How To Play Baccarat And Win – Beginners Guide, Tips & Strategies

How To Play Baccarat And Win – Beginners Guide, Tips & Strategies

The concept of baccarat is considered to be an uncomplicated as players should wager on either banker or player. However, getting more in-depth information about this game, you will see that baccarat includes some intricacies. In order to sweep the board in Baccarat, as a rule, gamblers try to foresee a possible outcome by analyzing previous results of the game. Besides, there are particular betting systems which are applied in order to avoid unwished tremendous losses. In fact, it is really interesting that players count on either logic or superstition, more than that, there are people whose choices are based on both of them within a game. This page is dedicated to the basic baccarat rules on how points are counted and when the third card is dealt. Let’s start with card values in baccarat.

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Card Values in Baccarat

We should start with a brief illuminating fact concerning the name of baccarat. Supposedly, the game was founded in Italy, and “baccarat” where the last “t” is not pronounced means “zero” in Italian. It is mainly explained that the value of many cards are equal to 0 - Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings. Ace is equal to 1 while 2-9 cards are counted as face value. When the amount of points exceeds 9, then 10 is subtracted from the number. For example, a player gets 10 points, in this case, the points are equal to zero as 10-10=0. When a player gets 17 points ( 7 - 5 - 5), in this case, the points are equal to 7 as 17-10=7. A hand is considered to be natural when it consists of 8 or 9 points.

Player’s Hand

A player is first to be given 2 cards which are turned over immediately. If the amount of points is between 0-5, the player gets the third card. When a hand includes from 6 to 9 points, the third card is not dealt. As it was mentioned, a hand is called natural when it consists of 8 or 9 points. When a player’s hand consists of 8 or 9 points, the player beats the banker’s hand - the exception is only when the bankers’ hand has the same number of points. With the player bet, the house advantage stands at 1.24% while the payout is 1 to 1.

Banker’s Hand

After the cards are dealt to a player, a banker gets 2 cards as well. A banker gets the third card provided that his sum of points is from 0-5. In other cases, the situation depends on the player’s third card - you will derive this information below. Although it is advisable to know the card values as well as the baccarat rules of card draw, you don’t have to learn these rules because a dealer does count everything by himself within a game. Experts believe that the banker bet wins more frequently than the others (45.843%). The bet wins with the 1:1 payout. Keep in mind, if you wager on the banker’s bet, you have to pay a 5% commission.

When Is an Additional Card Dealt?

There are particular cases when an additional card is given to a player and banker and this makes a baccarat game more fascinating and sophisticated

Player Banker
Player's Third Card Draws           Stands 
8 0-2                 3-7
6 or 7 0-6                   7
4 or 5 0-5                 6-7
2 or 3 0-4                 5-7
9,10, Ace 0-3                 4-7

When both banker and player have 8 or 9 points, there is a new card dealing. It was mentioned that a hand consisting of 8 or 9 points is called a natural hand. 

If a player has 7 or 8 points, the player stands and a banker should draw the third card provided that his points are equal to 0-5. 

If a player's hand consists of 0-5 points, the player should draw another card. 

Banker total Player’s 3rd card
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2 or less D D D D D D D
3 D D D D D D S
4 D D D D D D S
5 S S D D D D S
6 S S S S D D S
7 S S S S S S S

A banker gets the third card provided that his sum of points is from 0-5. When the sum is equal to 6-7, the third card is not dealt. In other cases, it depends on the third card of a player. 

If the player's third card is 9,10 or Ace, a Banker gets the third card provided that his hand consists of 0-3 points and not gets provided that his points are 4-7.

If the player’s third card is 8, a banker gets the third card  provided that his hand consists of 0-2 points and not gets provided that his points are 3-7.

If the player’s third card is 6 or 7, a banker gets the third card  provided that his hand consists of 0-6 points and not gets provided that his points are 7.

If the player’s third card is 4 or 5, a banker gets the third card  provided that his hand consists of 0-5 points and not gets provided that his points are 6-7.

If the player’s third card is 2 or 3, a banker gets the third card  provided that his hand consists of 0-4 points and not gets provided that his points are 5-7.

There is no explanation why card dealing looks like that, this scheme should be just learned. Only in Hi-Lo, the outcome is based on the first 2 cards.  

Pattern Spotting

Many gamblers wrongly suppose that results of the previous rounds in a game can give them a clue about what the outcome will be in the following round. For doing that, the participants use scoreboards that are known as pattern spotting to mark the previous results and then foresee the following outcome. Both brick-and-mortar and online casinos support this idea therefore the first one provides participants with a sheet and pen while the last one displays a window with the results of the previous rounds within a virtual game. Operators understand that the previous results can’t influence the following outcomes of the game and that’s why they don’t consider this strategy a winning one. Baccarat scoreboard includes 5 types – Bead Plate, Big Road, Big Eye Boy, Small Road and Cockroach Pig. In order to get in-depth information about them, you should scroll down. you should scroll down.

Bead Plate

Bead Plate, also called Bead Road, is used to illustrate a history of winning bets throughout a baccarat game. Winning bets are indicated with circles of a particular color:   

  • Red for a winning banker bet
  • Blue for a winning player bet
  • Green for a winning tie bet Inside circles, there are gained points of a winning hand.

A scoreboard is filled in from the top left corner to the bottom cell and then, again from the top cell of the following column to the bottom cell.

Baccarat Scoreboards Bead Plate

Big Road

Big Eye Boy, Small Road and Cockroach Pig are derived specifically from Big Road. This type of pattern spotting is used in order to note a sequence of winning bets. Winning banker and player bets are indicated with circles - red and blue respectively. There are no points inside circles in comparison with Bead Plate. We should make it clear how this scoreboard is filled in. A sequence of winning banker and player bets are noted in separate columns, for example, a banker bet wins 3 times in a row therefore 3 red circles are placed in one column. When this chain of the winning banker bets is broken by a win of a player bet, a blue circle is placed in the following column.

A winning tie is indicated with a green line at the corner of the recently filled cell. It occurs that a tie bet win at the very beginning of a game, on this occasion, a green line is drawn at the corner of the first cell. When the next win is of a banker or player bet, a circle of the particular color is placed in the cell with the green line. When tie bets win several times in a row, the number of successive wins is placed in the circle.

Winning player pairs are marked with a blue dot which is placed at the bottom right corner of the cell. Banker pairs have a red dot as a marker which is placed at the top left corner of the cell. In case of a natural hand (8 or 9 points), a filled orange circle is placed inside a blue or red circle. Initially, the grid itself is 6 rows deep and when it happens that there are more than 6 successive wins - marking out moves to the right and then the pattern resembles a dragon’s tail.

Big Eye Boy

It was already mentioned that Big Eye Boy is a derived scoreboard from Big Board. First, you should know that blue and red colors are not linked to a win of player and banker bets. Moreover, the circles are smaller than on the Big Road board therefore it is possible to place up to 4 circles inside one cell. This type of pattern spotting is used to observe a repeatability of results therefore a red circle is drawn when a shoe is repeating and a blue one when a shoe is chaotic. As a rule, the circles on this board are hollow. Natural hands, tie bets as well as pairs are not noted in the Big Eye Boy table. This board is used in conjunction with Big Road in order to decide what bet should be placed next. A new marker is placed on the Big Eye Road in the result of analyzing the latest marker of the Big Road. When the latest marker of the Big Road continues a column, it is necessary to analyze 2 cells to the left of it - the one next to it and the one up to the diagonal. If the cells are filled the same (both hollow or solid), a red circle is placed.

Small Road

This type of pattern spotting is similar to the Big Eye Boy, however, a visual difference is a solid circle. Red and blue colors are not linked to a win of banker and player bets. Here, the rules of marking out are almost the same as in the Big Eye Boy. An entry in the Small Board should be made after analyzing the second cell in the third column of the Big Board. Cells are analyzed with a shift of one column to the left - that means one column away from the cell under study.

Cockroach Pig

Cockroach Pig is considered to be a third derived board from the Big Board. We should repeat one more time that red and blue colors are not linked to a win of banker and player bets. Here, markers are slashes in blue and red colours. An entry is the same as in the Big Eye Boy, however, this pattern spotting possesses some peculiarities. An entry should be made after analyzing the second cell in the fourth column of the Big Board. Cells are analyzed with a shift of two columns to the left - that means two columns away from the cell under study.

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In a game, you have an opportunity to get acquainted with a third-card draw and point counting rules as well as the principles of payouts with examples. The information about available functions is also presented in a comprehensible way. Regardless of your skills and experience, you will imbibe everything promptly and won’t have any problems as Netent provides you with user-friendly information. Moreover, it’s high time to play using any pattern spotting that we have told you about.

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Are scoreboards useful for predicting the outcome of a game?

Players are likely to face difficulties in learning pattern spotting, especially in the case with the derived roads. However, Bead Plate along with its rules of marking out is the easiest option because all you need to know is that red, blue, green colors are for winning banker, player, tie bets respectively. Big Road is the main scoreboard with 3 derived roads named Big Eye Road, Small Road and Cockroach Pig. These roads are used to keep track of a sequence of winning bets and make predictions about the next winning bet on the base of them. As a rule, Bead Plate and Big road are 6 rows deep while the derived boards are 3 rows deep. On the derived boards, 6 symbols can be placed in 3 cells vertically.

At online casinos, a scoreboard is displayed on the screen within a game therefore participants do not need to fill it in on their own. Thanks to its direct correlation with automatic card counting, a scoreboard is completed accurately. Although players mark out these scoreboards with their own hand while online casinos display these frames within a game, you should remember that online baccarat is a game of sheer luck and using these strategies are mainly based on a gambler’s fallacy and superstitiousness. One of the biggest examples of superstitious beliefs in gambling is squeezing or blowing on cards in order to avoid losses in Macau Baccarat. Keep in mind that rituals as well as pattern spotting can’t help you to beat baccarat and win the jackpot.