Baccarat Rules: Card Values, Naturals and the Third-Card Chart
This is the complete rulebook for punto banco, the baccarat played in casinos and live-dealer studios worldwide — Evolution, Pragmatic Play and land-based tables all use the same drawing rules. If you have never played, start with how to play baccarat; come back here for the charts.
Learn faster by playing: our free baccarat game deals with these exact rules using virtual chips — no money, no sign-up.
1. Card values
| Card | Value |
|---|---|
| Ace | 1 |
| 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | Face value |
| 10, Jack, Queen, King | 0 |
A hand's total is the sum of its cards with the tens digit dropped — only the last digit counts. 8 + 7 = 15, so the total is 5. King + 9 = 9. 6 + 4 = 10, a total of 0, the worst possible hand (traditionally called "baccarat"). Totals therefore always run from 0 to 9, and a hand cannot bust.
2. The deal
The dealer gives two cards each to the Player hand and the Banker hand, alternating Player, Banker, Player, Banker. Each hand can receive at most one more card, and whether it does is decided entirely by the rules below — nobody at the table makes a choice.
3. Naturals: 8 or 9 stops everything
If either hand totals 8 or 9 with its first two cards, that is a natural and both hands stand. The higher total wins; 9 beats 8; equal totals tie. This check always comes first. Naturals end about 34.3% of rounds (the Player hand alone has one in 18.9% of rounds, the Banker hand in 18.9%).
4. The Player's third-card rule
| Player's two-card total | Player hand |
|---|---|
| 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | Draws a third card |
| 6, 7 | Stands |
| 8, 9 | Natural — nobody draws |
5. The Banker's third-card rule
If the Player hand stood on 6 or 7, the Banker hand follows the same simple rule: draw on 0–5, stand on 6–7. If the Player hand drew a third card, the Banker's action depends on its own total and on the value of the Player's third card:
| Banker total | Banker draws if Player's third card is | Banker stands if Player's third card is |
|---|---|---|
| 0, 1, 2 | Anything | — |
| 3 | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 | 8 |
| 4 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | 0, 1, 8, 9 |
| 5 | 4, 5, 6, 7 | 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 |
| 6 | 6, 7 | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 |
| 7 | — | Always stands |
Baccarat rules chart (Banker draw or stand)
The same rule as a grid — the chart many casinos print. Rows are the Banker's two-card total; columns are the Player's third card. D = Banker draws, S = Banker stands. The last column applies when the Player hand stood.
| Banker | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Player stood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| 3 | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | S | D | D |
| 4 | S | S | D | D | D | D | D | D | S | S | D |
| 5 | S | S | S | S | D | D | D | D | S | S | D |
| 6 | S | S | S | S | S | S | D | D | S | S | S |
| 7 | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S |
Across a whole shoe the Player hand takes a third card in 50.3% of rounds and the Banker hand in 43.5%. The chart looks arbitrary, but it is the reason Banker wins 45.86% of rounds against Player's 44.62%: the Banker hand acts second and its rule uses the information in the Player's third card.
6. Winning, ties and payouts
- The hand closer to 9 wins. Player bets pay 1 to 1; Banker bets pay 1 to 1 minus a 5% commission.
- Equal totals are a tie: Tie bets pay 8 to 1 (9 to 1 at some tables), and Player and Banker bets are returned.
- Commission exists because Banker wins more often — 50.68% of hands that are not ties. Without it the Banker bet would favour the player. See Banker or Player.
7. No-commission baccarat rules
There is no 5% fee on Banker wins. Instead, a Banker win with a total of 6 pays only 1 to 2 (half your stake). That happens in 5.39% of rounds, and it lifts the house edge on Banker to 1.46% — higher than Player's 1.24%. Some tables call this "Super 6" and offer a separate side bet on it.
8. EZ Baccarat rules
Also commission-free: a Banker win with a three-card total of 7 is a push for Banker bets (2.25% of rounds). The rest of the rules are unchanged, which puts the Banker edge at 1.02%. EZ tables usually add two side bets — Dragon 7 (Banker wins with a three-card 7, 40 to 1) and Panda 8 (Player wins with a three-card 8, 25 to 1). Odds for these: baccarat side bets.
What is not in the rules
- You cannot choose to draw or stand. (Players could in the older chemin de fer; punto banco removed every decision.)
- There is no busting, no splitting, no doubling down.
- The result of previous hands has no effect on the rules or on the next hand's odds, except the tiny card-removal effect of an 8-deck shoe.
Rules FAQ
Why does Banker sometimes draw on 6? Only when the Player hand drew a 6 or 7 as its third card. In that exact situation drawing gives the Banker hand a better result than standing — the whole table was built from comparisons like this, which is why it favours Banker.
What happens when both hands have naturals? The higher one wins — a natural 9 beats a natural 8 — and equal naturals tie.
Are the rules the same online? Yes. Live baccarat from Evolution and Pragmatic Play, speed baccarat and land-based punto banco all use this chart.
Is it 8 decks or 6? Usually 8. With 6 decks every figure on this page moves by less than 0.1 percentage point.
Want to see the rules at work? Record a real shoe with the free Baccarat Scoreboard app — it marks naturals and three-card 7s and 8s automatically — or watch live tables in the terminal.
Frequencies computed by Baccarat Terminal by enumerating every card sequence of an 8-deck shoe under these rules.