Baccarat The Best Way to Play Baccarat

Card counting doesn't work to get the player the edge. Henry Tamburin proved this. His research showed that even with a baccarat card counting system betting Bank 90 percent of the time was the best bet but this could not give you the edge.

If you have the money, playing in the high roller room at $100 per decision is probably the best (long term way) to go. If you sit out hands here and there, you will face maybe 30 decisions. With the low house edge your losses will be (over time) relatively small and you will get the show of a lifetime from superstitious baccarat players (they are legion!). Baccarat players sit out hands and take months to decide what to bet --- even though there are only three bets. (Ignore the Tie which is a waste of money.)

Mini-baccarat can come in with about 150 decisions an hour and with $25 minimums this can be an expensive proposition since you will not get the comps a $100 baccarat player will receive. You also won't get to handle the cards and take 800 years to decide which proposition to bet.

I think that played correctly baccarat can be a fun game with minimal losses. But losses there will be since there is no way to get an edge at the game.

 

Actually there IS some card-counting approaches that have some validity, especially for some of the new side-bets.
Also there was that John May bac-counting system, but it was pretty weak.

 

I think he had some kind of end play?

 

Yes - it was deep pene counting endplay.
Not worth much. One time Thorp himself appeared on the board and took him to task.

But he did succeed where Henry's Bac Lab came up short.

 

I like the game of baccarat in the high roller room. My technique is to look as if I am analyzing stuff when in reality I am doodling --- thus, games come to a halt. If I can get comps better than my expected losses (which I did) then it was worth a few hours of my time during a week in casino city. But my energy went into blackjack and craps. Video poker was dull for me because I do spend most of my time in front of a computer screen. Edge or no edge, just sitting in front of a screen doesn't stimulate me.

 

Hey look, it's Frank...

 

I'm not the one shooting.

 

I am relatively new to the game but basically look for a good biased shoe that favors 1's and 2's, or 2's and 3's and use Mr. Davis' NOR approach with 1 or 2 unit bets. Sometimes I just flat bet.

Don't know why but streaky shoes just freak me out. Haven't seemed to get a handle on it as dumb as it sounds. Seems as soon as I jump on board the streak, it stops.

I do OK but nothing to write home about, yet. I have found the more experience I gain with shoe selection, and when to get out when it changes, is raising my win percentage tremendously from when I first started.

 

There is no card counting system that works. Henry Tamburin did a great study of card counting at baccarat and found the best bet was almost always Bank. Streaks abound in all games. John May had an interesting way of playing but that required amazing intellectual abilities and unless you have a genius-level IQ this would be a method to pass by.

Just go with either the Bank or Player and skip the Tie.

 

Baccarat card counting can be viable with the use of asymmetry. For example, if an equal amount of twos and threes remain in the shoe, it favors the Player. I am working on a video to assist others.

 

Interesting...keep us posted.

 

blindfolded , its a guessing game,.i perfer bj atleast i can help myself

 

Yes, you CAN guess at it, but will likely loose way more than win. Find a shoe bias and exploit it if you want to win on a consistent basis. It's not that hard to do.

 

Thank you Michael. Now what, exactly, do you mean by shoe bias?

 

Good question.

 

The best way to play baccarat...at home for free!!

 

shake your majic 8 ball and see what comes up , its a guessing game

 

So do I have to look for balanced cards too?

 

Card counting does not work for baccarat like it does for blackjack. From Ed Thorpe to Michael Shackleford all concluded it as not feasible.


James Grosjean stated that: “baccarat counting is weak for several reasons: (1) The game is symmetric so that there are no cards that massively favor one bet or the other … (2) The initial advantage to overcome is greater in baccarat than in blackjack; (3) Baccarat is usually dealt from an 8 deck shoe, so the volatility of the edge is low; (4) A baccarat count cannot be used to increase playing efficiency, because the drawing rules are fixed.”

 

A shoe bias, to me, is one that exhibits one of three things in a predominate fashion. Choppy or opposites (1's and 2's), streaks or any one strong side, or a neutral (mostly 2's and 3's of both Player and Banker). I have a method of bet placement for each bias.

I wait and observe for the first 6-10 hands, then decide if I want to get in. I am usually in for about 20-30 hands on average.

I find I do best in neutral shoes but a good streak shoe will get you several units very quickly.

Note that shoes DO change! If it changes, get OUT. There are plenty of shoe choices in a casino.