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Baccarat is a game where very little skill is needed, but strategy still plays a part. Our baccarat strategy guide covers the basics well; we suggest reading it. However, most baccarat tips and tricks are just that – advice and good practices to help you have a better time. They won’t necessarily make you win every round or get millions in profits.
With that out of the way, we should also point out that you should know the baccarat rules before reading further. Our live baccarat tutorial is a great first step for any beginner. Anyway, if you want to play Baccarat live online and be good at it, here are three important tips.
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Here are the top three tips for playing Baccarat: Avoid the Tie Bet No Matter What, Avoid Live Zero Commission Baccarat, and Betting Systems Only Get You So Far.
Avoid the Tie Bet No Matter What
Every tie bet in Baccarat has just under a 10% probability of winning. That would have been fine if the payout was 10:1. The payout would match the risk, leading to a solid expected value and a decent RTP.
However, that’s not the case. Tie bets typically pay 8:1, which is abysmal compared to the risks involved. This comes out to a 14.4% house edge, which is unreasonably high.
Of course, there are baccarat tables that pay 9:1 for Tie. The situation here is a bit better, but it still doesn’t work out. Tie bets on such tables have a house edge of 4.8%, much better than 14%. However, it’s still not good enough compared to just over 1% for Banker bets. Even with the best rules available, it’s still not worth it.
In short, the tie bet strategy in Baccarat is quite simple – don’t play it, ever. Some players might want to place it for the same reasons for playing side bets –to keep things interesting. There’s some merit to that, but we don’t recommend doing so unless you get a 9:1 payout. Even then, only bet on a tie, considering you’re not playing optimally.
Avoid Live Zero Commission Baccarat
Our strategy guide goes in-depth about picking the best live baccarat games. This topic has more ins and outs, but the gist is simple. No commission tables remove the 5% commission on Banker bets. To compensate, any Banker bet that wins with a total hand value of 6 only wins 0.5:1. That sounds great, but the math doesn’t check out.
No Commission Baccarat is strictly worse than Baccarat, with a 5% commission on banker bets. The reasoning is simple – regular Banker bets boast an RTP of 98.94%, and playing without commission drops this to 98.56% RTP. It’s as simple as that.
Of course, it’s worth noting that this only affects the Banker side. Player bets have the same RTP as Ties and any side bets.
Betting Systems Only Get You So Far
Using the Martingale in Baccarat is sometimes presented as a great strategy. That’s not completely false – betting systems in Baccarat do have their merits. However, we have to note some important things.
First of all, Martingale is nowhere near the best strategy for Baccarat. It’s not even the best stake system. In short, it puts you in great danger, often called the ‘Risk of Ruin.’ Essentially, Martingale works well until it suddenly doesn’t. A string of losses can exponentially increase the stake needed to cover for them. The chances of this happening are quite low, yes. But if you play Baccarat regularly, it will happen sooner or later. Instead, try finding safer systems that leave more room for error.
Secondly – and important – baccarat systems do not increase your chances of winning or losing. The RTP of Baccarat stays the same no matter what. These systems were intended to stay one step ahead of your losses. However, those losses always catch up with you in the long run. You end up with the same profits (or losses) as you would without a system.
On the bright side, there is a point to using them. Live casino money management is very important, and systems are one way of doing that. Our baccarat tip is to use flat betting. It achieves as much as any other system but is easier and more reliable.
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