Baccarat is the top game I suggest for inexperienced gamblers because it’s extremely easy to play well and the return is as high as you can get without using complicated strategies. But there are some reasons why baccarat isn’t a popular casino game.
If you play baccarat the way that gives you the highest rate of return the game is boring. It’s so boring that I rarely play anymore. And this is only 1 of the reasons why some gamblers hate playing baccarat.
Here’s a list of the top 6 reasons why some gamblers don’t like playing baccarat.
The Most Boring Game Ever Invented
Baccarat is simple because you only have 3 bet choice and there isn’t a strategy that changes the return numbers. 1 of these bets is better than the others, so the best way to play baccarat is to only make this bet. The best bet is on the banker hand.
I’m a firm believer in playing each casino game or gambling activity in the single best way to maximize my return. This means that when I play baccarat I only make 1 bet.
While I don’t gamble because I’m looking for excitement, this doesn’t mean that I want to bet bored either. It’s a little more exacting if you change things up every once in a while, but I can’t do this because I understand that when I change things up it costs me money.
So I sit at the baccarat table and make the same bet over and over. And the truth is that this is the most boring thing in the world to me. The person that works for the casino that deals the cards in baccarat does everything.
They deal the cards, total the scores, collect bets and pay out bets. All you do is sit there are make a bet on every hand. This is so boring that it makes the game hard to play for long.
Live Baccarat Plays Fast
Baccarat has a good rate of return. It’s better than most casino games in this area. But the casinos aren’t worried about offering a high return for a couple reasons.
The first reason is that even with a smaller edge than some other games, the casino still has an edge. And the casino knows that nothing you can do is going to erase their edge.
The second reason is because the casino knows that baccarat plays faster than most of the other table games that they offer. When a game plays faster it means that they take more in total wagers, and they know that the bigger the handle they take the more they win.
If you play a game that plays 50 hands every hour and bet $25 on every hand you risk $1,250 every hour. If you play a game that plays 80 hands every hour and bet $25 on every hand you risk $2,000 every hour.
When the casino has a 1.5% edge on the $1,250 the casino wins $18.75. With a 1% edge on the $2,000, the casino wins $20. This shows why the speed that baccarat plays at is bad for you.
Online and Mobile Baccarat Plays Even Faster
Baccarat play in a live casino is slowed down by the need for the dealer to deal cards and take care of the bets. This is still faster than most other casino table games, but it does limit the number of hands that you can play every hour.
Online real money baccarat doesn’t use a dealer and the bets are collected and paid out almost instantly. So instead of playing 80 hands an hour you can play 500 or 600 hands every hour.
You just saw an example of how the speed costs you more money when you play fast games. And if you play 8 times as many hands every hour online or in a mobile casino it can quickly take your money.
The only advantages that online or mobile baccarat offers is the ability to control how fast you play and the ability to make smaller bets. You need to take advantage of both of these advantages when you play mobile and online baccarat.
You don’t have to play too fast. You can slow down your rate of play. And you should always make the lowest bet amounts that you can when you play baccarat.
The Tie Baccarat Bet Is Worse Than Slot Machine Games
I explained in the first section that there’s only 1 baccarat bet you should make. The player bet isn’t as good as the banker, but it’s still better than many other bets available in the casino. But the tie bet is so bad that I don’t know why anyone ever makes it.
Actually, I know why some gamblers make the tie bet when they play baccarat. It offers a higher than 1 to 1 payout so it looks good. But the real reason why some gamblers make the tie bet is because of ignorance.
They simply don’t know how bad the bet really is. You have to look at the return number for a bet to judge how bad it is, and the tie bet has a bad return. With a return of 85.64%, the tie takes your money at a terrible rate.
To put this in perspective, you lose $14.36 of every $100 you place on a tie. This is worse than the return on most slot machines, and slots have the worst return in most casinos. The only games that might be worse in casinos are keno games.
High Table Minimums in Most Casinos
Baccarat used to only be available on big tables in private rooms where high rollers played. These tables had high minimum bet amounts, often starting at $50 or $100 per hand.
Casinos found a way to offer baccarat to gamblers that wanted to bet less by coming up with mini baccarat. Mini baccarat is played using the same basic game on a smaller table. The return is the same of both games, but the bet limits are smaller on a mini baccarat table.
But the bet limits are still too high. Even if you can bet $10 per hand, you’re risking too much. And some mini baccarat tables have a low bet limit that starts at $20.
Even the banker bet has an edge for the casino. This means that the casino is winning every time you make a bet. If you want to lose less you have to bet less. This is why high table minimums are bad for you and every other baccarat player in the world.
The best option is to play mobile and online baccarat at places that offer lower bet limits. You can play baccarat for $1 a hand in some of these casinos, and this is what you should do. Just don’t play too many hands every hour when you play video baccarat.
Blackjack Can Be Better In the Most Important Way
I’ve talked about the return numbers and house edge a little in previous sections. And the smart thing to do when everything else is the same is gamble on games that have a high return and low edge. And this is where blackjack has an advantage over baccarat.
The Return on Banker Bets Is Slightly Under 99%
The return on some blackjack games is 99.5% or better. This doesn’t look like a big difference, but it adds up to a lot when you consider how much in total you’re risking when you gamble.
Blackjack is harder to play using the best strategy that’s required to achieve a higher return, but it’s worth the extra work to get a better return. The best course of action is to learn how to play blackjack instead of baccarat.
Not all blackjack tables offer a better return than baccarat, so you have to learn what rules set you need to play. And you have to play blackjack using the right strategy. But this is what you should do.
Conclusion
Baccarat has a lower edge for the casino than most other casino games, but to play it the right way it ends up being the most boring game you can play. Baccarat also plays at a fast rate that ends up costing you too much money and online baccarat is even worse.
The tie wager is 1 of the worst bets in the casino, falling behind many slot machines. While there are some mini baccarat tables in some casinos, many casinos only have baccarat available in high limit areas. This makes the minimum bet size too large for most casual gamblers.
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for GamblingSites.org since early 2016. …
