Baccarat Strategy

If you think that card-counting will help you win at blackjack, you are going much to out of your way to win at this fun, high-stakes game.  Although card-counting does help to minutely lower the House Edge at times, this extensive practice is too risky and draining to see it through to the end.  Rather, there are a handful of simpler actions you can take to help increase your odds of winning at the baccarat table.

First of all, look for baccarat games that offer 6 deck games and commissions of 4%.  These two factors will bring the House Edge down to a very favorable .6%.  Most casinos play with 8 decks and a 5% commission, which brings the House Edge in at 1.06%.  Although this is still very good, if you are resourceful enough to find a casino offering baccarat with fewer decks and smaller commission, you would be wise to play there. (Of course supposing the casino is a trusted establishment to begin with)

Regardless of what the House Rules are at the baccarat table you decide to play, one sure thing you can do is bet on the Banker Hand more than the Player Hand.  Looking at the big picture, the Banker Hand has a slightly lower House Edge than the Player Hand (even with a 5% commission).  The difference is small though, meaning that a player need not bet on the Banker Hand every single time.  Smart baccarat players generally bet on the Banker Hand most of the time, but slip in bets on the Player every so often.  Developing an intuition for probability of events is a good skill to be used here, which is the reason why some players propose to use card counting at the baccarat table.  If you insist on doing the same, a wise tip to follow is to take note of the four's and sixes.  When more sixes than fours have been drawn, the Player Hand has a slightly better edge, whereas when more fours are being burned than sixes, the Banker Hand has a slight edge.

Last but not least, use good bankroll management skills while at the baccarat table (which includes having a good awareness of what size stakes are the most harmonious with your bankroll).  Set yourself losing limits at the very least, and try to not use any betting system that is designed to help you recoup losses.

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