Baccarat — Banker, Player & the Tie Trap
Three bets, three very different edges — why banker is the best, player is close, and the tie is a trap.
Baccarat is almost choice-free: you bet Banker, Player or Tie and the cards play themselves by fixed drawing rules. The maths is clean — Banker wins slightly more often, so it carries the lowest edge (1.06%) even after a 5% commission; Player is 1.24%; and the Tie, despite its big 8:1 payout, is a ~14.4% trap. Side bets are worse still.
Banker: 1.06% house edge, after the standard 5% commission on winning banker bets. Player: 1.24%. Tie: about 14.4% at the usual 8:1 payout. Banker is mathematically the best bet in the game — the commission exists precisely because it wins more often than Player.
The 8:1 tie payout looks generous, but ties are rare enough that the true house edge is around 14.4% — one of the worst bets in the casino. The big multiplier is bait; the low probability behind it is the point.
Unlike blackjack, you make no in-hand decisions — the third-card drawing rules are fixed. 'Roadmaps' and scorecards that track past shoes are pattern-spotting theatre: each coup is independent, so no history predicts the next hand.
Baccarat side bets (Perfect Pair, Dragon Bonus and the like) carry much higher edges. 'No-commission' baccarat drops the 5% but pays a winning banker 6 at only 1:2, which quietly raises the banker edge — the commission didn't vanish, it moved into the pay table.
Education, not advice. This explains how the game works so you can read it clearly — it is not a system to beat the house. Every casino game carries a house edge; over enough play it wins. 18+.