How to Play Baccarat Online for Cash Money

1. Set Up an Online Casino Account

You can play baccarat on countless websites and mobile apps, but most of them don’t offer real money editions of their games. A true online casino is one that offers cash games, meaning you can deposit money to wager with, and withdrawal winnings following a lucky session. Because you are dealing with real money – and an activity that is largely regulated – you must register a user account with true, verifiable identification. Is short, you  must use your real name, address, date of birth, etc., and that information must correspond with the info associated with the payment method you choose to deposit/withdrawal.

That being said, you  need to be selective in choosing an online casino to play at. Canadian player acceptance is a must, but there’s much more to be considered. Support options, payment methods, game variety – these are all important, too. Most of all, though, the operator must be reputable and licensed in by a respected gaming authority. I strongly urge you to read this next section before choosing an online casino.

• Crash Course in Online Casino Safety & Security

2. Learn the Game

Before you start playing baccarat, you need to know the rules of the game, inside and out. The way a hand is played might seem complicated, but the good news is you don’t have to do any of it yourself. The dealer will handle everything for you. That being said, here are the basic rules of the game:

The Game: A hand of baccarat features two hands – the Banker’s Hand and the Player’s Hand. Each hand is dealt two cards to start, with the possibility of being dealt more cards depending on their current totals.

Calculating Hand Value: A hand’s value is calculated by adding the values of its cards together. Anytime the value reaches or exceeds 10, you will subtract 10 from the value.

• Example 1: 9 + 5 = 14. Since 14 exceeds 10, you subtract 10 for a new total of 4 (e.g. 14 – 10 =4).
• Example 2: K + J = 20. Since 20 exceeds 10, you subtract 10, but this still leaves you 10. You must subtract 10 again for a total of 0.

The Winning Hand: The winning hand is the hand with the highest value. The highest possible value is 9; the lowest is 0.

Betting on Baccarat: Based on this game play, there are three basic bets that can be placed. You can bet on the Banker Hand, the Player Hand, or a Tie.

• Banker Bet – Wins if the Banker’s hand value is higher than the Player’s. Pays 1 to 1, minus 5% commission on winning bets.
• Player Bet – Wins is the Player’s hand value is higher than the Banker’s. Pays 1 to 1.
• Tie Bet – Wins if the Player’s and Banker’s hand value are the same. Pays 8 to 1.

3. Understanding House Edge & Strategy

Now that you know the rules and the potential bets you can place in baccarat, you need to understand the odds of winning or losing each of those bets. Knowing the house edge will help you  make the right decisions when placing your chips on the table.

The fact that you must pay a 5% commission on winning baccarat bets leads to one very obvious piece of information. The Banker is more likely to win than the Player. The odds of each bet winning are as follows:

• Banker Bet – 45.8%
• Player Bet – 44.6%
• Tie Bet – 9.6%

In order to bring the house edge on Player and Banker bets closer together, a 5% commission is charged on all winning Banker bets. This results in a house edge per bet of:

• Banker Bet – 1.06%
• Player Bet – 1.24%
• Tie Bet – 14.36%

By this assessment, the proper strategy to win baccarat more often is to always bet on the Banker. Here are some additional tips that may help further improve your game.

• How to be a Better Baccarat Player
• Winning Online Baccarat the “EZ” Way

4. Set Realistic Expectations

Like all games of chance, the house always has an edge. This means that, according to the laws of mathematical probability, the casino is going to win more often than you do.

The theoretical return to player (RTP) on a Banker bet, after the 5% commission is taken, is 98.94% (i.e. the opposite of its house edge of 1.06%). this means that, theoretically, and over a very long period of time, you can expect to lose 1.06% of all the money you wager on Banker bets, and win back 98.94% of all those wagers. Overall, that’s a loss.

The only thing that’s going to help you win more money than you lose is not strategy, but sheer luck. Those lucky rendezvous at the casino can be profitable, but only if you know when to walk away and cash out.Setting a realistic goal means choosing a fair profit margin that you’ll be happy with, and quitting if you reach it.

A fair goal wold be somewhere between 10% and 20% profit. Anything less would hardly be worth the effort, and anything higher would require an awful lot of luck. If you set a 15% goal and bring a bankroll of $1,000, you would need to walk away the moment your bankroll reaches $1,150. After all, wouldn’t you be happy with an extra $150 in your pocket?