How to play baccarat

The aim of the game

Every round of baccarat — a coup — deals two hands, called Player and Banker. Despite the names, neither hand belongs to you or to the casino: they are simply the two sides you can bet on. The hand that finishes closer to 9 wins, and if the totals are equal the coup is a tie.

The version played in almost every casino today is Punto Banco (Spanish for Player and Banker). Whether either hand takes a third card is settled by a fixed table of rules, so once the bets are down nobody makes a decision — not you, not the dealer. Your only choice is what to bet on, and how much.

Card values

• Aces count 1.
• 2 to 9 count their face value.
• Tens, jacks, queens and kings count 0.

Suits don't matter, and a hand's total is only the last digit of its points: a 7 and an 8 make 15, which counts as 5. That means no hand can go bust, and the best possible total is 9. A two-card 8 or 9 is called a natural and ends the coup at once.

The bets

Player

You win if the Player hand finishes closer to 9. Pays 1 to 1.

Banker

You win if the Banker hand finishes closer to 9. Pays 1 to 1 less a 5% commission — 19 to 20 — because Banker wins slightly more often.

Tie

You win if both hands finish on the same total. Pays 8 to 1 at most tables (9 to 1 at a few). When a coup ties, Player and Banker bets are returned: they neither win nor lose.

Player Pair and Banker Pair

Side bets that the first two cards of that hand are a pair of the same rank — two queens, say, but not a queen and a king. They pay 11 to 1 and are settled whatever the result of the coup.

You can back more than one area in the same coup — a main bet with a tie or pair bet on the side is common.

How a coup works

1. Bet. Place chips on Player, Banker, Tie or a pair. The table shows its minimum and maximum.
2. The deal. Four cards come from the shoe in turn — Player, Banker, Player, Banker — so each hand has two.
3. Naturals. If either hand has 8 or 9, both hands stand and the coup is decided.
4. Player's third card. Otherwise the Player hand draws one more card on a total of 0–5 and stands on 6 or 7.
5. Banker's third card. The Banker hand then draws or stands according to its own total and, if the Player drew, the value of the Player's third card.
6. Settle. The hand closer to 9 wins. Winning bets are paid, losing bets are collected, and Player and Banker bets push on a tie.

No hand ever takes more than three cards. By tradition the third card is laid sideways, so you can see at a glance which hands drew.

The drawing rules

The Player rule is simple: draw on 0–5, stand on 6 or 7. The Banker rule depends on whether the Player drew:

If the Player stood, the Banker simply follows the Player's rule: draw on 0–5, stand on 6 or 7. You never have to apply any of this yourself — but if you want to follow along, the interactive drawing chart has a drill to learn it.

Payouts

Commission

The drawing rules give the Banker hand an edge: it acts second and, when the Player draws, it knows the Player's third card. Banker wins about 45.9% of coups and Player about 44.6% (the rest are ties). If both paid even money, betting Banker would beat the house — so winning Banker bets are charged a 5% commission.

Online, and at the Salon, the commission is simply taken off the payout. At a real table the dealer often keeps a running tally in numbered boxes and collects it when the shoe ends or when you leave. Some tables charge 4%, and no-commission tables pay Banker at even money but only half when Banker wins with a total of 6. All three versions — and what each costs you — are compared on the odds page.

Reading the scoreboard

Baccarat tables show a scoreboard of every result in the current shoe, and many players like to follow it. The two most common displays are on the Salon's table too.

Bead plate

Every coup in order, filling each column from top to bottom: red for Banker, blue for Player, green for a tie. A small red dot in the top corner marks a Banker pair; a blue dot at the bottom marks a Player pair.

Big Road

Streaks instead of single coups. Each column is an unbroken run of Banker or Player wins, and a new column starts whenever the winner changes. Ties don't get a cell of their own — they are marked as a green slash through the result before them. A long streak that reaches the bottom turns right along the last row, which players call a dragon tail.

Playing at the Salon

Baccarat Salon is a Punto Banco table that runs entirely in your browser.

• Betting: choose a chip from the tray — five values are shown at a time; use the arrows (or swipe) for the rest — then click or tap a betting area on the felt. Right-click an area — or press and hold on a phone — to take the last chip back, or press Clear bets to take everything back. Rebet repeats last coup and ×2 doubles every bet.
• One card at a time: Deal puts out the first card, and each press after that deals the next one. To have the whole coup dealt at once, switch off One card at a time beside the buttons.
• Buy-in: bring up to $10,000,000 in play chips per buy-in. The table maximum can go up to $1,000,000 per betting area.
• House rules: open Settings to choose the number of decks, the commission, the tie payout and the table limits, turn pair bets on or off, or pick a preset like Punto Banco, Mini Baccarat or No Commission. The exact house edge of every bet updates as you go.
• Following the coup: the bar under the table explains every draw — "Banker 4 draws against 2–7" — and the scoreboard keeps the bead plate and Big Road for the shoe.
• The squeeze: in Settings → Preferences, set Card reveal to Squeeze and the cards are dealt face down and peeled one at a time.
• Fresh start: nothing is stored — refreshing the page starts a new session.

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