Live Baccarat | What is it and How to Play Baccarat
Baccarat is a simple casino card game where even beginners can get started and win real money. Beginners can settle for betting on the Banker bet and win some money while more seasoned bettors can implement betting strategies and take advantage of the low odds and low house edge of the game.
Playing live baccarat in live online casinos will allow players to see how the dealer handles the cards. Through live baccarat, gamers won’t need to worry that the game and the RNG is rigged towards the casino. More seasoned gamers can even try counting cards to get an edge.
Live Baccarat Rules
Live baccarat is a card game where the main objective is to guess whether the Player’s Hand or the Dealer’s Hand has the highest hand value or is closest to 9. In this game, the player only needs to place a bet and let the dealer handle everything.
The rules are focused on how the cards are handled. The first thing to keep in mind are the card values:
Each card’s value is represented by two digits with a “2” being read as “02” instead of simply “2.” Only the second digit is read so the value of a “10” is “0.” A hand consisting of a “4” and an “8” is then read as “2.”
Each round, a total of four initial cards are drawn and third cards are only drawn under certain conditions.
Baccarat Third Card Drawing Rules
In some cases, a third card can be drawn for either Player or Banker hands. The third card can turn an otherwise weak hand into a strong hand that can beat the other hand.
Player Third Card Drawing Rules
The Player’s hand only gets a third card when their total ranges from 0 to 5. If the starting hand’s value is 6 or 7 then the hand stands. An 8 or 9 is a natural.
Banker Third Card Drawing Rules
The rules for the Banker’s hand are far more complex to give an edge to the Banker and justify the lower house edge and the commission charged. The third card drawing rules depend on what the player’s third card is and what their initial hand is. The Banker Third Card Rule Chart is as follows:
| Player’s Third Card | The Banker Draws When Their Hand is | The Banker Stands When Their Hand is |
| 2 or 3 | 0-4 | 5-7 |
| 4 or 5 | 0-5 | 6-7 |
| 6 or 7 | 0-6 | 7 |
| 8 | 0-2 | 3-7 |
| Ace, 9, or 10-value card | 0-3 | 4-7 |
Basically, the Banker draws a third card when there is a high likelihood that the Player hand will end up with a weaker hand.
Baccarat Bets and Payouts
Most baccarat tables have the same baccarat bets available with some minor differences in the payouts or the naming. The most common bets found in baccarat tables, including those outside Evolution Gaming, are the following:
| Bet | Description | Payout |
| Player | Pays out when the Player hand wins | 1:1 |
| Banker | Pays out when the Banker hand wins | 0.95:1 or 1:1 |
| Tie | Pays out when a tie occurs | 8:1 or 9:1 |
| Player or Banker Pair | Pays out when the first two cards dealt to the player or banker, respectively, is a pair | 11:1 |
| Either Pair | Pays out when the first two cards dealt to either the player or banker is a pair | 5:1 |
| Perfect Pair | Pays out when two identical cards are dealt to the Player or Banker as their first two cards | 25:1 |
| Pays out when two identical cards are dealt to both Player and Banker as their first two cards | 200:1 | |
| Player or Banker Bonus | Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by a Natural | 1:1 |
| Pushes when the Player or Banker gets a Natural and ties | Push | |
| Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by 9 | 30:1 | |
| Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by 8 | 10:1 | |
| Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by 7 | 6:1 | |
| Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by 6 | 4:1 | |
| Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by 5 | 2:1 | |
| Pays out when the Player or Banker, respectively, wins by 4 | 1:1 | |
| Super 6 | Bet on the Banker winning with a total value of 6 | 12:1 |
The Super 6 bet usually only appears in no commission baccarat tables. When the Super 6 bet appears, the Banker Bet’s payout becomes even money and no commission is charged but then it pays out 1:2 when Banker wins with 6. The Super 6 bet mitigates this by paying out 12 times the initial stake.
Available BK8 Baccarat Games
BK8 Casino is powered by multiple live casino gaming providers, allowing it to offer multiple baccarat games with different rulesets and features to make them unique but still similar.
Classic Baccarat
The most basic baccarat game featured in multiple providers consists of the basic baccarat rules, with different providers offering additional side bets and others not offering side bets at all. Some gaming providers like AE Sexy and Dream Gaming offer Sexy Baccarat with toggles to the No Commission game mode but otherwise have no other differences except for having a dealer in bikinis handle the cards.
No Commission Baccarat
No Commission Baccarat is a variation of baccarat that changes the payout of the Banker bet by removing the commission charged per winning Banker bet. This is great for players who want to win more even money, but the downside is that winning Banker bets with 6 will only pay half the stake.
In several providers, No Commission isn’t a separate table but a game mode that can be toggled while playing the classic game.
Speed Baccarat
Speed Baccarat is a variation that works similarly to Classic Baccarat, except that a single round is shorter. A standard round in most tables last 48 seconds while Speed Baccarat only lasts for 27 seconds.
Lightning Baccarat
Lightning Baccarat is a variation by Evolution Gaming that introduces multipliers attached to certain cards. These multipliers are 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and 8x. A maximum of 512x the original stake can be won when the player has lightning cards in their winning hands. A lightning fee of 20% the original stake is paid once bets are played.
FAQs
Conclusion
Baccarat is a good game to play for beginners and it’s easy to get started with playing this game. Gamblers can take advantage of the Banker bet and make more money with it while using certain betting systems and strategies that focus on limiting losses and increasing winnings.
Beginners can stick with the banker bet and place a flat bet every time or they can test out certain betting systems to see if they’ll win more money through them. The only strategy that players will think of here will revolve on which bet they’ll make and how much they’ll bet.
Try playing baccarat at BK8 Casino today.
