. In order to keep track of how many Player, Banker, and Tie hands have passed, they use scoreboards to map out previous results – a practice known as pattern spotting and casinos are perfectly fine with it. Land-based gambling halls will offer a sheet and pencil, while online, developers display the results automatically in a grid. They do this because they’re aware of the fact that these patterns and chart tracing will have no effect on the game whatsoever. This is not a winning strategy because previous outcomes don’t correlate with the next hands dealt in any way. Still, if you’re interested in finding out about those, here’s a breakdown of the most popular patterns.
Bead Plate
Other English names for it are “cube road”, “dice road”, “marker road”, “bead plate road” and even “baby pig road”. On the “bead plate” players can keep track of Player, Banker, and Tie wins and mark them with differently colored cubes:
- Blue= Player win
- Red= Banker win
- Green= Tie win
Tracing begins at the upper left hand corner all the way to the bottom row. Then, it continues over one column to the right, back to the top row.
Big Road
The “Big Road” pattern details the sequence of Player and Banker wins, ties are marked with a green line through the previous Player or Banker wins. Player pairs are designated with a blue dot in the lower right corner while Banker pairs with a red dot in the upper left corner of the hand it occurred in.
Marking this pattern starts again at the upper left, with Player wins marked in blue, and Banker wins in red. However, a new column is started every time there’s a change in Player and Banker winning. Since the grid is only six rows deep, if there are more than six consecutive wins, scoring moves to the right, which creates the so-called “dragon tail.” This is the main road and all other roads are derived from it.
Big Eye Boy
The “Big Eye Boy” is not that straightforward and could be perceived as serving the purpose of keeping statistics of how repetitive the shoe is. Red marks indicate repetition, while blue means the shoe is chaotic. Keep in mind that in this pattern, unlike in the previous two, blue and red do not relate to Player and Banker wins.
The “Big Eye Boy” table begins with an entry of the hand after the first entry in the second column of the Big Road. This provides no information based on which you can tell whether a pattern is developing or not. Every entry in the Big Eye Boy table, as well as the next two tables, will refer to a specific entry in the Big Road. It may get confusing following this sequence, but to put it as simply as possible – take a look at the last entry of the Big Road. Next, move one cell to the left and then up. If the move up does not result in a change, mark red, if it does, mark blue.
Small Road
Using the Small Road is very similar to using the Big Eye Boy, however, it skips the column to the left of the current column in the Big Road. It starts with the hand after the first hand in the third column of the big road, which means it will wait until the entry after the first entry in the third column of the Big Road. Red circles mean that the first and third columns to the left of the new column in Big Road are the same in depth. A blue circle means they’re not.
The way you move in the small road is – again considering the latest entry in the Big Road – move two cells to the left and then – up. Mark red if the move up does not result in a change, and in blue if it does.
Cockroach Pig
The Cockroach is the third road derived from the Big Road and it skips two columns to the left of the current column in the Big Road. Otherwise, it works exactly the same as the Small Road. The Cockroach Pig will wait until the entry after the first entry in the fourth column of the Big Road. Here, you will compare the first and fourth columns to the left of the new column in the Big Road. Again – a red circle will mean they are the same in depth while a blue one will mean they’re different. In order to mark the Cockroach pattern, again look at the the latest entry in the Big Road and move three cells to the left. Then, move up. Again, if there’s no change as a result of the move up, mark red. Mark blue if there’s a change.
Free Practice Play with NetEnt’s Low-Limit Baccarat
When choosing an online baccarat casino, we advise that you look up the info section of RNG baccarat games – it should contain all details that are essential to your gameplay such as RTP, rules, payouts, and functions. We’ve chosen to feature a baccarat game developed by NetEnt as they have some of the most detailed explanations on how to play baccarat, third-card draw rules, payout tables, as well as all functions of each game. This release some of the highest return-to-player rates at
- Banker: 98.94%
- Player: 98.76%
- Tie: 85.64%
To avoid any confusion, the game features a chart for third card rules, scoring, and payout schedule with examples. All the features and controls are also explained in detail, so you will have no trouble playing regardless of your experience with the game. A history of previous bets stays open so you can keep track of previous results if you’re marking them down for patterns.
Is It Worth Using Pattern Spotting?
Learning the intricacies of these patterns can be an arduous task. Generally, what you need to know about these charts is that red circles represent Banker wins and blue circles – Player wins. Green is for Ties. The Big Road is the main road and all other ones consider its latest entry. Luckily, these days casinos will spare you the struggle and offer digital displays of the roads, detailing all the wins, and providing more information without error as they are directly connected to automatic card reading shoes. Normally, each road is six symbols in height and in electronic displays, Big Eye Boy, the Small Road and the Cockroach Road use symbols of half a cell’s height and width, which means that three rows of cells can fit six symbols vertically.
However you choose to use these patterns, whether scoring them yourself or following the electronic display, keep in mind that they’re entirely based on superstition and the false sense of control part of the gambling psychology, so they won’t decrease the house edge and won’t give you an advantage or guarantee you more or bigger winnings. If you want to get an authentic Macau Baccarat feeling, then you can use these, as well as other rituals such as the squeeze or blowing on cards to banish bad luck with the same effect.
Casino | Bonus | Accepts | Live | Side Bets | Rating | Details | Play |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22bet | 300€ | yes | yes | 6/6 | Review | Play Now | |
PlayAmo Casino Review | 300€ | yes | yes | 6/6 | Review | Play Now | |
Spinia Casino Review | 250€ | yes | yes | 6/6 | N/A | Play Now |
*T&Cs apply
Like most gamblers, I’m always looking for a way to beat the casinos. Over the years I’ve looked at just about every possible way to win, including the Martingale system. The Martingale system is usually used on an even-money bet, and it often provides short term profits.
But the problem is that eventually you hit a long losing streak and it wipes out all of your previous wins.
I’ve used the Martingale a few times on even money bets, but I don’t do it often because I know the long term result is going to be bad.
But what if you use it with a bet that pays higher than 1 to 1?
This is what you’re going to learn in this post.
I chose the baccarat tie bet because it’s easy to make and has a strong return of 8 to 1. You might even be able to find a few tables offering 9 to 1.
Here’s an overview of exactly how the Martingale system works. You can learn more about it at the Wikipedia Martingale page.
When you use the Martingale system on a bet that pays 1 to 1, you start with a base bet and double it every time you lose. When you win, you go back to your base bet. When you double your bets after losses, it increases your possible pay back. When you win, you get enough to cover all of your losses and show a profit equal to your base bet.
Here’s an example:
You start with a base bet of $10 and bet on black on roulette.
You lose the first bet, so you bet $20 on the next spin.
You lose the second bet, so you bet $40 on the next spin.
You lose the third bet, so you bet $80 on the next spin.
You win the fourth bet, and receive your $80 bet back and $80 for the 1 to 1 pay out.
In this series, you lost bets of $10, $20, and $40, for a total of $70. The last bet of $80 was returned on the win, so it doesn’t count in the calculations. The $80 win takes care of your $70 in previous losses and leaves a $10 profit.
The profit equals the amount of your base wager.
Many players fall into the trap of believing this is a sure way to make money.
And as long as you win a decision before you run out of money or reach the table limits, everything is good.
But the problem is that extended losing series happen more often than most players think.
Here’s the series of bets you have to make on an extended losing streak:
$10 – $20 – $40 – $80 – $160 – $320 – $640 – $1,280 – $2,560 – $5,120
With each wager, you’re betting a larger amount for the chance at a $10 profit.
Is it smart to risk $2,560 or $5,120 for a $10 profit?
As you can see, you also need a large bankroll to try to use the Martingale. If you have extra money you can afford to lose and want to play with the Martingale, you can.
But in the long run you’re going to lose a big chunk of money.
You’re also going to have a hard time finding a casino game that offers table limits from $10 to over $1,000.
Here’s a list of bets in the casino that pay 1 to 1:
- Roulette red, black, even, odd, 1 -18, and 19 – 36
- Blackjack
- Craps pass line and don’t pass line
- Baccarat player and dealer, but the dealer bet pays a commission on wins
- Pai Gow Poker
Baccarat Tie Bet
Now let’s see what happens when you use the Martingale system with a bet that pays out higher than 1 to 1. The baccarat tie bet pays out 8 to 1 in most casinos. A few pay 9 to 1, but these tables are rare.
The house edge on the tie bet that pays 8 to 1 is 14.36%, which makes it a terrible bet in most cases. A tie bet that pays 9 to 1 has a house edge of between 4.8% and 4.9%, depending on the number of decks in the shoe. For a bettor who makes flat bets, these are both terrible wagers. You can find dozens of other bets that offer better odds in the casino.
The main difference when you’re using the Martingale on an even money bet and when you’re using it on a bet that pays a higher return is you don’t double your bets as often.
A tie happens in baccarat just a hair over 9.5% of the time. This means that, on average, a tie happens 9.5 times out of every 100 hands, or 95 times out of 1,000. In other words, a tie happens between 1 out every 10 and 1 out of every 11 hands.
The important thing to remember is these numbers are an average. A tie might happen twice in 10 hands, or it might only happen once in 25 hands in the short run.
Let’s look at some actual numbers. The next section covers the numbers for an 8 to 1 pay out and the following section runs the same numbers for a 9 to 1 pay out.
I’m going to use a $10 base bet because it makes the numbers easier, and it’s a realistic representation of what you can actually do in a real casino.
When you win on a $10 tie bet you get your $10 bet back and a payout of $80. The good news is if you win on one of your first few wagers you make more than a $10 profit.
But what happens when you have a series of losses?
If you lose seven hands in a row, your total amount wagered is $70. You might think that you need to double your bet on the eighth hand, but you can actually play 8 hands before doubling. This is because the bet pays 8 to 1 instead of 8 for 1.
In other words, you get back your bet plus the payment of 8 times your bet.
Here’ how the math works on a series of 8 bets:
The total amount you bet on a series of 8 $10 wager is $80. If you win the 8th bet, you get back your $10 bet plus $80. The$80 win covers the $80 you’ve wagered, and the$10 bet you get back leaves you with a $10 profit.
Here’s a chart to show the same thing in a different way.
Amount Bet on Hand | Total Amount Wagered | Return Including Base Bet |
$10 | $10 | Loss |
$10 | $20 | Loss |
$10 | $30 | Loss |
$10 | $40 | Loss |
$10 | $50 | Loss |
$10 | $60 | Loss |
$10 | $70 | Loss |
$10 | $80 | $90 |
These numbers look good, but remember that on average a tie only happens between 1 out of every 10 and 1 out of every 11 hands.
This is where most players make a mistake. Because they understand on a 1 to 1 pay out you double your bets after every loss, they think they won’t have to double their bets again on a higher pay out until after the 16th hand if they don’t have to double it the first time until after the 8th hand.
But this isn’t true.
When you double your bet to $20, it pays out $160 on the bet when you win. So in order to make an overall profit when you win you have to keep the total amount wagered at $160.
Here’s what happens if we continue the chart above if you continue losing.
Amount Bet on Hand | Total Amount Wagered | Return Including Base Bet |
$10 | $10 | Loss |
$10 | $20 | Loss |
$10 | $30 | Loss |
$10 | $40 | Loss |
$10 | $50 | Loss |
$10 | $60 | Loss |
$10 | $70 | Loss |
$10 | $80 | Loss |
$20 | $100 | Loss |
$20 | $120 | Loss |
$20 | $140 | Loss |
$20 | $160 | $180 |
How To Read Baccarat
If you win the 12th bet, you have an overall profit of $20, instead of $10. The other option is to make a 13th bet, at $20, when you lose the 12th bet, but when you do this and win the 13th bet you break even instead of showing a profit. Making the 13th bet without doubling to $40 makes the total amount wagered $180, and you get back $180.
Here’s an extended chart to show how quickly the bets need doubled on an extended losing streak. It shows the return in 3rd column if you win the hand. This chart is based on making bets that always show a profit instead of taking the chance of breaking even on a few hands.
Amount Bet on Hand | Total Amount Wagered | Return Including Base Bet |
$10 | $10 | $90 |
$10 | $20 | $90 |
$10 | $30 | $90 |
$10 | $40 | $90 |
$10 | $50 | $90 |
$10 | $60 | $90 |
$10 | $70 | $90 |
$10 | $80 | $90 |
$20 | $100 | $180 |
$20 | $120 | $180 |
$20 | $140 | $180 |
$20 | $160 | $180 |
$40 | $200 | $360 |
$40 | $240 | $360 |
$40 | $280 | $360 |
$40 | $320 | $360 |
$80 | $400 | $720 |
$80 | $480 | $720 |
$80 | $560 | $720 |
$80 | $640 | $720 |
$160 | $800 | $1,440 |
$160 | $960 | $1,440 |
$160 | $1,120 | $1,440 |
$160 | $1,280 | $1,440 |
$320 | $1,600 | $2,880 |
$320 | $1,920 | $2,880 |
$320 | $2,240 | $2,880 |
$320 | $2,560 | $2,880 |
You can learn a couple things from this chart. The first thing to notice is if you lose 27 hands in a row, when you make the 28th wager, the total amount bet is $2,560. Starting with a base bet of $10, this requires a large bankroll, and a large risk, in the hopes of a positive return.
While a tie will happen at least once in 28 hands most of the time, sometimes it won’t. The few times it doesn’t, you have a couple problems. The first problem is your bankroll has to be large to continue, quickly reaching $10,000 or higher.
The second problem is finding a casino that will let you bet $640 or more on the tie bet. At the minimum, you’re probably going to have to move to a higher limit table, because a spread of $10 to $320 on the same table can be hard to find–not to mention $640 or higher.
The other thing to notice is the amount you profit goes up, unlike when you use the Martingale on 1 to 1 wagers. If you win the 13th hand, your profit is $160. Winning the21st hand is a profit of $640. The profit potential on the 25th hand is $1,280. Finally, the profit for winning the 28th hand is $320.
For you to have a complete understanding of the quickly increasing numbers, here’s a chart continuing where the last one left off. I only include it for reference, because the amount needed to continue is only used by high rollers.
In other words, I don’t expect anyone reading this page to actually need these numbers, because if you’re risking such a large amount there are better ways to gamble.
Amount Bet on Hand | Total Amount Wagered | Return Including Base Bet |
$640 | $3,200 | $5,760 |
$640 | $3,840 | $5,760 |
$640 | $4,480 | $5,760 |
$640 | $5,120 | $5,760 |
$1,280 | $6,400 | $11,520 |
$1,280 | $7,680 | $11,520 |
$1,280 | $8,960 | $11,520 |
$1,280 | $10,240 | $11,520 |
$2,560 | $12,800 | $23,040 |
$2,560 | $15,360 | $23,040 |
$2,560 | $17,920 | $23,040 |
$2,560 | $20,480 | $23,040 |
You need to understand one final thing before we move to the next section. The odds of a tie are the same on every single hand. This means that even if you’ve lost 20 hands in a row, the odds of a tie on the 21st hand are the exact same as on any other hand. Your chances of a tie don’t go up just because it hasn’t happened in several hands.
This is where many players make a mistake. While it’s true that the number of times a tie happens will end up being about 9.5% of the time, this number is based on hundreds of thousands of hands or more. This means that even if a tie doesn’t happen for 100 hands, it still isn’t due to hit.
9 to 1 Pay Out
Baccarat Rules Chart
You don’t need to read all of the intro material for the 9 to 1 pay out, because it’s all the same as the 8 to 1. Here’s the chart using the Martingale system on the baccarat tie bet that pays 9 to 1.
Amount Bet on Hand | Total Amount Wagered | Return Including Base Bet |
$10 | $10 | $100 |
$10 | $20 | $100 |
$10 | $30 | $100 |
$10 | $40 | $100 |
$10 | $50 | $100 |
$10 | $60 | $100 |
$10 | $70 | $100 |
$10 | $80 | $100 |
$10 | $90 | $100 |
$20 | $110 | $200 |
$20 | $130 | $200 |
$20 | $150 | $200 |
$20 | $170 | $200 |
$20 | $190 | $200 |
$40 | $230 | $400 |
$40 | $270 | $400 |
$40 | $310 | $400 |
$40 | $350 | $400 |
$40 | $390 | $400 |
$80 | $470 | $800 |
$80 | $550 | $800 |
$80 | $630 | $800 |
$80 | $710 | $800 |
$80 | $790 | $800 |
$160 | $950 | $1,600 |
$160 | $1,110 | $1,600 |
$160 | $1,270 | $1,600 |
$160 | $1,430 | $1,600 |
$160 | $1,590 | $1,600 |
$320 | $1,910 | $3,200 |
$320 | $2,230 | $3,200 |
$320 | $2,550 | $3,200 |
$320 | $2,870 | $3,200 |
$320 | $3,190 | $3,200 |
When you compare the chart for the 9 to 1 pay out with the 8 to 1 chart, you can see that you pick up an extra bet at each level. At the base bet level, you can make 9 bets instead of 8, and at each of the higher levels you can make 5 bets instead of 4. This goes a long way into controlling the increasing total bankroll needed to keep making wagers.
You still win a higher amount than $10 profit if you hit a tie before the last bet in a series, but winning the last bet before doubling only produces a $10 profit. This isn’t the case on the 8 to 1 chart after you double the first time.
Without a doubt, the 9 to 1 game gives you a better chance to keep making bets until a tie happens, but the 8 to 1 game gives you more chances to win a higher profit if you can win before you run out of money.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably still considering using the Martingale system with the baccarat tie bet. The charts show both the good and the bad, but I admit that they make it look like it’s worth the gamble.
But the truth is that no system can beat a game with a fixed house edge like baccarat in the long run.
Even if you use the Martingale with positive results for a long time, if you play long enough you’re going to lose. The Martingale system simply can’t overcome the house edge. In the long run you’re going to lose roughly 14.36% on the 8 to 1 tie bet and just under 5% on the 9 to 1 tie bet.
If you’re willing to lose a couple thousand every once in a while and enjoy winning most of the time, go ahead and use this system. The truth is that using it you’re going to win most of the time you play. But the amounts you win are small in comparison to the few times you lose.
When you use the Martingale system on the baccarat tie bet, just make sure you completely understand that a big loss will come eventually. As long as you’re ok with this fact, have fun while you win and good luck at the table.
One Last Warning
Most casinos and dealers are honest, but if you’re using the system on this page you need to know how baccarat hands are played and scored, and you need to watch every hand. A dishonest dealer could award a tie hand to the banker or player bet if you have a large bet out.
Here’s an example:
You have a bet of $160 on the tie and the other players have a combined $200 on the banker and $200 on the player. On a tie the casino pays out $1,280, but if the dealer says the hand is a banker or player the casino only pays out $200 on the player or $190 on the banker.
How To Read Baccarat Board
You probably won’t ever see this happen, but it only needs to happen once to cost you a great deal of money. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, so make sure you always know the actual outcome of the hand. Don’t get lazy and leave it up to the dealer to make the right decision.
I’ve always been interested in the Martingale system. I understand the long term math, but it gives you a good chance to have short term wins. Now that you see the difference between using it with even money wagers and a higher pay out bet, you can decide if using it is worth the risk.
You will lose money in the long run. If you believe otherwise, you’re making a costly mistake. But, if you understand the risk, aren’t gambling with money you can’t afford to lose, and want to experience the thrill of gambling for short term profits, all I can do is wish you the best of luck. Just don’t start believing it’s a sure thing, even when you win several times in a row.
Baccarat Chart Reading Levels
I’ve seen gamblers who claim they understand the eventual losing streak is coming start believing that they’re never going to lose after winning 10 playing session in a row. They start betting more and more, and eventually gamble money they can’t afford to lose chasing their losses. Don’t let this happen to you.