Understanding How Baccarat Odds affect Strategy

The first thing any Canadian gambler should do prior to sitting down at the table is learn how to calculate baccarat odds. Believe it or not, this is actually a simple process and it is vital for forming a strategy. So, what are the odds in baccarat?

Player and Banker Hands

There are only three different wagers here; individuals can bet on the player's hand, the banker's hand, or a tie. The first two of these options have odds that are very similar but the banker wins marginally more at about 50.38% of the time. Player hands win slightly less frequently at about 48.98% of the time, and all of the other wins are ties. Now, although the tie pays out nine to one or eight to one depending upon the venue and table, the odds of winning are incredibly slim since the house has an edge of more than 15%

Is Card Counting a Viable Option?

Many people note that this title bears a lot of resemblance to blackjack and therefore believe that a card counting strategy may be helpful to them. No matter how well an individual understands baccarat odds, there are never any personal choices to be made. In blackjack, people get to choose whether or not they want to take an additional card. With baccarat, all of this is dictated by the house rules and individuals have no say. This means that all people can really do is make an educated guess as to which hand will win.

Money Management

Since card counting isn't really an option here as individuals make absolutely no decisions during play, the only thing that anyone can really do to protect his or her investment of sorts is manage the bankroll carefully. The first rule here is to avoid tie wagers since these almost never pay out and, even when they do, the winnings rarely make up for losses. Thus, placing even money wagers on the other options is always going to be the best bet. For the most part, this is a game of luck and there is very little that anyone can do in terms of strategy otherwise. The absolute best advice is to bet on the banker every single time because, despite the rake of up to 5%, this wager has a better return in a mathematical sense.

Betting Strategies

One thing that individuals can do if they really want to form some kind of strategy is to employ one of the many betting systems that are commonplace in the gambling circuit. The Martingale system, intended to be used only with even money bets, is one of the simplest to use and understand. Here, people will start out with a base wager of one unit ($1 for illustrative purposes) and increase the wager by one unit after each loss. So, if a player loses four hands in a row and wins the fifth, he or she has essentially made up for the previous four losses.