How to Win Baccarat Online: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Baccarat is a card game brings to mind high-rollers, sophistication, and glamour, thanks in part to its portrayal in the movies. In real life, however, players can wager reasonable amounts of money whether they decide to go to a land-based casino or opt for a live baccarat casino on the Internet.

Keeping bankroll losses to a minimum is part of any baccarat strategy; fortunately, this is not that difficult to do. One of the best things to do is to learn about mistakes that players typically make in an online baccarat game in order to avoid making those same errors. Here are some of them.

Playing Too Fast

Compared to other table games in a land-based casino, baccarat normally plays faster. However, there is a limit to the number of hands that can be played in an hour. Typically, it is less than 100.

In contrast, many more hands can be played every hour in an online baccarat game. In fact, it isn't uncommon to see 500 hands or more hourly. Going at this rate increases a player's risk.

To illustrate, a gambler who bets $2 a hand and plays 500 hands in an hour is exposed to a total risk of $1,000. If the house edge is 1%, the player stands to lose $10 each hour he or she is playing baccarat online. Playing slower in online baccarat therefore lowers a player's risk and losses.

Placing Overly Large Bets for Each Hand

There is a direct correlation between the size of the bet and the size of the loss. To put it simply, the larger the bet, the larger the loss. This is why the table minimum is the recommended bet size in live casino baccarat.

The principle applies not only to baccarat but also to many other casino games when the player does not have an edge. Unless players are effectively utilizing advantage gambling techniques such as card counting, they do not have an edge.

If a player bets $300 on a hand and the casino has a house edge of 1%, he or she loses $3 on the hand on average. But if the player wagers $10 on a hand, $.10 or ten cents on the hand on average. These are the averages over many hands, but in the long run, these are ballpark figures of how much players can lose every time they place a bet.

Choosing to Bet on the Player

One of the most useful baccarat tips is to avoid betting on the player. Many players make the mistake of choosing this bet because the house levies a 5% commission on the banker bet.

However, what some players fail to take into account is that the banker bet is actually the safer bet. Despite the 5% house cut, the payout over the long term is favorable since the house edge is lower. The player bet will win 49.32% over time compared to the banker bet's 50.68%. It's a small difference, to be sure, but one that can result in steady gains in the long run.