PLAY BACCARAT AND CALL UPON YOUR INNER JAMES BOND
Baccarat is beloved by high rollers who aim to bring down the house in style.
Anyone who doubts the allure of baccarat needs to visit Macau. Enter a casino in the Asian gambling hub, situated some 33 nautical miles away from Hong Kong (you’ll likely travel there via ferry), and you instantly feel the game’s power.
Gambling floors at places like Casino Lisboa, Galaxy Hotel, and Macau Palace are completely dominated by baccarat tables. Each table is usually packed with gamblers, sipping milky tea from napkin-wrapped water glasses and mangling the cards as they slowly turn them over. Since each new shoe starts with fresh decks of cards and the old ones are tossed, bending, ripping, and even stabbing the cards (with a penpoint, not a knife) rank among the game’s traditions.
Shouts of “Monkey!” when face cards are desired reverberate around the room, creating an atmosphere of suspense and excitement.
Baccarat in Macau is often a family affair, with generations of risk-lovers playing together at the tables and showing respect to elders by allowing them to turn up the cards and see whether chips will be won or lost. Considering the intense popularity of the game, it’s no wonder that in Macau, during the second quarter of 2025, mass-market baccarat accounted for a healthy 58.2 percent of the jurisdiction’s gross gambling revenue (VIP baccarat covered an additional 26.7 percent).
Why Baccarat Feels So Different in the West
In the West, baccarat may play second fiddle to blackjack and slot machines, but it remains a game that is steeped in lore and beloved by high rollers.
I remember spending a weekend at the old Palms in Vegas, hanging out with a billionaire from Boston who convinced himself that the game runs in waves, just as ocean currents do, and that he could predict upcoming situations based on what happened in the past. Logically, this is untrue. But he nevertheless tracked hands by assiduously writing them down with a gorgeous fountain pen (occasionally used to stab the cards).
As time spent alongside the billionaire taught me, of all the casino games out there, baccarat, more than any other, resonates elegance and a high stakes vibe. For that, I posit, we can thank the movies. Most of us (including the card-stabbing billionaire) were first introduced to baccarat by watching a tuxedoed James Bond pushing forward chips at a high stakes table in Monte Carlo. It was impossible to not be curious about the game and the people who play it.
Designed to be a world away from the clang of casino slot machines and scruffy gamblers in running pants and hoodies – particularly when played in the luxurious, private gaming rooms offered in places that include Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Aria – baccarat clearly is the gambit of kings. Fittingly, the game has a European pedigree. It is believed to have originated in Italy, taking its name from the word “baccara,” which translates to mean “zero.” And that is the value of face cards in baccarat. Spreading across Europe, like goods transported on a spice route, the 15th century game gained popularity in France. There, as Renaissance art and architecture came into vogue, baccarat was embraced by the wealthy.
How to Play Baccarat
While it was stylish to be well educated, playing the game (variations, with slightly differing rules, include chemin de fer and punto banco) has always been stunningly simple. Two cards are dealt to player and two cards are dealt to banker. Gamblers can choose which side they want to be on. If, for example, the gambler wants to bet on banker, then the house takes player. The object is to get as close to 9 as possible. The side that lands closest wins the hand.
As mentioned above, face cards are zero. All other cards are valued at what they represent, with Aces being 1. If the total goes above 9, then the one gets dropped. For example, if you are dealt 7, 5, which add up to equal 12, the hand’s value will be 2. Though that sum is not very promising, hope remains. If the player’s two cards total 0 – 5, a third card is drawn. If the player’s cards total 6 – 9, no additional cards are taken. As for the banker, he follows the same procedure as the player if the player has 6 – 9.
That said, if the player draws a third card, the banker’s next move at baccarat becomes slightly complicated. With 0 – 2, the banker always draws a card. Holding 3, the banker draws unless the player’s third card was an 8. Possessing a total of 4, the banker draws unless the player’s third card is 2 – 7. When the banker has 5, he draws unless the player’s third card was 4 – 7. Finally, draw-wise, if the banker’s cards add up to 6, he draws unless the player’s third card was 6 or 7. And if the banker has 7 – 9, he stands pat.
It can be head-spinning. But the good news is that if you are playing online, the game runs automatically. In a brick-and-mortar casino, the dealer will know what to do in every conceivable situation. He’ll essentially play the game for you. As a gambler, you get to sit tight and the thrill of the outcome, raking in chips when you win and relinquishing them when you lose.
The game runs itself to the point that an icy cold martini – shaken, not stirred, as Bond would have it – is the perfect accompaniment to a session of baccarat.
The only decision that gamblers need to make in the game of baccarat is whether to be player or banker. Savvy participants at the table routinely opt for banker. Though that position results in a five percent commission paid on wins, banker still has slightly better odds. The house edge against banker is around 1.06 percent. Against player, it is around 1.24 percent. One position that you should never take is to bet on there being a tie. On that one, the house edge is a ghastly 14.36 percent.
Coming up with a mathematically sound system for beating baccarat is tough. While the gambling strategist Michael Schackleford posted a card counting strategy for baccarat, even he admitted that the edge is too low for it to be worth the bother. James Grosjean, one of the world’s most astute advantage players, and Dr. Edward Thorpe (the math genius who invented card counting for blackjack and published his strategy in a seminal book called “Beat the Dealer”) agree with Shackleford.
As for the side bets – such as Dragon Bonus (wagering that your hand will be worth 4 or higher) and Banker Pair (the first two cards in the banker’s hand need to be a pair) – super sharp players with advanced counting strategies might be able to play them advantageously. I’m not giving away the strategy here (sorry) and I am not saying that it will always work. But, if you do your research, you might be able to extract a profit from baccarat side bets. On the other hand, playing the side bets in a straightforward manner will put you at a serious disadvantage against the house. Then again, they’re fun to bet on and pay off big time for those who buck the odds and get lucky. So, do what suits you but proceed with caution.
Considering that baccarat’s house edge is low and that the game itself is a hell of a lot of fun, with its own traditions and customs that are easy to embrace, my advice is to play the game correctly, have a blast, and maximize your casino comps. A free steak dinner at the end of a long session will taste fabulous – and you just might emerge a winner.
About the Author
Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of five books. The most recent one is Advantage Players: Inside the Winning World of Casino Virtuosos, Master Strategists, and Mathematical Wizards. Kaplan has written for publications that include the New York Times Magazine, Wired, and GQ. He is a senior features writer with the New York Post, writes the gambling column for Cigar Aficionado, and wrote an article on baccarat queen Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun that is being developed into a feature film with the actress Awkwafina attached to star as Kelly.
