Although theoretically, you can beat Baccarat by counting cards, the edge you get will be so small that it might not actually be worth your time, considering how much more complicated than card counting at a. The most-obvious way to beat baccarat is by cheating. Baccarat cheating methods include marking cards, past posting, and false shuffling. Marking cards is a simple cheating technique where you mark specific card values with ink so that you can later recognize them. Most players use an invisible ink that only be seen with infrared contact lenses.

You’re probably aware that you can count cards in blackjack and win money. Gamblers have been beating blackjack for decades through card counting.

However, baccarat card counting is far more low profile. The reason why is because it doesn’t generate many profits.

But you can make a fair amount of money when counting with a certain baccarat side bet. I’ll discuss more on how you can use this method later. First, though, I’d like to discuss why regular baccarat counting doesn’t result in big winnings.

The Problem With Standard Baccarat Card Counting

Some gamblers are shocked upon finding out that blackjack isn’t the only game that can be beaten through card counting. You can also earn long-term profits by counting baccarat games as well.

Of course, you need to learn the proper strategy before you’re able to make profits. If you put in the dedication, though, you can beat baccarat. However, there’s a big catch involved. You’re not going to make much money at all!

Maybe you still wouldn’t mind counting for fun once and a while if it were easy. However, counting this game is just as difficult as doing so with blackjack.

In short, you’re wasting time by counting cards in baccarat. You might as well just sit back, relax, and place the banker bet (1.06% house edge) every time.

Welcome to the Dragon Side Bet

You can see that baccarat isn’t a profitable game for advantage players (APs) under normal circumstances. No respectable AP will waste their time with earning $0.70 or less.

However, the Dragon side bet offers an interesting opportunity to make larger profits. I’ll discuss how you can count with the Dragon wager later.

First, though, I’d like to cover more on how this bet works. It features the following rules:

• You wager on whether the banker or player will beat the other side by a certain point margin.
• The banker or player must win with a “natural” (eight or nine on first two cards).
• Bets on larger margins of victory deliver bigger payouts.

The common pay table for both the player and banker side is as follows:

• Win by 9 = 30:1 payout
• Win by 8 = 10:1
• Win by 7 = 6:1
• Win by 6 = 4:1
• Win by 5 = 2:1
• Win by 4 = 1:1
• Anything else = Loss

Counting Cards With the Dragon Side Bet

You can see how the Dragon side wager works. Now, I’ll cover how it can help you make profits with card counting.

The first thing to realize about baccarat is that most casinos allow very deep deck penetration. In most cases, the dealer makes it almost to the end of an eight-deck shoe.

This deck penetration is significant when considering that you stand to win more money as a counter upon seeing additional cards. After all, your count will be more accurate towards the end of a shoe.

Casinos don’t allow this much penetration in order to stop blackjack card counters. But they have no problem doing so with baccarat when considering that normal counting methods don’t result in much profit.

However, this extra deck penetration can definitely help you win with side bets. You just need to know how to do so with the Dragon wager.

As mentioned above, player and banker dragon bets carry 2.65% and 9.37% house advantages, respectively. Therefore, you want to bet on the player’s side when counting.

Dr. Eliot Jacobson, a renowned gambling mathematician, has run the numbers on counting the Dragon bet. He notes that you want a shoe that’s rich in sevens, eights, and nines.

These cards increase the chances of your chosen Dragon side getting a natural. They should be assigned a point value of -1 when they come out of the shoe (bad for you).

Meanwhile, twos and threes are the worst cards for helping form naturals. Therefore, you want as few of these cards as possible. They should draw a point value of +1 when they’re dealt.

As with blackjack card counting, you’re looking for a positive count before raising bets. Upon determining a positive count, you should raise your wagers to capitalize.

What Kind of Edge Can You Gain With This AP Strategy?

The nice thing about counting cards in baccarat is that you don’t need to worry about much, if any, heat from the casino. Gambling establishments will let you count this game all day.

That said, you have a decent chance of walking away with profits at the end of the day when everything goes right. However, you shouldn’t expect to get rich with this strategy.

But this profit rate assumes that you get optimal deck penetration, where the dealer only leaves 14 cards undealt out of an eight-deck shoe.

Assuming the dealer places the cut card further up, then your profits drop. Here’s how much you can look forward to earning based on where the cut card is placed:

Can You Beat Baccarat Rules

• Cut card at 14 cards = $9.09 per hour
• Cut card at 26 cards = $6.75
• Cut card at 52 cards = $3.99
• Cut card at 104 cards = $1.50

Is Counting Cards With the Dragon Bet Worthwhile?

Counting the Dragon bet offers around the same profits as you’d earn when playing full-pay Deuces Wild with a quarter denomination. The latter delivers between $7 and $9 per hour under ideal conditions.

As an AP, you can earn up to a maximum of $9 hourly with the Dragon bet. Therefore, you can look forward to a decent profit when considering that casino games normally take money from you in the long run.

But is it worthwhile to actually go through all the trouble to make $9 each hour? I certainly wouldn’t say so.

You can make this same hourly wage with much simpler jobs. Dishwashers and convenience store workers earn this same amount. Why then, would you want to do something that’s much riskier just to make the same amount with a less stressful job?

The only reasonable answer is if you view winning at baccarat as a challenge and want to profit off your gambling hobby. In this case, making $9 each hour in the casino isn’t so bad.

However, you certainly shouldn’t quit your day job to capitalize on the Dragon bet. This opportunity just doesn’t offer enough money to make it worth your time.

Conclusion

Regular baccarat card counting is a complete wash. It calls on you to diligently count cards in pursuit of making pennies each hour.

But standard baccarat counting isn’t the only way to make money with this game. You can earn bigger profits through the Dragon side bet.

When you count and bet on the Dragon wager in the right manner, you can make upwards of $9 per hour. Much of your winnings, though, depend upon where the cut card is placed.

That said, you can make $9 every hour with ideal deck penetration. But you probably still don’t find this amount to be worth the trouble of counting cards in baccarat.

Baccarat is a simple game at its core. Guess which hand will win the round, and you receive a prize! Of course, that seeming simplicity melts away the more you pay attention. How cards combine to award points and when third cards are drawn can take a while to learn. However, unlike some other casino games, this does not give you an advantage.

Learning the rules of how baccarat hands are played changes nothing. All cards are drawn after you have already placed your bet. Even if you recognize the warning signs, you cannot do anything to stop it as you can in poker and blackjack. As a result, many punters try their luck at counting cards in baccarat to try to get some advantage. Does it work, or is it just another popular casino myth?

Can You Beat Baccarat Machine

The Basics of Baccarat

After all wagers are down, two cards are drawn for each hand. The cards are revealed, and their score is added up. The goal is for your hand to get as close to nine as possible without going over. Draw a five and a seven, and your final score will not be twelve, but two. The ace is only worth one point, while ten, jack, queen and king are worth zero points.

When third cards are drawn depends on the hand being played. Player hands usually draw one if they are worth five points or less. Banker hands are more complicated, as they depend on both the player’s hand and their own card values. Banker bets do have a higher chance of winning, which is reflected in our online baccarat strategy!

Does Card Counting Work?

It would not be an advantage immediately. However, as time passes and more cards are drawn, you could remember what cards are no longer in play. If you know troublesome cards that can push you over have all been drawn already, you could make bigger wagers with confidence. Great in theory, but downright impossible to actually pull off in practice.

The reason why? Online casinos know how to protect themselves from card counting. We do not think there is a single baccarat table that uses less than six decks at the same time. Most will default to eight, each with fifty-two cards. In both cases, you have a large sum of cards to keep track of. It delays the advantage you may get from using this strategy significantly.

Furthermore, online baccarat tables are usually powered using RNG software. As real decks are not in play, that means the machine can reshuffle those eight decks for every single round. There is no delay for reshuffling the decks either – it happens seamlessly every time you play a round. If you playing baccarat on an online casino table, then we can say for certain card counting will not work.

What About Live Casino?

There are many advantages to live dealer baccarat. However, card counting is not one of them. At first glance, it does seem possible to exploit the game. Unlike tables operated by computers, dealers cannot stop to reshuffle the deck every single time. Even if they used a machine, it would significantly slow down each round, making for a less exciting experience.

However, live casino software providers are anything if not smart. They borrow the multiple decks trick for their tables, too! When they shuffle their deck, it will be a random mishmash of cards from eight different decks. Furthermore, while they are not shuffled on every round, they are still shuffled frequently. This wipes away any progress you make with card counting.

How do I Beat Baccarat?

Keep in mind that no casino game is beatable. A few of them, like blackjack, come very close. Their house edges are less than one percent when played right, which is why they are as popular as they are. However, baccarat is not one of those games. It has a larger house edge, but makes up for it in its simplicity. You play this release to relax and occasionally win, not to go all-out on.

If you want to give yourself the best possible chance of winning, the Indiancasinoclub.in staff have two suggestions! First, check out our strategy guide for baccarat, which will help optimize your gameplay. Second and more important: have fun! Enjoy the game, do your best, and do not spend more than you can afford.