Your Guide to Playing Online Baccarat

When playing online baccarat, you will find it in the card game section of your favorite online casino.

Baccarat, also sometimes referred to as Punto Banco, is normally played in a separate cordoned off casino area. When playing online baccarat, you will find it in the card game section.

Playing Online Baccarat - Getting Started

There is very little difference between playing baccarat at a casino and playing online baccarat.  Let’s start off with some basic rules that apply for both these variations.  You have to choose between 2 principal bet: banker (Banco) or player (Punto), plus the rarely used standoff. Some casinos prefer to have a professional dealer whereas others let the players deal the cards in turn.  When playing online Baccarat, the cards are dealt instantly by a ‘virtual dealer’.

Players may bet on either Punto or Banco but dealers mostly bet on Banco. Players may choose not to deal by passing the shoe to the player next to him. The shoe will remain with a player for as long as the Bank wins. If Player wins, the shoe is passed on to the next player.

Two hands are dealt and you have bet which of them will win, or that they perhaps will tie. It is similar to betting on Red or Black at roulette, and the payoff is even money, 1 to 1. The difference between the Bank and Player bets is that a win on Banco will cost you five per cent commission – which is the in-built advantage.  Over an eight-deck cards play the Banco will, on average, win 3-4 hands more than Punto.

A hand has two to three cards that are dealt face down by the virtual dealer.  The Punto gamer looks at his cards and gives them back to the dealer. The virtual dealer then turns over the cards of both hands while the results and winner is announced.  The decision whether to deal a 3rd card follows precise set rules used by all online casinos.

Once dealing is over, the highest count hand wins. The player who deals the cards isn’t responsible for the payouts and is also just playing against the casino.

Playing Online Baccarat - Getting To Know The Rules

All 10’s and face cards have no value. Cards less than 10 are counted at face value, and Aces are worth one. Suits don’t make a difference and only single digit values are valid.  When a count reaches a double digit, it drops its left digit. For instance, 15 and 25 are both counted as 5.

When you are playing online baccarat, remember that the object of the game is to bet on the hand that you think will have the highest total value.  It is not actually necessary to learn these baccarat rules to play, as they are compulsory decisions and are therefore automatic.