Baccarat Strategy

Baccarat strategy is often said to be non-existent. Not so. There are a number of things you can do to increase your odds of winning this game, and there are a number of things you can avoid doing. Many people will give you advice on what they would call a baccarat strategy. Unfortunately the majority of the time these are myths.

The first thing you notice about baccarat at land based casinos, is that almost everyone at the table is tracking the results of each hand on scorecards. These people are pattern chasing, or pattern spotting.

Quite simply they are looking for patterns in the outcomes of the hands. You may ask why. If so you may be intelligent! There is no rhyme or reason to use pattern spotting as a baccarat strategy, it's simply superstition. Where is the rational behind thinking a randomly shuffled shoe of eight decks is going to follow distinct patterns?

So although you may see everyone around you marking down numbers, take it as entertaining company, but don't be fooled into participating. Think about it, would the casinos provide everyone with a pencil and chart if they were really worth anything?

Card counting is another technique that people attempt to utilize as a baccarat strategy. This method is usually associated blackjack, and involves keeping track of cards that have been played from the shoe in order to gain an advantage against the house. This sounds awfully promising considering the nature of baccarat. As more cards are played from the shoe, the more you know about the cards that are left. But even though cards can be shown to be mathematically favorable or unfavorable, the effect is miniscule.

Unlike blackjack you can't alter your bet mid-hand. Using card counting as a baccarat strategy finds so few situations with an advantage against the house that the efforts overall are worthless. Baccarat can be considered a coin toss played with a lot of fanfare. Don't let this impression lure you towards systems that involve doubling your bet until you win. Streak analysis or pattern spotting is also useless, but serves as entertainment in a game where the simplicity can produce monotony. Looking at the numbers the odds are always better if you bet on the banker. Does this mean you should always bet on the banker? Technically yes. Practically, perhaps not. This baccarat strategy would be undeniably boring, and so you wouldn't be playing for very long. Remember, the house does have an edge, even though it is relatively small for baccarat. This means that in the long run the house will win, undeniably.

The point here is, although the casino does have the advantage in the long run, baccarat provides a rare opportunity for short term success. Try to escape with your winnings and don't chase your losses. Never lose track of how much your betting per hour, this is your best possible baccarat strategy.