Live Baccarat

Baccarat is a favorite entertainment for millions of gamblers around the globe, and the most popular card game in Asia. Live dealer baccarat run by a human croupier offers a brand new experience and brings a genuine Vegas atmosphere right to a computer or mobile device.

Basics of live casino baccarat

At present, live baccarat online is developed by Extreme Gaming, Microgaming, NetEnt, Ezugi and other globally known software suppliers that may have different ideas about how to arrange gaming elements on the screen and what features to integrate into the game. Anyway, on entering a live dealer baccarat you will see a window for a live video stream of a human dealer standing or sitting behind a baccarat table and dealing cards. There is a row of chips of various denominations beneath the table, and bets are placed by clicking on a relevant chip and then clicking on a desired table field. Table limits may vary across casinos, but the betting maximum in baccarat is normally higher than in other live games and may reach dozens of thousands of euros. Another feature that is pretty much standard in live baccarat is a scoreboard that shows history of latest coups (a coup is a proper term for a round of baccarat play).

Rules of online casino live baccarat

Like blackjack or roulette, baccarat has a few variants, but the overwhelming majority of live dealer casinos stick to the conventional rules of punto banco, the most popular baccarat game. Baccarat is usually played with eight 52-card decks in the shoe (without joker cards). A player has three betting choices:

  • to bet that the Player’s hand will win;
  • to bet that the Banker’s hand will win and;
  • to bet on a tie.

After the stakes are placed, the croupier deals two cards face-up each to the Player and to the Banker. In some cases, the croupier deals one more card to the Player and/or to the Banker, following the Third Card Rule. A winning hand is determined by summing up card values in each of the two hands. Cards from 2 through 9 are counted at their face values. Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings are worth zero; and Aces are worth 1 point. Besides, if the total goes over 9 points, then the rightmost number in a digit is taken as a final result for that hand. E.g., a hand consists of a Seven and a Five: 7 + 5 = 12 = 2 points; or a hand consists of two Fives: 5 + 5 = 10 = 0 points. The above may seem a bit complex but the baccarat rules are actually quite simple to understand.

A winning bet on the Player pays out 1 to 1; a winning bet on the Banker pays out 0.95 to 1, and; a winning bet on the Tie pays out 8 to 1. So placing $1 on the Tie can bring an $8 win. Besides, many live dealer baccarat games accept side bets, e.g. Perfect Pair, Either Pair, etc., which adds diversity to the gameplay.

How to play live baccarat for real money

Most games played in a live dealer format are included into online casino offerings. So to play live baccarat for real money a player needs to sign up, create an account at a preferred online casino and fund an account with some money. Anyway, newcomers who wouldn’t mind taking some practice, may just watch the gameplay without taking a seat at the table. A free play mode is rarely allowed to seated players.

Bonuses for live baccarat players

Baccarat is commonly excluded from wagering requirements for the bonuses offered at online casinos, so a live baccarat fan will hardly find a promotion or a regular bonus that applies to betting in baccarat. Anyway, a few online casinos do run daily/weekly tournaments and other events that baccarat players are welcome to join in.