Baccarat is the simplest casino game. Two hands are dealt — Player and . You bet on which total will be closer to 9. Card values: A = 1, 2–9 face, 10/J/Q/K = 0. Totals are mod 10 (a 7+8 = 5).
Your only job is to bet the right hand. Drawing rules are fixed — no decisions, no strategy, no skill. Just the bet.
The math:
- bet: 1.06% edge. Wins ~45.86% of hands. Pays 1:1 minus a 5% commission (so 0.95:1 net). Lowest edge of any even-money bet in the casino.
- Player bet: 1.24% edge. Wins ~44.62%. Pays 1:1 with no commission. Slightly worse than .
- bet: 14.36% edge. Wins ~9.52%. Pays 8:1. A sucker bet. Never take it.
wins slightly more often than Player because of the drawing rules — the gets to react to the Player's third card. Even with the commission, edge is lower.
Pair side bets (Player Pair, Pair): 10.36% edge. Not quite as bad as but still bad. Skip them.
The only sharp play: bet every hand. It's the best bet in baccarat and one of the best bets in the entire casino.