Baccarat strategy guide
Baccarat is a popular card game played at most casinos, both online and off. In recent years, it has gained a lot of popularity as a live casino game, so if you play at a virtual casino with a live dealer lobby, you’ll likely find a few baccarat tables in there and often a good variety of the different live baccarat variants available.
Like many casino card games, baccarat is largely a game of chance, so there’s no guaranteed winning strategy. There are, however, a lot of things you need to know about the game itself, the type of bets you can make, and the odds available. Reading our detailed baccarat strategy guide will give you the background knowledge you need. This guide will provide you with plenty of practical baccarat tips that will allow you to get the most out of the game.
How to play baccarat
To get started, each player places a bet. There are three main bets that can be made:
Player’s hand Banker’s hand Tie (tie bet)
When all bets have been placed, the dealer deals the cards. Each player and the banker (that is the dealer) gets two cards. After the cards are dealt, the hand with a value of nine, or closest to it, is the winning hand. Cards with a face value of two through nine hold this value. A 10, jack, queen or king has a value of zero, and an ace has a value of one.
When you hold a hand with a value greater than nine, you add the two cards together and drop the first digit to get a single number. So, if you hold a nine and an eight, for example, this will add up to 17, and with the first digit dropped, the hand would be a seven. The hand closest to nine wins, and the players who bet on that hand are the winners of that round.
There are a few more rules to be aware of. If you’re holding an eight or nine, you stand. A player with a hand of five or less will automatically get a third card. The banker also gets a third card, with a total of five or less, if the player is standing.
Baccarat tips: bet types
Players can bet that the player's hand or the banker's hand will win. The player hand pays out double the initial bet. The banker hand has almost a 50/50 chance of winning. A tie bet pays out best (at 8:1), but ties are rare, so it’s not advisable to bet on them.
Generally, the banker bet is the safest bet, but it does, of course, have the lowest payout, so many players will take a chance on the player bet. The player bet has less favourable odds because of the rule that the player must take a third card when holding a low hand, but the odds of a player winning are still fairly good. The tie hand is objectively the worst bet to make. Statistically, there is less than a 10% chance that a game will end in a tie, meaning that many players avoid this type of bet.
The type of bet you want to make will impact the strategy that you choose, and vice versa, as some strategies won’t work well with some bet types. If you want to make a lot of tie bets, you can, of course, but statistically, the majority of these bets will be losing bets. This wouldn’t be ideal to use with a strategy such as the Martingale, as this calls for increasing your bet each time you lose, so you would need a significant bankroll to use these in conjunction.
Can learning baccarat strategy help me win?
There are many different baccarat strategies you can learn, and you may already be familiar with them as they are often used in other live casino games. These are essentially betting strategies that can help control your bankroll and may influence your overall chance of winning. They are not playing strategies that are guaranteed to help you win.
As we’ve already said, you’re playing a game of luck here, so while you can indeed bet strategically, there’s no real skill involved in playing your hand, as in other casino games such as poker. You’ll have to be prepared for whatever the deck has to offer.
Baccarat strategy 1: the Martingale system
This strategy is based on doubling your bets with each hand, with the aim of eventually recovering losses with a single win. Once the player wins, they revert to their original stake, and the cycle repeats. The idea is that you can’t lose forever, and when you do win, it will be with a more substantial wager. This strategy can work in baccarat, but you will need to be disciplined and play with a set bankroll. Otherwise, you can go beyond your budget and make a significant loss overall.
Baccarat strategy 2: the Paroli system
The Paroli strategy is known as the reverse Martingale and focuses on positive progression. With this strategy, you double your bet every time you win and return to your initial bet size when you lose. This is a more conservative betting strategy in baccarat and may be more suitable for those with a smaller bankroll.
Baccarat strategy 3: the Fibonacci system
The Fibonacci system is another popular strategy used in baccarat. As you would expect, the betting strategy is about following the Fibonacci sequence when placing your bets, so you’ll need to be familiar with the sequence first. You increase your bet size to the next number in the sequence after each loss and decrease it to the first number in the sequence when you win.
As you may know, the Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical concept often found in nature, and references to the concept can be traced back to around 200 BCE in Indian literature. It was identified and discussed at length by Leonardo of Pisa (who was nicknamed Fibonacci) in the early 13th century, and the name has stuck ever since.
Baccarat strategy 4: the James Bond system
The James Bond strategy is, of course, named after the famous fictional secret agent. It offers players the chance to split across all three bets. The highest bet goes on the banker, a lower one goes on the player, and a very low one goes on a tie. This means that you secure a win every time (though this doesn’t mean that you actually make a profit with each hand).
Many players agree that this is a good strategy to control your bankroll, avoid chasing losses, and getting lots of small wins.
Baccarat strategy 5: the Labouchère system
The Labouchère system is sometimes known as the split Martingale, but in some ways, it has more in common with the Fibonacci strategy in that it is based on a sequence of numbers. It is one of the more complex strategies that baccarat players can choose to follow.
You create your own number sequence, and then follow a set of rules based on that sequence, adding the first and last digits together to determine your initial bet. You repeat that bet after winning, but on losing, cross off the first and last numbers and repeat the process with the remaining numbers. While some players love this system, it is a little complicated and probably best avoided by beginner players.
The limitations of baccarat strategies
No baccarat game strategy guide would be complete without drawing your attention to the limitations of these strategies. Although many players find these betting systems helpful, none of them will guarantee a win in baccarat.
There’s no real way to control or predict the cards that will come up, so any good baccarat strategy will be about betting strategically, playing the odds and, perhaps most importantly, controlling your bankroll. A well-managed bankroll allows you to not only limit losses and play within your budget, but also play for longer.
Baccarat games to play at LeoVegas
Here at LeoVegas, we have a variety of different live baccarat games to try out. Go to our live lobby and try out games such as Live Speed Baccarat A, Lightning Baccarat or Live Super 8 Baccarat. Our friendly dealers can’t wait to welcome you and make sure that you have a great experience at our virtual tables.
Baccarat strategy FAQs
What is the best baccarat winning strategy?
There is really no one-size-fits-all best baccarat strategy. A lot depends on your own objectives and preferences, as well as your bankroll. If you’re a beginner with a decent bankroll, for example, it’s probably best to stick to a simple betting system such as the Martingale.
Should I bet on the player, banker or tie?
The safest bet is always the banker, and the riskiest is the tie. So, beginners often like to stick to banker bets while always avoiding a tie bet. However, you could also consider splitting your bets if that appeals and you have a substantial enough bankroll.
What is a good strategy for baccarat beginners?
The Paroli system is recommended for those who are new to the game. It’s a fairly simple system that aims to limit losses, so a lot of beginner players like to use it.