In baccarat nobody chooses whether to draw. A printed rule decides every third card, which is the reason the payouts never move once a hand begins. This page walks through those rules and the commission arithmetic.
You choose one of three outcomes, player, banker or tie, and the dealer then follows a fixed chart to decide whether either hand takes a third card. No one at the table makes a choice after the bets close. Compare that with a live football price, which is re-quoted every time something happens on the pitch. At a baccarat table the payout you accepted is the payout you get; the only open question is which hand ends closer to nine.
The chart below is the one most tables use. Check the rules panel of the table you open, because side-bet versions can add steps.
If either hand totals 8 or 9 on its first two cards, both stand and the higher total wins.
With no natural on the table, the player hand takes a third card on a total of 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7.
If the player stood, banker draws on 0 to 5 as well. If the player drew, banker's decision depends on its own total and the value of that third card.
Tens and picture cards count as zero, and only the last digit of a total counts. A 7 and an 8 make 15, which scores 5.
Figures assume the common 5% banker commission and an 8 to 1 tie. The table you open may print different terms, and those take priority.
Pays even money, so the return is 200 units including the stake. No commission is taken on the player side.
Pays 95 units of profit after a 5% commission, so the return is 195. Banker wins slightly more often, which the commission balances out.
At 8 to 1, a tie returns 900 units. Ties are uncommon, and that payout leaves the tie bet with the largest house edge of the three.
Most disputes about baccarat come from the drawing chart rather than from a fault. Check the chart before asking anyone.
Add up both first-card totals and the third card, if any, then compare with the chart above. Most surprises resolve here.
If the totals still disagree with the result, note the table, the round ID and your bet before raising it with the operator.
The chart and the payouts above describe the version of baccarat most commonly dealt. A specific table may vary.
Commission rates, tie payouts and side-bet rules are printed in each table's rules panel. Where they differ from this page, they apply.
Scoreboards that track past hands make streaks look meaningful. The drawing rules give each new hand no memory of the last.
bet365 terms list live casino apart from the sportsbook, so sports features do not carry over to the table.
Short definitions for the labels printed on a live baccarat table.
A first-two-card total of 8 or 9. It ends the hand immediately with no third card for either side.
A version that pays banker wins at even money but cuts the payout on one specific banker total instead. The rules panel names which.
The holder for several shuffled decks. Hands are dealt from it until it runs low and is replaced.
A scoreboard grid that records past results. It is a record only and has no effect on future hands.
Direct answers on how a hand is decided and what it pays.
No. The chart decides every draw for both hands. Your only choices are the outcome and the stake.
Under the drawing rules, banker wins slightly more often than player. The commission evens that out for the house.
Its payout is large but its house edge is the highest of the three main bets, which is why many players avoid it.
Often under a minute including the betting window, so a session of forty hands can pass in well under an hour.
In-play explainers