As any baccarat aficionado could attest to, baccarat strategy matters a lot!
But the first thing that you should understand before you strategize and place your chips at the baccarat table is the corresponding house edge of the online casino.
- Banker house edge: 1.06%
- Player house edge: 1.24%
- Tie house edge: 14.4%
As you can see, it’s never wise to go in blind, make a lousy bet (tie), and expect to win. Here, the banker bet has the lowest house edge albeit with a caveat — most casinos take a percentage of your winnings as commission when you place a wager on the banker.
However, if you placed a bet on the player and win, you do not have to pay a commission. This is one of the reasons why the banker bet has a slight disadvantage, and why you should consider placing more bets on the player. Also note that whichever baccarat strategy you decide to adopt, the house edge won’t ever change.
And before you step foot (figuratively) into your online casino in Malaysia à la Play88 or Mega888, here are some tips for one of the most popular table games in the world today, baccarat.
1. Never Bet On A Tie
This tip warrants repeating in our list again. Never. Bet. On. Tie.
As we’ve mentioned, your standard baccarat game features low house edges on two out of the three betting options available: player, banker, and tie. Of the lot, the tie bet is one of the worst bets that you can place as you will lose 14.4 units for every 100 units wagered at the table.
Compare this to the predicted 1.06 units lost per 100 units for banker and 1.24 units lost per 100 units for player, and you can clearly see why the tie bet is a huge no-no unless you’re aiming to waste your time and money.
Instead, you should only focus your efforts on either player or the banker.
2. Take Note of The Banker’s Cut
Speaking of banker, when you first pick up baccarat and learn its rules, you’ll understand that it’s completely normal for an online casino to take a cut of your winnings if you bet on the banker and win. This is exactly how the casino makes its money and any true gambler will know to factor this cut into their betting strategies.
Keep in mind that the banker’s cut should be around 5% most of the time. And if it’s not expressly stated, you should always find out before you place your chips. There are unscrupulous casinos out there that try to take advantage of naive gamblers to take as much as a 20% cut for banker bets. In this case, go for online casinos that offer the lowest commission every time.
If you’re interested in finding out what the banker’s cut is, reading the terms and conditions is a great place to start. Alternatively, you could also enquire from the customer service reps.
3. Manage Your Bankroll Properly
Just like how you’d manage your budget in your day-to-day life, this money management tip will help you more than any baccarat betting strategy or fancy card counting tricks.
Know your limits, money-wise.
It’s vital to know when to take your chips and walk. Whether you’re ahead or if you’ve gone on a losing streak long enough, keeping your head straight when playing baccarat (or any casino game for that matter) is important so that you do not fall deeper into the hole.
It’s certainly very, very easy to keep going on a hot streak in baccarat and to double, or even triple your capital. But on the flip side, you may wind up with even less than when you began if you do not control your temptations. Regardless of the house edge, it’s eventually going to catch up to you in the end.
This is why it’s important you learn to control the overwhelming effects of endorphin that your brain secretes when you win. Learn to walk away before the house takes back everything you worked hard to earn and causes your mood to plummet.
In short, you need to stick to your baccarat betting strategy at all costs and keep your emotions in check!
4. Keep Emotions Out of The Fray And Have a Plan
Speaking of emotions, the only real way to win consistently, not only in baccarat but also in other games of similar ilk, is to keep your emotions under control. Emotions will always be your undoing whether you’re a seasoned pro or a relative newbie.
There’s nothing more fatal to your wallet and bankroll than getting carried away and forgetting your original plan in the first place. And yet, many players fall into this pitfall far too often — due to greed and/or stubbornness.
One of the reasons people play is for the rush (aside from the potential earnings, of course) and going on a roll can and will easily cause you to lose focus and perspective. Stay the course, shake it off, and refocus after a big win. Settle your emotions and excitement — stop playing for the moment if you have to — and stick to the game plan.
Likewise, never ever bet more than you set out to play and never bet money that you can’t afford to lose.
5. Adopt A Betting Strategy
Speaking of the game plan, it would do you well to study and learn about the common baccarat betting strategies.
What’s the best baccarat strategy? It all boils down to your own preferences, really.
Here are some examples of popular baccarat betting systems that you could look to use for your next round of games:
- The Martingale Baccarat Betting Strategy: This is one of the riskier strategies that has somehow become the staple for most beginners and even some well-off players. In essence, you’ll need a large enough capital to effectively use this negative progression system that has also seen play in other games like roulette and craps.
The idea here is to double your bet whenever you lose and to continue doubling your wagers until you finally get a win, wherein your next bet will be your initial wager. Repeat this until you’re finally satisfied and ready to move on.
- The 1-3-2-6 Baccarat Betting Strategy: This is a positive progression betting system centred around placing long-term winning bets rather than attempting to win every round. The strategy assumes that you will win at least four times while playing and you are required to consistently bet with one, three, two, and six units each time you win. Following this pattern will theoretically allow you to come out with a profit if you stop after the fourth win. The most important thing to note while using the 1-3-2-6 baccarat betting strategy is to place smaller bets throughout the games.
- The Paroli Baccarat Betting Strategy: This strategy aims to leverage winning streaks to maximize your profits. For Paroli, you’ll start by placing a fixed bet, typically a lower amount that you’ll use for each progression.
If you lose, you do not change your bet. You’ll only start to double your wager when you win. Your progress resets each time you lose and you go back to the amount of your initial stake. The Paroli system offers the potential for some consistent and small wins while also minimizing the chances of huge losses.
Of course, these are just but a few examples of betting strategies that you may employ the next time you hop on to your online casino for a round of baccarat. There are plenty of other strategies out there, and it’d do you well to seek them out, test, and utilize them to help you to maximize your profits.
6. Always Account For Luck
At the end of the day, you can’t escape from the whims and fancy of Lady Luck’s hands.
Keep this in mind. It doesn’t matter how good your baccarat system is, or how good you can count cards, or how well you can process information in your head — in the end, all casino games involve the seemingly-unquantifiable variable known as luck.
Anyone who plays baccarat or any other casino games for a living can confirm this fact. No matter the circumstances, no baccarat tips and tricks can overcome Lady Luck’s influence.
When considering how to win, don’t forget that luck plays a huge part. Experienced gamblers know you either have it or not, and there’s very little that you can do to change that. Even if there are clear odds set in front of you, even the best bet won’t win all the time.
To that end, to minimize luck’s influence, you should try playing a few games first. If it isn’t happening, walk away and come back later or down the line. Trust your instincts, especially if you’ve been playing for a while. Sometimes, your subconscious is telling you that luck isn’t on your side and betting against that is futile.
Now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, it’s time to play!