6 Baccarat Variations Worth Exploring

Baccarat is one of my favorite casino games, but not because of the gameplay.

I love baccarat because it requires no skill to play. Also, baccarat offers some of the best odds in the house.

Stick with the banker bet, and you face a house edge of only 1.06%.

But over the years, multiple variations of baccarat have become available.

In this post, I explain six variants of baccarat you might want to try. Learn more below.

1 – 2 to 1 Baccarat

You might not know this about Australians, but they love to gamble more than just about anyone else. The only exception might be some Asian countries. These are just a few observations about cultural norms and demographics.

In Melbourne and Perth, the Crown Casinos have a baccarat game specifically aimed at low rollers. 2 to 1 Baccarat has, among other things, lower betting limits than regular baccarat games.

2 to 1 Baccarat plays just like regular baccarat, but with a couple of differences. First, you don’t get charged the 5% commission on your winning bets.

Second, if you have a winning three-card totals, the player and banker bets both pay off at 2:1.

Finally, all ties are losses rather than pushes.

These rules change the house edge pretty dramatically. The house edge for the player bet is 3.62%, and the house edge for the banker bet is 2.2%. The best strategy is to stick with the banker bet.

2 – 7 Up Baccarat

7 Up Baccarat is an Asian variation of baccarat where the player hand always starts with a 7. As you can imagine, this has some significant implications for the probabilities of the game.

If you run into this variation, you won’t even get a first card. The card with the 7 is just printed on the felt of the table. The player hand is dealt an additional card for a starting hand.

The banker hand gets two cards just like in a regular baccarat game. The drawing rules play out according to the usual standards of real money baccarat.

The player bet pays off at 1:2 odds if the player gets a total of 7; otherwise, it’s still an even money payoff.

The banker bet pays off at 9:5 if the banker gets a total of 7. This also pays off at even money if the banker has a different total.

Ties are still treated as a push, and if you bet on the tie, the payoff is 7:1. If you have a 7-point tie, you get a 9:1 payoff instead.

7 Up Baccarat also offers a side bet called “super sevens.” The more 7s that appear on the table, the more this side bet pays off.

The player bet in 7 Up Baccarat has a 2.6% house edge. The banker bet has a 2.56% house edge, so it’s better, but not by much. The tie bet is still the worst bet on the table with a house edge of 4.05%.

The side bet has a house edge of 8.86%, so it’s best avoided unless you just really like playing for a big payoff. In a hand where a half dozen 7s hit the table, you get a 700:1 payoff on this bet, but that hardly ever happens.

3 – Baccpo

This is another Australian baccarat variant, and the idea behind this one is that it’s a hybrid of baccarat and blackjack. I would have though, with a name like “Baccpo,” it would have been a hybrid of baccarat and poker, but no.

You play against the dealer and the scoring works just like in regular baccarat. You get two cards, and the dealer gets two cards—one face-up, the other face-down, just like when playing blackjack.

You get to decide whether you stand or take another card.

Once everyone has played their hand, the dealer shows her hand. If she has 5 points or less (or a pair of 3s), she hits. Otherwise, the dealer stands.

The scoring is the same as in standard baccarat, but ties work differently. If a hand has three cards versus a hand of two cards, it wins even if the scores are tied.

Also, a three of a kind consisting of 3s is the best possible hand an automatic win. It’s analogous to a blackjack, but it pays off at 3:1 instead of 3:2.

7-point hands for the player that win only pay off at 1:2 odds, so if you bet $100 on a hand, you’d only win $50.

9-point ties result in the player winning. Other ties are treated as a push. With a push, your bet gets returned to you, but you don’t get any winnings with it.

As with blackjack, Baccpo has a basic strategy. If you use perfect basic strategy, the house edge for Baccpo is 3.02%.

The game also has a couple of optional side bets but skip those. The house edge on those bets is too high.

4 – EZ Baccarat

EZ Baccarat is a reasonably popular variation of baccarat that changes the banker bet. Instead of taking a 5% commission, the banker bet pays off at even money.

Also, any time the banker bet wins with a total of 7, it’s treated as a push instead of a win. A push is a tie result, so you don’t lose any money, but you don’t win anything either.

The house edge for the banker bet in EZ Baccarat is only 1.02%, making this variant slightly better for the player.

EZ Baccarat also features two side bets:

• Dragon 7
• Panda 8

The Dragon 7 bet is a bet that the banker wins with a total of seven on three cards. It pays off at 40 to 1 odds, but the house edge is 7.61%.

The Panda 8 bet is a bet that the player wins with a total of eight on three cards. It pays off at 25 to 1 odds, but the house edge is 10.19%.

You shouldn’t take either of these side bets, but if you do take one, take the Dragon 7 bet.

5 – Lucky Draw Baccarat

Like Baccpo, Lucky Draw Baccarat is a hybrid of baccarat and blackjack. It uses the same rules for scoring as baccarat, but you play against the dealer and have the option to double down like you do in blackjack.

You start by making an “enter” bet. You can make an optional side bet, the “block bonus” bet, too.

You get two cards, and the dealer gets two cards. As in blackjack, one of the dealer’s cards is face-up, and the other is face-down.


You can then make a draw bet or stand.

If you make the draw bet, you’re basically doubling down just like you would be in blackjack. Your second bet is the same size as your first bet, doubling the amount of money you have in action.

And you get one (and only one) additional card, just like you would if you’d doubled down on a blackjack hand.

The dealer shows their hole card after the players finish their hands. If they have 4 points or fewer, they must hit. Otherwise, they stand.

The higher total dropping the first digit wins.

There’s one additional wrinkle, though.

The enter bet always pays even money, but the draw bet pays off based on your total.

If you have a total of 9, you get 3:1. With a total of 8, you get 2:1. A total of 7 earns you a 3:2 payout, and any other winning total pays off at even money.

As with blackjack and Baccpo, there’s a correct basic strategy for the game. If you play according to basic strategy, the house edge is 3.34%.

The house edge on the block bonus side bet is 5%, so it’s not the worst side bet in the casino.

It’s still not a bet worth placing, though.

6 – Three-Card Baccarat

In Three-Card Baccarat, the banker hand and the player hand start with three cards each instead of just two. Jacks, queens, and kings take on special significance in Three-Card Baccarat, too.

The jacks, queens, and kings are all “face cards.”

Scoring is done just like in regular baccarat, but ties are broken according to the number of face cards in each hand.

If the point totals and the number of face cards in each hand are the same, the result is a push.

Finally, a 6-point win is only for a 1 to 2 payout. If you bet $100 on the hand, you’d only win $50.

Several side bets are available in Three-Card Baccarat are available, too, but the odds on all of them are lousy.

Conclusion

Baccarat now comes in many different flavors, and the six variations listed here barely scratch the surface of what’s available. When you visit a casino in a different state or different country, expect to see other variations.