Baccarat strategy

Baccarat is the simplest big game in the casino to play and one of the cheapest. You bet on Player, Banker or a Tie before any cards are dealt. Then the dealer plays out both hands by fixed rules. You never decide whether to draw. That means baccarat strategy is all about bet selection. The difference between the best bet on the layout and the worst is more than 13 percentage points of house edge. This guide covers standard Las Vegas Punto Banco with 8 decks, plus EZ Baccarat.

How to play

1. Bet on Player, Banker or Tie, plus any side bets.
2. The dealer deals two cards to Player and two to Banker, alternating: Player, Banker, Player, Banker.
3. Each hand is scored. Aces count 1, 2 through 9 count face value, and 10s and face cards count 0. Only the last digit of the total matters, so 7 + 8 = 15 counts as 5.
4. If either hand has 8 or 9 (a natural), no more cards are drawn.
5. Otherwise, Player draws a third card on 0–5 and stands on 6–7.
6. Banker then draws or stands by the table below.
7. The total closest to 9 wins. If the totals are equal, it’s a tie, and Player and Banker bets push.

Example: Player has K♠ 6♥ (6) and Banker has 4♦ 9♣ (3). No natural, so Player stands on 6. Player stood, so Banker draws on 3 and gets the 5♠. Banker now has 8 and wins.

Drawing rules

The Player hand draws on 0–5 and stands on 6 or 7. With 8 or 9 on either hand, no one draws.

If Player stood (no third card), Banker draws on 0–5 and stands on 6–7.

If Player drew a third card, Banker follows this table:

“Player’s third card” means its point value, so a 10 or face card counts as 0. A quick way to remember the middle rows: Banker 4 draws on 2–7, 5 on 4–7 and 6 on 6–7. The bottom of the range climbs by two each time, and the top is always 7. You don’t have to apply any of this yourself, because the dealer does. Knowing it lets you follow the hand and catch a rare dealing error.

Payouts

All figures are exact for an 8-deck shoe. Casino Coach computes them by enumerating every possible hand, and they match the Wizard of Odds figures.

How the bets work:

• Commission: a $20 Banker win pays $19.
• Ties: a tie pushes Player and Banker bets.
• Pairs: pay when the first two cards of that hand are the same rank. K-K counts, K-Q doesn’t.
• Dragon Bonus: a natural win pays 1 to 1 and a natural tie pushes. A non-natural win pays by margin: win by 9 pays 30 to 1, by 8 pays 10, by 7 pays 6, by 6 pays 4, by 5 pays 2 and by 4 pays 1. Anything else loses.
• Dragon 7: pays when Banker wins with a three-card 7.
• Panda 8: pays when Player wins with a three-card 8.

Off the top of an 8-deck shoe, Banker wins 45.86% of hands, Player 44.62% and Tie 9.52%.

Strategy

Bet Banker

Banker wins more often than Player because it acts second, with the drawing table above. That edge is big enough that even after the 5% commission, Banker is the cheapest bet in the game at 1.06%. Player at 1.24% is a perfectly good second choice. It costs only 0.18% more.

Skip the tie

The tie pays 8 to 1, but it only hits about 9.5% of the time. That gives the house 14.36%, more than thirteen times the Banker edge. If you ever see a 9-to-1 tie, the edge drops to 4.84%. That’s better, but still four times worse than Banker.

Treat side bets with caution

The only side bet anywhere near the main game is Dragon Bonus on Player at 2.65%. The same bet on Banker is 9.37%, so if you play Dragon Bonus, put it on Player. Pairs (10.36%), Dragon 7 (7.61%) and Panda 8 (10.19%) are expensive at any normal moment in the shoe.

EZ Baccarat

EZ Baccarat removes the commission. Instead, a Banker win with a three-card 7 is a push on Banker bets. The Banker edge falls slightly to 1.02%, and Player stays 1.24%. Ties at EZ tables pay 8 to 1. If you have the choice, EZ Banker is the single best bet in the baccarat family.

Wizard of Odds has shown that Dragon 7 and Panda 8 can be beaten in theory with a count late in the shoe. The edge only appears on a small share of hands, and the returns are low and swing a lot. Wizard calls it “not a practical threat.” If you study it, do it in your head only. Using any device to track cards at a real table is illegal.

Patterns and scorecards don’t predict

Casinos post roads beside every baccarat table, and many players fill in scorecards by hand:

• The bead plate records every result in order.
• The big road puts each streak in its own column. Ties are marked with a green slash.
• Derived roads like the big eye boy mark whether the big road is repeating its shape (red) or turning choppy (blue).

They’re a big part of baccarat tradition, and reading them is fun. But they are pure history. The shoe has no memory. A run of six Banker wins doesn’t make Player “due”, and a choppy shoe doesn’t stay choppy. No road, pattern or betting progression changes the edge on the next hand. Raising your bet after a streak only changes how much you risk.

Common mistakes

• Betting the tie at 8 to 1. It costs about $13.30 more per $100 bet than Banker.
• Betting Player or Banker Pair. About $9.30 more per $100 than Banker.
• Betting Panda 8 without counting. About $9.17 more per $100 than EZ Banker.
• Putting Dragon Bonus on Banker instead of Player. About $6.72 more per $100.
• Chasing streaks. Betting more because “it’s due” changes nothing but your swings.
• Forgetting the commission. A $20 Banker win pays $19, not $20.

House edge explained

The main bets are close to even because the drawing rules are fixed and nearly symmetrical. Banker’s small advantage from acting second is balanced by the 5% commission (or, in EZ Baccarat, by the three-card-7 push). The tie and most side bets are where the house makes its money. Their payouts fall well short of the true odds.

Best bets: EZ Banker (1.02%), Banker (1.06%) and Player (1.24%). Worst bets: the 8-to-1 tie (14.36%), Pairs (10.36%) and Panda 8 (10.19%).

Variations to look for: a 9-to-1 tie cuts that bet’s edge from 14.36% to 4.84%. EZ Baccarat trims the Banker edge to 1.02%. Road displays and scorecards don’t change any edge.

Practice in Casino Coach

Casino Coach deals Punto Banco or EZ Baccarat from a full 8-deck shoe with a real burn and cut card. You can choose an 8-to-1 or 9-to-1 tie, and the bead plate, big road and big eye boy are drawn as you play, each with a note that history doesn’t predict. In Trainer mode, every bet is graded on selection: Banker and Player pass, and other bets are marked with their extra cost over Banker. A hidden side-bet count panel shows the Dragon 7 and Panda 8 counts and the exact EV for the cards left. Five drills build table fluency: Drawing rules, Hand totals, Payouts, Bet edges and Read the road. Analytics compares your Banker, Player, tie and natural rates with the long-run theory. Chips are free, so train until the drawing table feels obvious.

Updated October 24, 2026