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How to Play Baccarat: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Baccarat is the simplest table game in any casino: you place one bet, the dealer follows fixed rules, and a round is over in less than a minute. There are no decisions to make after you bet, so learning the game really means learning four things — the three bets, how cards are counted, when a third card is drawn and how winners are paid. This guide walks through a full round step by step, then shows three example hands you can check yourself.

Want to try as you read? Open the free baccarat practice game in another tab — same rules, 10,000 virtual chips, no money and no sign-up.

The version played in almost every casino and live-dealer studio today is punto banco (sometimes called American or mini baccarat). Everything below applies to it, including online tables from Evolution and Pragmatic Play. For the complete rulebook and the full drawing chart, see Baccarat Rules & Third-Card Chart.

What is baccarat? The goal in one sentence

Two hands are dealt — one called Player and one called Banker — and you bet on which hand will finish closer to 9, or that the two will tie. The names are only labels: you are not "the player", and you are not playing against the banker. Anyone at the table can bet on either hand.

The word itself is usually traced to the Italian baccara, "zero" — a reminder that tens and picture cards count as nothing in this game.

Step 1 — Choose one of three bets

If the round ends in a tie, Player and Banker bets are simply returned — a push. You neither win nor lose. Many tables also offer side bets such as pairs, Dragon 7 and Panda 8; those are optional and covered in baccarat side bets explained.

Step 2 — Two cards to each hand

The dealer deals two cards to Player and two to Banker, alternating: Player, Banker, Player, Banker. In live and online games the dealer handles every card; at some land-based tables players take turns squeezing and revealing them, but the rules are identical.

Step 3 — Count the totals

Card values are simple: Ace = 1, 2 to 9 = face value, and 10, Jack, Queen, King = 0. Add the cards and keep only the last digit. A 7 and a 6 make 13, so the hand is worth 3. Two nines make 18, worth 8. A hand can never be worth more than 9, so there is no "bust" as in blackjack.

Step 4 — A natural ends the round

If either hand totals 8 or 9 with its first two cards, that is a natural. Nobody draws, and the higher total wins (9 beats 8; equal naturals tie). A natural appears in about 34% of all rounds, which is why so many baccarat hands are over after four cards.

Step 5 — Maybe a third card

Without a natural, the Player hand draws a third card on a total of 0–5 and stands on 6 or 7. The Banker hand then follows a fixed table that depends on its own total and on the Player's third card. You never decide anything; the dealer applies the rule automatically. Across a shoe the Player hand takes a third card in about 50% of rounds and the Banker hand in about 44%. The exact table is in the third-card rule chart.

Step 6 — Compare and get paid

The higher total wins. A winning Player bet is paid 1 to 1, a winning Banker bet 1 to 1 minus the 5% commission (a $10 winning bet returns $9.50 profit), and a winning Tie bet 8 to 1.

Three example hands

1. A natural. Player gets 4 + 5 = 9. Banker gets King + 7 = 7. The Player hand has a natural 9, so no more cards are drawn. Player wins.
2. Player draws, Banker stands. Player gets 3 + 2 = 5 and draws a third card, a 10, so the total stays 5. Banker holds 6 + Jack = 6. With 6, the Banker only draws if the Player's third card was a 6 or 7 — it was a 10 (worth 0), so Banker stands. 6 beats 5: Banker wins. At a no-commission table this particular win (Banker with 6) pays only half.
3. Both draw. Player gets Ace + 3 = 4, draws a 6: 4 + 6 = 10, worth 0. Banker has 2 + Queen = 2; Banker always draws on 0–2 and receives a 5, for 7. Banker wins with a three-card 7 — the exact hand that is a push for Banker bets in EZ Baccarat and wins the Dragon 7 side bet.

Baccarat rules at a glance

If you only need the baccarat rules in one place: eight decks are usually used; Ace counts 1, 2–9 count face value, and 10 and picture cards count 0; only the last digit of a total counts. Two cards go to Player and two to Banker. A total of 8 or 9 on two cards (a natural) ends the round. Otherwise Player draws on 0–5 and stands on 6–7, and Banker draws by a fixed table that depends on its own total and the Player's third card. The hand closest to 9 wins; Banker wins pay 0.95 to 1 after the 5% commission, Player 1 to 1, Tie 8 to 1. The full rulebook and drawing chart are on the baccarat rules page.

Which bet should a beginner make?

On the numbers, the Banker bet is the best standard bet: even after the 5% commission its house edge is 1.06%, against 1.24% on Player. Banker wins more often because it acts second — its drawing rule "sees" the Player's third card. The Tie pays well but carries a 14.36% edge at 8 to 1, more than ten times worse. Detailed comparison: Banker or Player? and baccarat odds and house edge.

What that means in money: flat $10 bets on Banker for 100 hands cost about $10.60 on average (1.06% of $1,000 wagered). The same 100 bets on Tie cost about $143.60. No bet in baccarat has a positive expected value, and no pattern, progression or "road reading" changes these numbers — they come from the fixed drawing rules. Our baccarat strategy guide shows what you can and cannot control.

Common beginner mistakes

• Betting Tie because "it's due". A tie comes about once every 10.5 hands on average, and the next hand does not know what came before. It is common to go 20 hands without a tie (about 13.5% of the time).
• Doubling after every loss (Martingale). It does not change the edge; it turns many small wins into rare, very large losses. See do betting systems work?
• Treating the scoreboard as a forecast. The big road shows what happened. It is excellent for keeping track of a shoe, not for predicting the next card. See how to read the big road.
• Side bets as "cheap lottery tickets". Pairs, Dragon 7 and Panda 8 carry house edges between 7.6% and 10.4%.

Baccarat variants you will see

• Mini and live baccarat — same rules, the dealer handles all cards, lower minimum bets.
• Speed baccarat — same rules, faster rounds of roughly 25–30 seconds.
• No-commission baccarat — no 5% fee, but a Banker win with a total of 6 pays only half. Banker's edge rises to 1.46%, so Player (1.24%) becomes the lower-edge bet.
• EZ Baccarat — no commission; a Banker win with a three-card 7 is a push. Adds the Dragon 7 and Panda 8 side bets.

All of them use the same card values and the same third-card rule. Details and odds for each: speed, mini, live, EZ and no-commission baccarat.

Keeping track of a shoe

Most players keep a scoreboard of the shoe — the bead plate and the big road. Our free Baccarat Scoreboard app draws the bead plate, big road and the three derived roads as you tap P, B or T, marks pairs, naturals, Dragon 7 and Panda 8, and saves every shoe by date, with no login. Online, the live terminal records every Evolution and Pragmatic Play table automatically.

FAQ

All percentages on this page were computed by Baccarat Terminal by enumerating every possible card sequence of an 8-deck shoe (416 cards) under the standard punto banco drawing rules.