Baccarat is another of the low edge house games offered by online casinos. It is a favorite of high rollers in live casinos and is also very popular on the Internet online casinos. Baccarat rules are very simple for the player, as all they have to do is decide which bets to make before the hand is dealt. The player can bet on the Bank, the Player or the Tie hand. Once that decision is made, the rest of the game is automatic and the dealer finishes the hand based on the house rules for the game. Each player including the dealer is dealt two cards. Each card counts its face value between ace and nine. Ten and face cards are counted as a count of ten. The values of the two cards are added together and the last digit of the addition is what the hand is worth. A total count of nine or eight is called a Natural and that hand will not be given a third card. Neither will a seven count be dealt a third card. The players hand is dealt a card based on what the dealer shows with one card and the players count. Two face cards add up to twenty and therefore the count for that hand is zero, the last digit of the total. If the cards added up to sixteen, the count for that hand would be six. The player has to hit counts like zero, one, two, three, four and sometimes five depending on the card the dealer is showing or dealt. The game is automatic and the player does not make any decisions after selecting their bet. The game is all about the closest to nine and the high count wins. If the hands, the Players hand and the Banks hand add up to the same count, the hand is considered a tie and any tie bets are paid off at odds of eight to one. This tie bet can make or break a winning session sometimes and we will discuss playing for ties later.

Most Baccarat players follow the shoe on their bets, hoping to catch a run of winning hands on that side of the shoe. Lets say that the Bank won the last hand, the better would then bet on the Bank hand in hopes that more winning Bank hands will follow. It is not unusual to see a number of winning hands on one side of the shoe or another without the break of a losing hand. Shoes have been dealt where there were twenty or more winning hands on one side of the shoe.

A rule that this author follows about betting the tie is this. Do not bet on the tie until the first tie is dealt. Some shoes have a great number of tie hands and some may only have one or two. By waiting to see the first tie hand, the better is saved a number of losing bets if there are few ties dealt in the shoe. This is the idea behind waiting for the first tie hand to be dealt.

Another idea for playing Baccarat is the small progressive wager on the hand following a winning hand. The idea here is to make money on a run of hands that stays on the Bank side or the Players side. If the run approaches six or seven winning hands, a player could cut the bets back until the losing hand is finally dealt.

Do not fight a rush on one side or another and do not give up on a rush that is super strong. There is no reason to believe that a shoe with ten winning players hands cannot win again. It is not logical, but is caused by the fear of losing. If you are afraid, cut the bet, but do not change the side of the shoe for the next bet.