How to Play Baccarat — Complete Rules Guide

Baccarat is one of the oldest and most elegant casino games in the world. Despite its reputation for being a high-roller game played behind velvet ropes, the rules are remarkably simple. There are only two hands in play — the Player hand and the Banker hand — and your entire job as a bettor is to predict which one will come closer to a total of nine. This guide walks through every rule from card values to draw decisions so you can sit down at any baccarat table with full confidence.

Step 1: Place your bet

Before any cards are dealt, you must wager on one of three outcomes:

• Player — the Player hand wins.
• Banker — the Banker hand wins.
• Tie — both hands finish with equal totals.

That is the entire decision you make as a player in standard baccarat. There are no choices about whether to draw cards — those decisions are determined entirely by fixed rules that neither the player nor the dealer has any discretion over.

Step 2: Card values

Baccarat uses a unique scoring system that confuses many newcomers.

Card	Value
Ace	1
2 through 9	Face value
10, Jack, Queen, King	0

The tens and face cards counting as zero is the single most important thing to understand about baccarat. A King is worth nothing. A 10 is worth nothing. A Queen paired with a 6 is worth 6, not 16. For a detailed explanation of why tens count as zero and how this affects hand composition, see Baccarat Card Values.

Step 3: Hand value — the mod-10 rule

A baccarat hand is the sum of its cards, mod 10 — meaning only the last digit of the total counts. If a hand contains a 7 and an 8, the total is 15, but the hand value is 5. If a hand contains a 9 and a 6, the total is 15, hand value is 5. The highest possible hand value is 9.

Examples:

• 3 + 4 = 7 → hand value 7
• 6 + 7 = 13 → hand value 3
• 9 + 5 = 14 → hand value 4
• King + 9 = 9 → hand value 9
• 10 + 6 = 6 → hand value 6

There is no such thing as going “bust” in baccarat. No matter what cards are drawn, the hand always has a valid value between 0 and 9.

Step 4: The initial deal

The dealer deals two cards to the Player hand and two cards to the Banker hand, face up on the table. The hand values are immediately visible to everyone. Two cards are always dealt initially — there is no choice here.

Step 5: The natural — instant win

If either the Player hand or the Banker hand totals 8 or 9 after the initial two-card deal, that is called a natural. When a natural occurs:

• If one hand has a natural and the other does not, the natural wins.
• If both hands have a natural, the higher natural wins (9 beats 8).
• If both hands have the same natural (both 8, or both 9), the hand is a Tie.

When a natural occurs, no further cards are drawn regardless of what any draw rule might otherwise indicate. The round ends immediately.

Step 6: The Player draw rule

If no natural was dealt, the Player hand acts first. The rule is simple:

• Player total 0–5: Player draws a third card.
• Player total 6–7: Player stands (no third card).

There is no exception and no player input. This rule is applied automatically by the dealer.

Step 7: The Banker draw rule

The Banker draw rule is more complex. Whether the Banker draws depends on the Banker’s current total and, in most cases, the value of the Player’s third card (if the Player drew one).

If the Player stood (no third card drawn):

• Banker total 0–5: Banker draws.
• Banker total 6–7: Banker stands.

If the Player drew a third card, the Banker draws based on this table:

Banker total	Banker draws if Player’s third card is:
0, 1, 2	Always draws
3	1–7 or 9 (stands on 8)
4	2–7 (stands on 0, 1, 8, 9)
5	4–7 (stands on 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9)
6	6–7 (stands on all others)
7	Always stands

Although this table looks complex, you never need to apply it yourself. In both live and online baccarat, the dealer handles all draw decisions. The table above is included so you understand what is happening during the round, not because you need to calculate it.

Step 8: Final hand values and payout

After all draws are complete, the hand values are totalled again:

• Player bet wins: pays 1:1 (even money). Bet 10, win 10.
• Banker bet wins: pays 0.95:1 (the house retains a 5% commission on winning Banker bets). Bet 10, win 9.50.
• Tie bet wins: pays 8:1. Bet 10, win 80.

The 5% Banker commission exists because the Banker hand wins slightly more often than the Player hand due to the draw rules. Without the commission, betting Banker every hand would be a long-run winning strategy, which casinos cannot allow. The commission reduces the Banker bet’s expected return to a house edge of approximately 1.06%.

Step 9: Commission-free baccarat variants

Some tables offer commission-free baccarat (also called No-Commission Baccarat). In this variant, winning Banker bets pay 1:1 in most cases but pay only 0.5:1 when the Banker wins with a total of exactly 6. This produces a slightly different house edge compared to the standard 5% commission game. The core card and draw rules remain identical.

Mini-baccarat

Mini-baccarat is the most common form of baccarat in Western casinos. It is played on a smaller table with lower minimum bets, and the dealer handles all cards (in traditional Punto Banco, players may handle the shoe). The rules are identical to full baccarat. Mini-baccarat moves quickly — sometimes 150–200 hands per hour — which means the house edge accumulates faster in absolute terms even if the mathematical edge per hand is the same.

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Now that you know the rules, the logical next step is understanding which bet gives you the best odds. The answer might surprise you. Baccarat Strategy covers the Banker bet’s statistical edge, why the Tie bet is the worst bet on the table, and why betting systems cannot change the mathematics. For a detailed look at how card values and the mod-10 scoring system work, see Baccarat Card Values. Ready to play? Play baccarat online — free, no deposit.