Online Baccarat - Learn To Play Baccarat

Online Baccarat is an extremely popular casino game that is well liked particularly amongst the high stakes crowd. All of the casinos that are listed in our high limit online casinos section offer great baccarat games to players with good payouts and odds. As a game, baccarat is really not as complicated as it may seem and basically involves making one of three bets on either the player, dealer or a tie hand. The game is a favourite amongst Asian gamblers in addition to high rollers and is a very social game that incorporates round table play giving the game a great atmosphere for players. Below you will find our top recommendations for which online casinos to play baccarat at as well as the associated sign-up bonuses for real money baccarat players.

Best Online Baccarat Casinos

For players who enjoy playing baccarat in live casinos, playing online offers the same great experience and high limits with the added benefit of being able to play discretely from the comfort of your own home. Traditionally, baccarat games in land based casinos are synonymous with large crowds along with lots of smoke and yelling. Playing baccarat online allows the player to alleviate all of these annoyances and enables them to purely focus on their game and place smart wagers to increase their chances of winning. In the chart below, you will find the best rated casinos by real baccarat players who play frequently online and suggest these as their top choices.

Icon	Baccarat Site	USA	Bonus	Bonus Type	Baccarat Games	Play
	Rushmore Casino		$888	100% Match	Yes
	Cherry Red Casino		$777	100% Match	Yes
	Bodog Casino		10%	Unlimited	Yes

All of the casino sites that you see listed above have the best baccarat games online and offer the game across a variety of software platforms including instant no download play, which is particular good for players that are travelling or wish to be discrete in their play and do not want to download any software to their computers. Next we are going to take a look at how the game of baccarat works along with the rules and bets for players who may not be as familiar with the game but want to learn how it is played.

Baccarat Rules, Bets & Strategy

The game of baccarat is played at a round style table much like a craps and blackjack table with a bunch of players sitting around the betting spots and up to three casino dealers at the table. The game of baccarat works like a combination of poker and blackjack as the player and dealer are dealt two cards and the object of the game is to get a two or three card hand that has a total value closer to 9 than the dealer (depending who you are betting on). In baccarat, players at the table may bet on either the player, dealer or a tie. Respective payouts are 1-1 (minus 5% commission) for a bet on the banker, 1-1 for a winning bet on the player and 8-1 for a winning bet on a tie (in which case banker and player bets will push). The important thing to note about baccarat is that the dealer is actually a player at the table who deals two hands (one to the player who has the biggest bet on the player position at the table, and one for themselves as the active dealer for the time being). In this sense, baccarat is similar to craps in that the dealer rotates around the table and is switched either once the dealer losses a hand or in the case that a player does not want to be the dealer and they pass the deal to the next player at the table. Let's now take a look at how the game works with respect to card values and hand totals to give you a better understanding of exactly how to play.

Baccarat Card Values & Rules

The value of the cards in baccarat are quite simple and are valued as follows; cards 2-9 will be taken at face value, cards 10, J, Q, K count as 0 and an Ace counts as 1. If the the total value of the hand is over 10 than you will drop the 10 to give you the true hand value. For example, in a hand where the player receives 8 - 7, the original value of the hand will be 15 but dropping the 10 we get a real value of 5. This takes a little getting used to but once you have it mastered it's a snap. Now that you know the card values, below is how the flow of the game works along with the rules for both player and dealer decisions:

The object of the game is get as close to a 9 value as possible
Game begins by the banker (dealer) giving himself and the player (highest bettor on player box) two cards face down that represent their hand
Player then looks at the cards and gives them back to the dealer who will expose both hands for everyone at the table to see
If either the player or banker's hand total value is 8 or 9, they must stand with the hand
If the player's hand has a value of 6 or 7 they must also stand on the hand
If the player is forced to stand (6, 7, 8 or 9 value) then the dealer must hit with a value of 5 or less
If the player's total hand value happens to be 5 or less, then they must take a 3rd card dealt by the banker
If the player takes a 3rd card, the banker will also take a 3rd card if:
- The banker's hand total is 0, 1 or 2
- Banker's hand total is 3 and players hand value is anything but 8
- Banker's total is 4 and player's total is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- Banker's total is 5 and player's total is 4, 5, 6, 7
- Banker's total is 6 and player's total 6, 7
- Banker's total is 7 then banker must stand
Once the final hand values have been determined according to the above rules, the person with the closest hand to 9 will win the hand
In the event of a tie, anyone betting on a tie will be paid 8-1 and all other bets will push