By way of comparison, the Banker bet in baccarat offers a 1.06% house advantage, while the Pass Line bet in craps has a 1.41% house advantage; neither wager requires any decision-making. This is the casino's solitary advantage in blackjack and if everything were equal, the house edge in blackjack would be about 8 percent. The dealer and player each have a 28 percent probability of busting (therefore 28 multiplied by 28) or about 8 percent of the time both hands would bust and the dealer would win.

Baccarat strategy is one of the easiest things to learn.

If you've done your homework on the game of baccarat you probably know that betting on the banker is better than betting on the player. While both wagering options are amongst some of the better bets that you can make at online casinos, the banker bet carries a 1.06% house edge and the player bet 1.24%.

All you have to do to achieve perfect strategy is bet on the banker hand every time.

You can see this by looking at house edges for the three available baccarat bets:

Banker bet = 1.06% house edge

Player bet = 1.24%

Tie bet = 14.36% (w / 8 to 1 pay outs)

Again, you’ll literally play baccarat like a pro just by wagering on the banker over and over.

This is why it amazes me when people complicate baccarat strategy. I know people complicate the game because they’ve tried offering me terrible advice.

I’ve played enough mini baccarat to have received plenty of bad advice. And here are 7 of the worst strategies that people have pushed on me.

Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #1:

Raise Your Bet when the Banker Keeps Losing

Multiple players have told me to bet big on the banker when the banker has lost several hands in a row. The reason why is because the banker is supposedly “due for a win.”

This line of thinking is steeped in logic, but it’s still misguided. I’ll start with the chances of each baccarat outcome happening:

• Banker hand wins = 45.85%
• Player hand wins = 44.62%
• Tie = 9.53%

The banker and player have roughly equal odds of winning.

Trend bettors may not know the exact statistics on the banker’s and player’s odds. But they know that each hand has around a 50 / 50 chance of winning.

And they think that the law of averages means the banker is more likely to win after several losses.

This makes sense in theory. But it also plays into the gambler’s fallacy, where one believes that they can predict future gambling results based on past outcomes.

In this case, pattern bettors think that the banker has better odds simply because they’re on a losing streak and will eventually win.

But the reality is that the odds don’t change just because the banker loses multiple hands. Instead, they stay exactly the same no matter if the banker is winning or losing.

Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #2:

Bet on the Player when the Banker Keeps Winning

A couple of players have offered me another version of the scenario described above. They advised to bet on the player when the banker continues winning.

As I covered above, trend bettors believe that past results can dictate future outcomes. The same thing applies in this scenario because one thinks that they player is due for a win.

We already discussed how the top baccarat bet is the banker hand. And we dispelled the myth that any hand is due for a win since the odds remain the same no matter what.

By taking the player in this situation, you’re merely lowering your chances of winning (1.24%). You need to stick with the banker bet if you want the best possible chance to win.

Of course, the whole reason for playing baccarat is to have fun.

And if switching between the player and banker bets is fun for you, then by all means keep doing it. I’ve read where this is a common practice.

You’re only giving up 0.18% in the house edge department when betting on the player over the banker.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that the player’s chances of winning are better just because their losing streak will eventually end.

Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #3:

Play No Commission Baccarat

Given that the banker hand has a slightly better chance of beating the player hand, casinos take a 5% commission from winning banker wagers.

This bet still offers a lower house edge (1.06%) even with the 5% commission taken out. But it mostly evens the odds up and helps the casino maintain a reasonable house advantage.

If you were to eliminate the commission altogether, though, you’d suddenly have an edge over the house.

This is why no commission baccarat is seems so attractive because it offers the illusion of improved odds. In fact, I had a player once tell me that the only reason he was playing at my table isbecause the no commission tables were full.

True to the name, commission free baccarat doesn’t take a commission from banker wins. Instead, it only pays 50% on any banker win where the banker has six points.

This seems like a harmless rule caveat that won’t hurt your chances too much. But it does have an impact because the banker beats the player with a six 5.39% of a time.

Any no commission baccarat with this rule features a 1.46% house edge on banker bets.

This means that the player hand is actually the most attractive in this situation. It also means that you’re better off playing at regular baccarat tables that take out 5% commissions.

Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #4:

Make Tie Bets when the Payoff is 9 to 1

One of the main baccarat tips is to avoid the tie bet because it has a 14.36% house edge. This makes it one of the worst wagers in all of gambling.

The tie bet normally pays 8 to 1 when you win. And this is when the house edge is 14.36%.

But some casinos offer a 9 to 1 payout on tie bets to make it more attractive.

One time I was at a baccarat table and somebody started talking about how everybody should make the tie wager because the payouts were 9 to 1. They further explained how the payouts are normally8 to 1.

While this much is true, their advice on how everybody should be betting on ties wasn’t great.

9 to 1 payouts lower the tie bet house edge from 14.36% to 4.84%. This is a significant drop, but it’s still now an attractive wager.

If big payouts are what you’re after, then you’re better off wagering 9x as much on a banker bet.

Yes, you’re risking more money to win a 1 to 1 payout. But you’re also facing a house edge that’s over 4x smaller.

Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #5:

Use the Martingale System

One of the most famous betting systems is the Martingale. And I’ve noticed plenty of baccarat players using this strategy over the years.

I once made the mistake of asking a Martingale user next to me if the system works for him. He then started lecturing me about how I should be using it too.

Originating in 18th century France, the Martingale sees you double your bet following every loss. You make the minimum bet as long as you’re winning.

The Martingale is commonly used on even money bets like baccarat, blackjack, craps, and roulette, where you have almost a 50% chance of winning every time.

The idea is that you can’t lose for too many times in a row when odds are this good. As long as everything goes according to plan, you always win back losses along with a small profit.

• You bet $10 and lose.
• Your next bet is $20; you again lose.
• Your third bet is $40; you win this time.
• You’ve earned back your losses along with a $10 profit.
• Now you return back to the base bet of $10.

You may have read before that no betting system can overcome the long term house edge. And this is certainly true.

But the Martingale is the only system that theoretically works. As long as you have infinite money and no table limits, then you’d win back your money plus small profits every time.

But the problem is that casinos limit maximum bets on tables. And long losing streaks happen, meaning you eventually won’t be able to double your next bet.

Let’s look at an example using a table with a $10 minimum bet and a $2,000 max:

• You bet $10 and lose.
• You bet $20 and lose.
• You bet $40 and lose.
• You bet $80 and lose.
• You bet $160 and lose.
• You bet $320 and lose.
• You bet $640 and lose.
• You bet $1,280 and lose.

At this point, you can only wager the $2,000 table maximum. Even if you win the ninth bet, you’ll have lost $560 overall.

The odds of losing 8 straight banker bets are very low. But it can happen.

And when you suffer through a lengthy losing streak, then all of your profits from previous Martingale successes are wiped out. I don’t suggest using this strategy, especially when you can’tabsorb the losses.

Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #6:

Count Cards to Gain an Advantage

A baccarat player sitting next to me once started discussing the viability of baccarat card counting. He theorized that players can gain an advantage over the house since baccarat is also dealtfrom a shoe.

The player wasn’t exactly giving me advice. But he did seem rather gung ho to start learning in the near future.

The truth is that they’re indeed right about baccarat giving you an edge over the house. However, the problem is that this edge is so small that it’s not even worth pursuing.

I’m talking an hourly profit worth pennies – and this is only if you keep an accurate count and spread your bets when necessary.

Noted gambling authors from Ed Thorp to James Grosjean have admonished baccarat card counting as a pointless pursuit.

Here are a few problems with counting in baccarat:

• Baccarat doesn’t have any cards that give the player or banker a huge advantage.
• Most blackjack players count in games with lower house edges than baccarat.
• Baccarat games are normally dealt from an 8 deck shoe, meaning you need a lot of deck penetration to win.

• Maybe you’re interested in learning baccarat counting for fun so that you can gain a small edge or break even. But I suggest sitting back and enjoying the game instead because it already hasa low house edge.

  Worst Piece of Baccarat Advice #7:

  Bet More when the Pit Boss is Around for More Comps

  One more piece of bad baccarat advice that I’ve been given is to bet more when pit bosses are around. I’ve heard the same thing from fellow blackjack and roulette players.

  The logic is that the pit boss will see you betting more and shower you with comps afterward.

  This advice can occasionally work, making it semi reasonable. But it usually doesn’t work and leaves you stranded with bigger bets that you’d like.

  • You’re betting $25 at a mini baccarat table.
  • You see the pit boss making rounds and closing in on your table.
  • You increase your bets to $150 to make the pit boss think you’re a big player.
  • They stick around for five hands.
  • You’ve now bet $750 over the course of five rounds.
  • This is $625 more than you’d normally wager over five hands.

  Again, keep in mind that the pit boss probably won’t be fooled. This is especially the case if they make a surprise trip by your table and see that you’re only wagering $25 per hand.

  Even if the pit boss is prepared to rate you as a $150 per hand player, the dealer may tell on you.

  In the end, you take far more risk by increasing your bets just to get a few more comps than you stand to gain. This is why I suggest that you avoid betting more than you’re comfortable with.

When you’re gambling with a casino, one of you has an
advantage over the other. Usually it’s the casino which has an
advantage over you, but if you’re familiar with certain
techniques, you can get an advantage over the casino.

This page about advantage play in blackjack offers an
overview of which techniques blackjack players commonly use to
get an edge over the house.

Before we get to that, though, we start by talking about how
a mathematical advantage works in the first place.

Mathematical Advantage Explained

This is a fundamental part of understanding advantage play,
in fact. It requires a little bit of understanding of how
probability works.

Examples are probably the easiest way to get this point
across, so we’ll provide a couple to help illustrate this
explanation.

Example 1 – Coin Toss

Let’s suppose you’re playing a casino game based on a coin
toss. You guess whether or not you’re going to get heads or
tails. Half the time you’ll win, and half the time you’ll lose,
right?

1. Some Barcrest games don’t have any bonus rounds
2. The first impression of this slot is that it might have

But what if you have to bet $2 every time, and you only win
$1 if you’re right?

It’s easy to see how in the long run the casino is going to
come out ahead in this example, isn’t it?

That’s a clear example of how a casino gets an advantage over
a player.

But wait, you say. That’s a crazy example because no one
would ever take such a bet.

And yes, it is an extreme example, but it’s meant to be
illustrative. The casino is more likely to create a situation
where you have to bet $1.10 to win $1.00. They might call that
extra 10 cents an “ante” bet or something like that. When you
play blackjack in Oklahoma, you have to place a 50 cent extra
bet on every hand as an ante, so it happens.

Every casino bet works this way, though. If you place enough
bets, the math will work in the casino’s favor.

Blackjack Banker Advantage Realty

Example 2 – Roulette

Here’s a real example from a real game—roulette.

An even-money bet on black or on red seems like a 50/50
proposition until you look a little more closely at the roulette
wheel. Yeah, almost half the slots are black, and almost half of
them are read.

But two of those slots are green.

If you bet on black, the casino wins if the ball lands in a
red slot.

But it also wins if the ball lands in a green slot.

The same holds true if you bet on red. The casino wins if it
lands in black—OR if it lands in green.

There are 38 numbers on the roulette wheel. 18 of them are
red, 18 of them are black, and 2 of them are green.

If you place 38 bets in a row on black, the math says you
should win 18 of those bets and lose 20 of them. The same holds
true of 38 bets in a row on red.

Of course, in the short term, you might end such a session
winning more than you lose, but the odds are you’ll come close
to losing two of those bets.

As you place a larger number of bets, the more likely you are
to see actual results that mirror the probably results.

A casino sees hundreds of thousands of bets per month—maybe
even millions, if it has a lot of traffic. So eventually the
math results in the casino winning.

Blackjack is a more complicated game, mathematically, than
roulette, but it usually offers the house an edge of about 1%
over the player. That means you’ll lose an average of $1 for
every $100 you bet. And that’s assuming you use correct basic
strategy to make your decisions. An unskilled player might make
several bad decisions per hour, which means she’ll likely lose
2% to 4% of every bet.

But you can use certain techniques to flip that edge around
and get an advantage over the casino. Using such techniques is
called “advantage gambling”.

Casinos hate advantage gamblers.

Cheating

The first advantage gambling technique we’ll discuss is just
flat-out cheating. To be fair, most people who use the
expression “advantage gambling” or “advantage gambler” are
referring to techniques that fall outside the definition of
cheating. But it’s easy to see how you might get an edge over a
casino by cheating.

Of course, cheating is illegal in most states. In Nevada,
which is home to Las Vegas, cheating is a felony. You can find
plenty of interesting pages on the Internet about players who
have been caught cheating in Las Vegas and spent time behind
bars.

How would you cheat at blackjack?

Cheating is when you change the parameters of the game in
your favor.

Example

Suppose you were able to change the amount you bet AFTER you
knew whether or not you’d won or lose?

This is called “past posting”. It’s all but impossible to
pull off at a blackjack table, but it’s clear to see how you
could get an advantage by doing this. You’d simply increase the
size of your bet by putting extra chips on top of your wager
after seeing that you’ve received a blackjack.

Don’t try this. You’ll get caught. Casinos will prosecute,
too.

Another cheating technique used at the blackjack table is the
marking of cards with a sharp fingernail. If you’re able to tell
what even some of the face-down cards at the table are, you can
get a mathematical edge over the casino.

This one’s less likely to get you caught, but it’s still a
bad idea—especially since there are so many legitimate ways to
get an edge over the casino in blackjack without having to
cheat.

Cheating usually involves using a machine to get an edge or
perpetrating some kind of fraud against the casino. Definitions
vary based on your jurisdiction—in some places, the state and/or
city don’t even define cheating legally. In those cases, the
definition (and enforcement) is left up to the local gambling
authorities.

Comps and Rebates

Comps and rebates are rewards offered by the casinos in order
to encourage more action from players. In order to receive these
comps and rebates, you usually need to join the players’ club or
the slots club at the property. In some cases you might be able
to get some comps from the pit boss just by playing a lot at the
tables, but most casinos prefer to track this sort of thing more
closely than they used to.

How It Works

The casino has a points system which corresponds to how much
you wager. When you’re playing their slot machines or video
poker machines, they can track exactly how much money you’ve
wagered per hour. If you’re betting $3 per spin and making 600
spins per hour, you’re putting $1800 per hour into action.

When you’re playing a table game, the casino will rate your
play. If you’re betting an average of $50 per hand on blackjack,
and you’re playing an average of 50 hands per hour, they’ll base
your comp rate on $2500 worth of action per hour.

They then offer rewards at a tiny percentage of your action.
This might be as little as 0.2% or 0.3% of how much you’ve
wagered.

In the examples above, a player would earn between $3.60 and
$5.40 per hour in comps at the slots. The example blackjack
player would earn between $5 and $7.50 per hour.

You could win a huge jackpot on a slot machine and still
receive a significant amount of comps based on how much you’ve
played’even though you walked away from the casino a winner for
the trip.

The casino banks on the long term expectation of the games.
They’re not interested in individual players who have individual
winning sessions—at least not when it comes to awarding comps.

The casino has done the math on these games, so they expect
you to lose a certain amount per hour. They also expect this
amount to be greater than the amount of comps you earn.

But if you can combine those comps with another strategy for
lowering the house edge, you can gamble at close to even or even
get a slight edge over the casino.

Also, casinos offer special promotional time periods where
they offer double points for your play. It’s a lot easier to
turn that tiny percentage into an advantage if it’s doubled.

Example

You’re playing at a casino with a generous comps program.
They award 0.3% of your play in comps.

On Tuesdays from 2pm to 4pm, they offer double points. So now
you’re getting back 0.6%.

This particular casino also has really favorable blackjack
rules. The house edge on their game is only 0.5% as long as you
use perfect basic strategy.

When you take into account the 0.6% you’re getting back,
you’re actually playing with a 0.1% edge over the casino.

Blackjack Banker Advantage Property Management

That’s called “comp hustling”. You can find detailed advice
on how that works in Max Rubin’s book, Comp City. It’s a little
dated now, but the advice still applies, and the math still
works the same.

When you combine comp hustling with other advantage
techniques, it increases your edge over the house.

Counting Cards

Counting cards is probably the best known advantage technique
in the casino—it’s certainly the best known advantage gambling
technique in blackjack.

But a surprising number of people don’t understand how it
works. They think you have to be some kind of mathematical
genius or idiot savant (a la Rain Man) in order to pull it off.

That’s because you don’t have to track exactly which cards
have been played and which ones are still in the deck. You only
have to track the approximate ratio of high cards to low cards.

How Card Counting Works

A “natural” in blackjack pays off at 3 to 2. If all the aces
were eliminated from the deck, you’d be unable to ever get a
natural, which would tilt the odds further in the casino’s
favor. The same would hold true if you were out of cards ranked
10.

The reverse holds true, too, though. If you removed all the
cards in the deck except for the aces and the 10s, you’d have a
situation where you’d be MORE likely to be dealt a natural,
tilting the odds in your favor.

In a real game, though, you’ll seldom encounter a situation
where all of these cards are gone. But you an estimate the ratio
of high cards to low cards. If there are a relatively large
number of high cards compare to low cards, your odds of getting
a natural improve. Since the house edge in blackjack is low to
begin with, betting more when you have a better chance of
getting a natural gives you an edge over the casino. You would,
of course, bet less when you don’t have a favorable deck.

The easiest way to track this ratio is by assigning a value
to the high cards and a value to the low cards and keeping a
running count. It’s common for high cards (10s and aces) to be
given a value of -1 and for low cards(2s through 6s) a value of
+1. When the count is positive, there are a relatively large
number of high cards in the deck compared to low cards. When
it’s 0 or negative, the reverse is true.

The card counter raises her bet when the count is positive
and lowers her bet when it’s negative.

This gives a counter an advantage of anywhere between 0.5%
and 2% depending on the rules for that particular game and the
size of the player’s betting spread.

Multiple methods of counting cards exist, each of which
varies the values for various cards. Each of these has its
advantages and disadvantages over the other counting systems.
They all follow the same principle, though.

The Problem With Card Counting

Casinos hate card counters.

Since you’re not using a device and you’re not changing the
conditions of the game, you’re not cheating—at least not
legally. But the casinos are so opposed to the practice that
they reserve the right to ban you for life if they think you’re
counting cards.

Of course, different casinos have different policies. Some
might just ask you to stop playing blackjack there. Others might
run you off for the day. And some might ban you for life.

David Sklansky, in his book, Sklansky Talks Blackjack,
suggests only playing at a particular casino for an hour at a
time. He also suggests hitting a particular casino during
different shifts. He also suggests not playing at a particular
casino every day. These are countermeasures to help you avoid
getting caught.

Card counting is a technique that Max Rubin suggests using in
conjunction with comp hustling to maximize the amount of value
you get from your casino vacation.

Edge Sorting

You’re not allowed to do anything to mark cards. That’s
cheating.

But it’s possible for cards to develop irregularities during
regular play.

It’s also common for cards to have irregularities in the
patterns on the back of them.

Players who are able to identify groups of cards which are
important—in blackjack, that would include 10s and aces—are able
to get a big edge over the casinos. The concept works in a
similar way to counting cards. If you’re able to recognize a
group of cards with lots of aces and 10s in it, you can raise
your bets to take advantage of the 3 to 2 payout.

Edge sorting is used to get an advantage in multiple casino
card games, including baccarat and Caribbean stud.

Hole Carding

Hole carding is an advantage play technique in which the
players get a glimpse of a card that’s supposed to be out of
sight. In blackjack, this almost always refers to the dealer’s
hole card. It should be obvious why knowing what the dealer has
in the hole offers an advantage to the player.

From a legal perspective, courts in Nevada have ruled that
hole carding is legal so long as the player is seated in the
appropriate place and isn’t using a device to help him get a
glimpse of the dealer’s hole card. Players who are able to pull
this off just look for opportunities where the dealer has gotten
sloppy.

Not all dealers offer the opportunity to get a glimpse of the
hole card. But the best spot for catching a glimpse is first
base or third base. First base is better. The reasons are simple
enough, too. Those are the spots closest to the dealer.

This sounds too good to be true, but it gets better. When
you’re counting cards, you can get an advantage of 0.5% to 1%
over the casino.

But if you can spot the dealer’s hole card, you can get an
edge of around 13% over the casino.

That’s huge.

You can also read about hole carding in Ken Uston’s Million
Dollar Blackjack.

Blackjack Banker Advantage Reviews

Shuffle Tracking

For some of us, shuffle tracking is the most difficult
advantage play concept to understand. The idea is that certain
groups of cards stay more or less together when the deck is
shuffled. These groups are called zones, and if you can track
where they are in the shuffle, you can get an edge.

Shuffle tracking is often used by card counting teams in
conjunction with card counting techniques. Since players often
get to use a cut card to cut the deck, they can use this to
their advantage by making sure the deck starts off with a clump
of cards rich in aces and tens.

Summary

Blackjack Banker Advantage Login

Various methods of getting an edge over the casino in
blackjack exist. The blanket term “advantage play in blackjack”
refers to all of them: counting cards, shuffle tracking, hole
carding, and edge sorting. Cheating, as a general rule, can get
you an edge over the casino, but most people who discuss
advantage gambling are talking about activities which aren’t
considered cheating.

Counting cards is probably the best known and perhaps the
easiest technique to use. But casinos watch for card counters
like hawks. Also, techniques like hole carding can get a greater
edge for the player.