Thread: Baccarat Has the Lowest House Edge of Any Casino Game

It is no secret that casinos operate with a "House Edge" or advantage against the player. This is a fact of life, whether you are playing at The Luxor in Las Vegas, The Venetian in Macau or online at websites like Zodiac Casino or BetUS in your pyjamas. Casinos aren´t registered charities. They are businesses, and the way they make their money is to charge a fee or margin for people to carry out transactions in their casino, much like a bank would. In poker, this is called the rake. You´ll pay a certain fee for the dealer to deal you a hand. A casino will keep a percentage of the overall money placed on bets for itself. This money does not go into the pot that pays out the winnings: it goes to the casino to run its business.

That much is general knowledge. What I always find surprising, is not that people play at casinos- it is great entertainment and there are winners as well as losers- it´s that often people tend to play the games that are the most "expensive" to play, i.e. that have the biggest house advantage.

If you are going to play at a casino, in my view, you are better off playing those games that give you the best odds, or at least play a mix of games that are weighted to those games that offer the best odds.

Let´s take a look at online baccarat, for example. The baccarat banker bet carries a house advantage of just 1.1%. This compares to American Roulette, for example, that weighs in at a hefty 5.3% and keno that scrapes off an eyewatering 25%. You´ll get even better odds if you play blackjack. BUT, you´ll need to play to a perfect strategy (i.e. stand at the correct time to give yourself the best chance of beating the banker). Baccarat is a reasonably simple game- there is little room for error, so it is easy to play to a perfect strategy.

Well, what you've mentioned is one of the reasons that Baccarat is so popular, particularly with high stakes players and high roller casino players, as it offers one of the lowest house edges in the casino. Often you will see baccarat rooms in Vegas and Macau cordoned off from the public. There is glamour surrounding this game- that's because generally baccarat is popular with the big time players and there is generally alot of money flowing around (not to mention the beautiful people).

But play baccarat online (my favorite is at VIP Casino), and you'll sidestep all of the velvet ropes stopping access to the general public. Your best bet is the banker bet as the house edge is a mere 1.17%, while the casino tax for a player bet is slightly more, but still a reasonable 1.35%. Don't bother with the tie bet. Although the payout is higher (8:1, compared to 2:1) the house edge is a lot steeper at 14%.

8-deck bj favors the house by .6%, half the house-edge on baccarat, but involves doubling down, splitting pairs, and insurance, which on average requires twice(?) the initial bet to achieve that .6%. Therefore the 'actual' house-edge is about the same for the two games, at 1.25%. (The house-take is the same for each game given the same initial bet on each.)

In baccarat however, the player may be more selective of when to bet, lowering the 'actual' house-edge to say, .4% from 1.25% if the player bets, on average, every third game. The player doesn't have to also "follow the action", act in turn, or be "responsible" for others' losses; and, the swings in those losses are more-extreme. No one is truly an expert of the game, so anyone can make any play at any time w/o judgement. And the prolific cheating going on at bj tables is almost unheard in baccarat.

'Actual' house-edge varies even when one considers the tie-outcomes. The house-edge on the banker is 1.17% not considering ties, but 1.06% when factoring in the ties. Some authors record the chances one way while some, the other. (I used the 1.17 to 1.36% numbers above, to arrive at 1.25% between.)

Lastly (, and beyond the scope of this post,) the upshot is, if a player's overall strategy relies (in some part) on picking his/her spots, and given that strategy works, then the starting, regular, house-edge of 1.25% (on any "hand" played) really becomes the 'actual' house-edge of, if waiting to the extent here, .4%. Great if you can get it!

Don't know what the exact house edge is in blackjack, but there is one reason I don't play it. There are 4 scenarios: 1. You're high Dealer's low
2. You're low Dealer's high 3. You're in He busts 4. You bust He's in
and... the main reason... your bust... he busts. Once you bust the dealer wins regardless of whether he busts after you. That just kills the game.

As for Baccarat. They now have minibaccarat with NO commission offered at the Edgewater Casino in Vancouver, Canada. It's probably offered elsewhere, but as far as I can see, that makes the odds dead even. All other rules are the same, except a super 7 bet is offered for bank.(bank has to win). If it hits and you are on bank, but not on the super 7, then it's just a push. The odds of it hitting are about 60/1716 and even when a third card 7 total shows it doesn't win half the time.

Originally Posted by immuctids

Baccarat is a reasonably simple game- there is little room for error, so it is easy to play to a perfect strategy.

Pray tell, what is the perfect basic trategy for Baccarat.

Archer

Good job Garnabby!

It seems that folks think that losing 1% or even .4% is NOT a lot of money.

Archer

Originally Posted by garnabby

8-deck bj favors the house by .6%, half the house-edge on baccarat, but involves doubling down, and splitting pairs, which on average requires twice(?) the initial bet to achieve that .6%. Therefore the 'actual' house-edge is about the same for the two games, at 1.25%. (The house-take is the same for each game given the same initial bet on each.)

In baccarat however, the player may be more selective of when to bet, lowering the 'actual' house-edge to say, .4% from 1.25% if the player bets, on average, every third game. (And of course, in baccarat the player doesn't have to also "follow the action", act him/herself in turn, or be "responsible" for others' losses; while the swings in those losses are more-extreme.)

'Actual' house-edge varies even when one considers the tie-outcomes. The house-edge on the banker is 1.17% not considering ties, but 1.06% when factoring in the ties. Some authors record the chances one way while some, the other. (I used the 1.17 to 1.36% numbers above, to arrive at 1.25% between.)

Lastly (, and beyond the scope of this post,) the upshot is, if a player's overall strategy relies on picking his/her spots, and given that strategy works, then the regular house-edge of 1.25% really becomes the 'actual' house-edge of here, .4%. Great if you can get it!