You've walked past those baccarat tables a hundred times. The velvet ropes, the serious-looking players, the quiet intensity of it all. Maybe you figured it was a high-roller thing, or too complicated, or just not your scene.

You figured wrong.

Baccarat offers the lowest house edge of any table game in the casino. Lower than blackjack unless you're counting cards. Lower than craps. Way lower than roulette. And the best part? You don't have to learn a damn thing about strategy because the game plays itself. You pick a side, the dealer does the rest, and the math works in your favor more than almost anywhere else on the floor.

The Quick Hit

• What it is: Bet on Player, Banker, or Tie — whichever hand gets closest to 9 wins
• House edge: 1.06% on Banker, 1.24% on Player, 14.36% on Tie
• The move: Bet Banker every time, never touch the Tie
• Skill required: None whatsoever

How the Game Actually Works

Two hands get dealt — one called "Player" and one called "Banker." These names don't mean anything. You're not the Player. The casino isn't the Banker. They're just labels for two competing hands.

Your only job is to bet on which hand will end up closer to a total of 9. That's the entire game.

Cards count like this: numbered cards 2-9 are face value, tens and face cards are worth zero, aces are worth one. If your total goes over 9, you drop the first digit. So a 7 and an 8 make 15, which becomes 5. A king and a 6 make 6. An 8 and an ace make 9, which is called a "natural" and is the best possible hand.

After the initial two cards are dealt to each side, there's a set of rules that determines whether a third card gets drawn. The dealer handles all of this automatically — you don't need to memorize anything or make any decisions. The third card rules exist, they're based on the totals, and you can look them up if you're curious, but knowing them won't change your odds one bit.

Once all cards are dealt, whoever's closer to 9 wins. Bets on the winning side get paid. That's baccarat.

The Math That Makes Baccarat Worth Your Time

Casino games are defined by their house edge — the percentage the house expects to keep from every dollar wagered over time. Lower is better for you.

The Banker bet carries a 1.06% house edge. You pay a 5% commission on wins, which sounds annoying but the math still works out to the best odds in the game. The Banker hand wins about 45.86% of the time, ties excluded.

The Player bet has a 1.24% house edge with no commission. It wins about 44.62% of the time. Some people prefer it because they don't like seeing that 5% shaved off their wins. That's an emotional preference, not a mathematical one.

To put these numbers in perspective: single-zero roulette has a 2.7% house edge. American roulette is 5.26%. Most slot machines run somewhere between 5% and 15%. Even the craps pass line, which has a reputation as a smart bet, sits at 1.41%. Baccarat's Banker bet beats them all.

Then there's the Tie bet. Don't make it. The house edge is 14.36%, which is atrocious. Yes, it pays 8:1 when it hits. No, that payout doesn't come close to compensating for how rarely it happens. Ties occur about 9.5% of the time, and the casino has priced the bet to absolutely destroy you over any reasonable sample size. The Tie bet exists to separate tourists from their money. Leave it alone.

The Only Strategy You Need

Bet Banker. Every hand. That's it.

You'll see people at baccarat tables hunched over little scorecards, tracking results, looking for streaks and patterns. The casinos encourage this — they provide the cards and display recent results on electronic boards. It keeps players engaged and feeling like they're doing something smart.

They're not. Baccarat has no memory. Each hand is dealt from a shuffled shoe, and the previous results have exactly zero influence on what comes next. If Banker has won twelve hands in a row, the probability of Banker winning the thirteenth hand is still 45.86%. The streak means nothing. The patterns mean nothing. The scorecard is a toy.

Betting systems don't work either. Martingale — where you double your bet after each loss — doesn't change the house edge. It just rearranges your variance so you win small amounts often and lose catastrophic amounts occasionally. Same goes for Fibonacci, Labouchere, and every other system you've seen promised in a YouTube ad. The math doesn't care how you structure your bets.

The Banker bet has the lowest house edge. Bet it consistently and let the favorable odds do their work over time.

Managing Your Money

Since baccarat requires no game decisions, the only thing you actually control is your bankroll management.

Decide what you're willing to lose before you sit down, and treat that as a hard limit. When it's gone, you're done. No ATM trips, no "just one more shoe." Set a win target too — maybe you walk when you're up 50%, or when you've doubled your buy-in. Having exit criteria on both ends keeps sessions from spiraling.

Bet sizing matters. Something like 1-2% of your session bankroll per hand gives you enough runway to absorb the natural swings without busting out early. Baccarat moves fast, especially mini baccarat, and you can play a lot of hands per hour. Smaller bets mean more time at the table and more chances for the low house edge to work in your favor.

Different Flavors of Baccarat

Mini baccarat is what you'll find on most American casino floors. Same rules as the big game, lower minimums, faster pace. The dealer handles all the cards and keeps things moving.

Full-size baccarat has higher minimums and a slower, more ceremonial feel. Players take turns handling the shoe and dealing cards. Same math, different vibe.

EZ Baccarat eliminates the 5% commission on Banker wins but adds a rule where Banker winning with a three-card total of 7 becomes a push. The house edge changes slightly, but it's still a good game.

If you play online, the math is identical whether you're clicking buttons against an RNG or watching a live dealer stream. Just stick to licensed casinos that actually pay out.

Myths Worth Ignoring

"The Tie is due" — no it isn't. Each hand is independent. Nothing is ever due in a game of pure chance.

"Switch bets based on streaks" — streaks are retrospective observations, not predictive signals. The cards don't know what happened last hand.

"Card counting works" — technically you can gain a tiny edge (maybe 0.1%) by tracking card removal, but the advantage is so small and appears so infrequently that you'd need thousands of hours to show a profit. This isn't blackjack. Don't bother.

The Short Version

Baccarat gives you the best odds of any table game in the casino. You don't need to learn any strategy because the game has fixed rules. Bet Banker, ignore the Tie, set your limits, and enjoy a game that's actually designed to give you a fighting chance.

The high rollers figured this out a long time ago. Now you know too.