Live Dealer Baccarat Games and Options – A Comprehensive Playing Guide

Introduction

Baccarat is a traditional and straightforward game to play. However, over time, the game has received many modifications, and we’ve seen the most in Live Dealer games, where there’s been a mission to increase payouts and betting options.

Every live casino provider offers Baccarat. Some provide many versions, and others offer streamed tables from land-based casinos. Many have side bets, and some don’t even use Cards!

This guide describes all the versions, compares them with each other, and recommends where to play live baccarat online.

How Live Baccarat has Developed

Baccarat is an old game that emerged in France. The most popular form is Baccarat Punto Banco, developed in Havana. It’s a two-person zero-sum game where the player bets on whether the player or the banker’s hand will win. Punto Banco became synonymous with Baccarat. If you see this game called one or the other, it’s the same thing.

The game is famously associated with countries in the Far East, where tradition and superstition play a significant role in playing the game.

When Live Dealer providers first started developing Baccarat games, they began with a fundamental two-handed game. Side bets were quickly added, followed by a No-Commission version, where the player and Banker receive 1:1 payouts. A tradition was introduced with squeeze technology, allowing players to squeeze or reveal cards on the table virtually. These slower games spawned a range of Speed Games, where time was reduced by dealing the cards face up, including the third card if required.

When multiplier Cards were introduced, payouts increased. This led to further enhancements as innovative ways were found to deliver this functionality.

Finally, the cards were removed from the table and replaced with dice, and the outcome of the dice roll determined the winner.

Additionally, some suppliers put live streams into land-based casinos where you can play alongside the general public as they pit their wits against the house.

Live Baccarat – A Brief “How to Play Guide”

The objective of Live Baccarat is to predict which of two hands, The Player or The Banker, will win by having a hand value closest to 9.

The online version uses either 6 or 8 decks of 52 playing cards.

The most popular is the 8-deck game, which makes it slightly more difficult for card counters to gain an edge over the house.

Read more in my Live Baccarat Playing Guide.

Calculating Hand Values

The playing cards are assigned the following values:

Hands values are calculated by adding the values of the cards together.

If the sum produces a double-digit number, the hand is given the value of the second digit.

For example, if the hand adds up to 13, the value of the hand is 3.

Dealing The Game

The game commences with both the Player and Banker positions being dealt two cards.

The value of each hand is then calculated.

A hand with a total of 8 or 9 “a natural” wins automatically and the game ends.

A third card can be drawn depending on the value of the initial hand.

There are some specific rules for this, in summary, if the hand is valued at 0 to 5 a third card is taken. If it’s 6 or 7 no more cards are dealt.

If the value of each hand is the same then a Tie is called.

In most games, this will result in the initial bets being returned to the players as a Push.

The hand that is the highest in value wins.

Playing Tools

Baccarat Roadmaps, which are used by players to record the past outcomes of each hand are created automatically by the playing software.

If you don’t use them you can choose not to display them.

Be sure to read Wikipedia’s comprehensive overview of Baccarat. They do a far better job than I ever could of explaining its history and customs.

Payouts

Standard Baccarat games all offer the same pay-outs. There are some differences, especially in games like Bet On Baccarat and No Commission Baccarat, which I’ll cover later.

There’s also a range of side bets like Pairs, Big/Small, Super 6 to name a few. You can get more information about them on my Baccarat Side Bets and game options page.

Baccarat Games – A List of Every Game Type

There’s not one type of Baccarat; there are many Baccarat Games. All follow the same rules, but the enhancements and side bets differentiate them, delivering a more unique playing experience.

The list below includes every variety of live baccarat games, some of which you already know about and some that may be new to you.

For each, I’ve provided a quick description and a recommendation of where to see it and play.

Most Live Casino Providers produce Baccarat, so I’ll discuss the game in general terms. The games are so similar that it doesn’t matter which provider you choose; when you get into the more unique games, your choices of where to play become more limited.

My casino recommendations generally include ones with multiplier suppliers, so you have several options to try.