If you know much about baccarat at all, then you’ll know that the two basic bets are player and banker. Generally speaking, you should always be betting on the banker’s hand. Still, you can increase your average payout rate by following the baccarat cards that come out of the shoe and adjusting your bet size accordingly.
Find out how to count cards in baccarat to improve your odds of winning the game without cheats.
Understanding Card Counting in Baccarat
Following baccarat cards works much like a counting system for blackjack, except cards have different values that are a bit more difficult to remember. However, since you don’t have to learn the basic strategy you do in blackjack, it works out to be about the same amount of work for a similar payout rate.
You will keep a betting spread based on the size of the count that starts by betting three units along similar lines. Whenever the count gets to eight, you’ll increase it to somewhere between five and ten units. However, if the count gets to negative four or lower, you’ll drop your bet to just one unit.
How to Count Baccarat Cards
Here’s how the counting works for baccarat.
- Each time a card from ten through king comes off of the deck, then the count is increased by one. Aces, twos and threes add two to the count.
- Each four that comes off of the deck will warrant an increase of the count by five. This is because fours are so important.
- With all of this in mind, you’ll want to subtract one for each nine. Subtract three every time you see a five, seven or eight. For each six, subtract five from the count.
This is a complicated betting strategy that works based on card counting principles similar to those in blackjack. Because the rules for hitting hands are more complicated in baccarat. The counting system is a lot more complicated than standard systems for blackjack.
However, you can shave quite a bit off of the 1.06 percent house advantage on bets for the banker’s hand to win, and this will boost your overall chances of booking a winning session.
Conclusion
Baccarat is a fun game that players have traditionally relied on pattern tracking to try to win. However, the only proven way to get a better payout rate is to follow the baccarat cards that come out of the deck and to adjust your bets accordingly.
