Top Online Baccarat Casinos

Play Online Baccarat for Real Money

Baccarat is such a popular game that you can play it almost everywhere online for fun, free or real money. It’s fantastic that many online operators have taken the initiative to offer the game for free to their customers, so that they may learn to play the game online without risk to their wallets.

Like with all real-money online casino games, it’s crucial that you fully understand the basics of the variation of the game you intend on playing for real money.

Take all the time you need to get to know the rules and terms players use at the table before embarking on the live casino table. That’s why it’s essential that you read further so that we can help you get the basics right.

We’ve expertly designed the information on this page to help you get started, so continue reading to learn more. After you’ve completed reading the contents that follow in this article, you’ll be one step closer to enjoying various versions of the game online.

Most Popular Types of Baccarat Games

Many variants of the game exist. We highly recommend that you begin your baccarat-playing career by playing the most basic versions, such as Punto Banco Baccarat, which isn’t only the most popular version played online and the simplest to learn.

Once this variation is covered, you can move on to the faster versions (Japanese or Speed Baccarat) or more complicated versions, such as Baccarat en Banque. Below is a summary of the game rules of each variation to give you a basic idea of how each game is played.

Mini Baccarat

Rated as the second most popular variation, this version has similar rules to Punto Banco Baccarat. It involves lower stakes, so it attracts many players with tight budgets. Played at a quicker pace, it’s also played on a smaller table which makes the online game great for players with playing time constraints.

Punto Banco

This is also known as the classic version, and it’s the most favored variant of the game. Six standard decks of playing cards (of 52 each) are used, and up to 12 players can participate in a round at a time.

Betting options are either ‘banker’ or ‘player,’ and ‘tie’ bets are presumed when the ‘banker’ and the player’s cards are equal. Players make their wagers against the dealer before the cards are dealt, and the croupier will then estimate the values to determine winners.

Chemin de Fer

Directly translated as ‘railway,’ this version is primarily played in France. The main difference between Chemin de Fer and the classic version is that players compete against one another, not the dealer. Players take turns to be the ‘banker’ using six 52-card playing decks.

Additionally, the player who is the ‘banker’ will set aside the money they want to wager. Contesting players around the table will then call ‘Banco,’ which means they’d be willing to match the wager of the ‘banker.’

Baccarat en Banque

This version can accommodate up to 10 players (divided into five at the left and right) with additional bets that bystanders can place if the banker’s bets aren’t covered entirely.

The croupier will shuffle the cards and hand half to each side (left and right), and the cards will be reshuffled. The last player on each side that shuffles the cards last is nominated as the ‘banker’ and will decide which players will split the deck with the bank card.

Super Pan 9

This variation is pretty fast-paced, and the game resembles the classic version. A dealing shoe holds the decks of cards that don’t contain sevens, eights, nines, and 10s. The croupier will deal three cards to each player, including the ‘banker.’ Each player then gets the opportunity to draw an additional card from the deck.

Three Card Baccarat

This version has three optional bonus bets: the Dragon Bonus, Three Kings, and the Tie. Players go head-to-head with the croupier and the three optional bonus bets. Here, players also need to guess who’ll have the highest scoring hand, the ‘player’ or the dealer. Three cards are dealt for the ‘player’ and the dealer. Points of the dealt cards are then added to determine a winner.

How to Play Online Baccarat

There isn’t much skill involved to potentially be good at baccarat. All you need to know is what each card is worth and be good at guessing which hand will have the higher total. All digital online versions are controlled by a random number generator (RNG), so you know all games are fair and can’t be rigged.

RNGs are irrelevant in live casino games since you’ll play at a virtual table against a live croupier in the studio. In any event, although the game of baccarat is quite simple, we highly recommend that you fully familiarize yourself with the rules. Thankfully, we’ve already summarized those for you!

Rules of Online Baccarat

Below are the five primary rules of the game:

1. Players must place their wagers on either the ‘banker’ or ‘player’ before dealing with the cards.
2. The objective is to predict whether the ‘banker’ or the ‘player’ will have the hand closest to nine.
3. To calculate the winner, all face cards and tens count as a zero, an Ace has one value, and all remaining cards have their pip or face value.
4. The total score will be adjusted by subtracting 10, should the score of the player’s or banker’s hand be more than nine.
5. A ‘banker’ or ‘player’ can draw additional cards depending on the game or house rules. However, there’ll always be a maximum of three cards for each hand.

Baccarat Popular Terms

There are some interesting terms used by players you’ll hear around baccarat tables. When a croupier burns cards, they discard the first three to six cards from the dealing shoe before dealing the cards. A ‘coup’ is popularly referred to as a round of play in baccarat.

Whenever the ‘banker’ or ‘player’ has been dealt a two-card combination, the dealer will call out ‘natural nine’ or ‘natural eight.’ A ‘natural nine’ in baccarat beats a ‘natural eight’ since it has a larger total. Additionally, a ‘natural nine’ is also known as ‘le grande’ (the big one) as it’s the best hand you can get. ‘La petite’ (little one) refers to getting a ‘natural eight.’

Baccarat Winning Tips

Our baccarat experts have the following best tips to help get you started:

1. Always try to ignore going for the ‘tie’ bet, as it typically has only 14.4% odds, making this bet a poor choice.
2. The ‘banker’ is considered the best bet since it wins just above 50% of the time.
3. Follow the ‘banker’ when there are winning streaks. However, don’t play too aggressively.

Understanding Baccarat Odds and Win Probabilities

Knowing the house edge and the probability of winning at online casino games is always a good idea. This way, you can make better choices when placing your wagers. Each bet you make has a different house edge and probability in baccarat.

Typically, the banker’s hand in baccarat will have a winning hand 45.8% of the time, which is slightly better than the chances of the player’s hand winning at 44.6% of the time. If you factor out the ‘tie,’ the banker’s hand gets an even better chance at winning (around 51% of the time). You may think that 1% is marginal. However, it’s much better than your odds at flipping a coin.

It’s important to mention that odds vary per game and online baccarat casino. So always check the odds with the casino and the game variation you intend to play. For example, an online casino may have a ‘banker’ hand listed at 49.32% odds of winning. To calculate your chances of losing four betting rounds in a row, you need to convert 49.32% to 0.4932, then 4932 ^ 4 = 0.05917. This will give you a 5.92% chance of losing your four bets.