How To Play Online Baccarat

Possibly not the most popular games available at casino sites in the UK, Baccarat still does have a traditional following. This article will help you get to grips to learn about baccarat, how to play it and which casino sites are best for playing it at,

Playing a game of Baccarat can be a little bit complicated. We are going to try and keep things as simple as possible, but we do urge you to have a couple of rounds, maybe on a site that offers ‘free plays’ in order to really drill down the basics and work out your strategy.

Two Hands Will Be Dealt

Two hands of two cards will be dealt. One is labelled ‘player’ and the other will be labelled as ‘banker’. You don’t need to know much about these names. You can bet on either hand. Your aim is to guess which hand will have the ‘right’ value. More on that shortly.

How the points are calculated

The dealer will show the faces of both sets of cards. Any card which is valued at; 10, J, Q, K are worth zero points. The other cards are worth the value on their face. The Ace is worth 1 point.  If the total value of the cards is worth more than 10. For example; you have a 9 and a 4 (that equals 13, for those who do not wish to whip out their calculator), the value of the hand will be taken from the second number. This means that instead of the hand is worth 13, it is worth 3.

How You Win At Baccarat

The aim of the game is to place your bet on the hand which you believe will have the closest value to ten. So, let’s assume that these two hands are dealt:

• Ace + 4 = 5
• 9 + 3 = 2 (as we take the second digit, not the first)
• This means that the first hand will win…sort of. 

In some cases, you may be able to draw an additional card. You do not draw an additional card if either of the hands is a ‘natural win’. This means that if either the player or the banker has a points value of 8 or 9. 

Only the ‘player’ hand (although you can bet on either hand) will be able to draw an additional card. If the player has a total value of cards less than 8 or 9, and the banker has a value of cards less than that, a player can draw a third card. The banker may be able to draw an additional card depending on what the player dealt. Use this quick guide to help you:

If the player decides to draw no new cards, the banker can draw a card if their hand total is between 0 and 5. They can’t draw an additional card beyond this.

If the player draws a third card that is either a 9, 10, face or Ace, the banker will draw if their value is between 0-3. They will stay above that.

• If the player is an 8, the banker will draw if they have a 0-2. They will stay beyond that.
• Third for player is 6 or 7, banker will draw if they have between 0 and 6.
• Third is 4 or 5, banker draws when they have a  0-5, stays above that. 
• Third is 2 or 3, the Banker draws if they have between 0-4.

We know that it can be complicated, so we do suggest that you play a couple of games to get a feel for how everything works. Once you start to notice when the dealer is drawing the third card, things become a lot simpler.

Remember; you do not even need to bet on a specific hand. You can also bet on there being a tie within the game!

Baccarat Strategy

There is very little strategy involved in baccarat, beyond choosing how much you wish to bet on the game (so, bankroll management). This is because nobody has a say in whether the third card is dealt or not. You can’t even pattern spot, particularly in online games. When we caught up with Casinos 2022 we asked them what the best strategy for baccarat was and they said that, whilst you can follow certain strategies, the most viable strategy for playing Baccarat is to bet and hope that you have some fun.

Baccarat Bonuses

If you want to sample the rules of Baccarat, and maybe get a feel for how the game plays, then we suggest that you check out the list of Baccarat bonuses at these top online casinos. The team here have worked exceedingly hard to put a list together, so we are positive that you will be able to enjoy some of the finest bonuses in the industry as well enjoy the best baccarat games online. They will, essentially, allow you to play Baccarat for free! So let us present to you, the best online baccarat sites!