Because neither hand chooses anything, the whole game is determined by the cards and the fixed drawing rules. Walking the complete game tree for a real eight-deck shoe gives an exact answer to every question about the game.
Here is what each bet actually costs.
| Bet | Wins | Payout | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banker | 45.8597% | 1:1 less 5% commission | 1.0579% |
| Player | 44.6247% | 1:1 | 1.2351% |
| Tie (9:1) | 9.5156% | 9:1 | 4.8440% |
| Tie (8:1) | 9.5156% | 8:1 | 14.3596% |
| Either pair | 7.4699% | 11:1 | 10.3614% |
The one thing to know
Bet banker. At 1.0579% it is the cheapest bet on the table, and it stays cheaper than the player bet at 1.2351% even after paying 5% commission on wins. There is no shoe, streak or scoreboard pattern that changes this.
The banker wins 45.8597% of hands against the player's 44.6247%, and ties push 9.5156% of the time.
What to avoid
The tie bet costs 14.36% at 8:1, which is fourteen times the banker bet. The pair side bets cost 10.36%, about ten times.
Every page in this section
- Banker against player; why the banker wins more often, and by how much.
- Drawing rules: the full banker table, and why acting second is the whole edge.
- The commission; what happens at every rate, including zero.
- The tie bet: the worst wager on the table, at both payouts.
- Pair side bets: 11:1 on an outcome that deserves better.
Why the numbers here are exact
Baccarat uses at most six cards and only a card's value matters, so the complete game tree fits inside a million branches. This section walks all of them with the shoe depleting correctly, in exact fractions.
That is a stronger claim than the rest of the site can make. Our blackjack figures use an independent-draw model, and our video poker section derives hold values but attributes full-game returns. Here nothing is approximated.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the house edge in baccarat?
- 1.0579% on banker and 1.2351% on player, computed across a full eight-deck shoe.
- Should I always bet banker?
- Yes. It is cheaper than the player bet even after the 5% commission, and baccarat has no other decisions.
- How often is a hand a tie?
- 9.5156% of the time. The tie bet still costs 14.36% at 8:1.
- Do baccarat scoreboards help?
- No. Each hand is independent and neither side makes a decision, so past results carry no information.
- Is baccarat a good game?
- The banker bet at 1.0579% is among the best wagers in a casino, comparable to a craps line bet. The side bets are not.
Every figure on this page is computed by walking the complete baccarat game tree for a real eight-deck shoe, drawing without replacement so the shoe depletes correctly, in exact rational arithmetic. Because baccarat has no player decisions, this is an exact answer rather than an approximation. The results are checked against published values before publication. Commission and side-bet payouts vary between tables, so read the felt.