Baccarat is a fun and relatively simple card game, that is one of the most popular games played in live dealer casinos today. Playing online baccarat with live dealers brings brick-and-mortar casino sociability, flair, and excitement to the comfort and privacy of your own home.
This guide shows you the best online casinos for live dealer baccarat, alongside baccarat rules, variants, and strategies.
Top Live Baccarat Casinos
Live Dealer Online Baccarat Game Variants
There are lots of variants of baccarat found in live casinos. This section outlines the two most common variants you will find – classic baccarat and Super 6.
Classic Live Baccarat
Classic Baccarat – sometimes known as Punto Banco – is the most common form of live baccarat found in most online casinos. The rules are fairly simple.
Your job is to bet on whether you think the banker’s hand will win, the player’s hand will win, or whether it will be a tie (you can also bet on all these outcomes at once).
After you bet, you don’t do anything else. It’s all the dealer from here. The cards are dealt.
Cards are valued like this:
- 10, Jack, Queen, King = 0
- 2-9 = Face value
- Ace = 1
- Suits don’t matter, and Jokers aren’t in play
You receive two face-down cards, and the dealer receives two face-down cards. The cards are then revealed. The winning hand is the one that is closest to 9.
If a hand goes into double figures – then the right-hand number counts as the value. For example:
- Player hand draws a 9 and a 2 – making a total of 11. The right-hand number of 11 is 1, so 1 becomes the hands value.
- An 8 and a 4 would be 12 – so 2 becomes the value.
- 13 becomes 3, 14 becomes 4, 15 becomes 5, and so on.
If the players hand is 5 or less, a third card is drawn. Anything over 5 and the player stands.
The dealer may also draw a third card depending on the value of the bankers and the players cards. The banker always stands on values 7-9.
At the end of the round, you will receive your winnings if you bet on the correct outcome – Player, Banker, or Tie.
If you´re interest in playing classic baccarat with live dealers, you can head over to Wild Casino.
Live Super 6
Live Super 6 is the other most common variant. Super 6 functions exactly the same as Classic Baccarat. The only difference is in the value of the payouts.
In Classic Baccarat, the casino charges a 5% commission on banker’s bets. This means if you bet $1 on the banker’s hand, you only win $0.95 if the banker wins. As the banker’s hand has a slight advantage, this is the casinos way of ensuring an income.
However, in Super 6, bets on both the banker and player pay out the same – 1 to 1.
To make up for the loss of commission, the Super 6 rule is introduced. With this rule, if the banker wins with a hand valued at 6, then the payout is only 50% of your initial wager on the banker.
So, if you bet $10 on the banker to win, and the banker wins with a 6, you only get $5 back. Effectively, a winning bet turns into a losing one.
As a banker winning with a 6 is a rare occurrence, you may still win more money than in Classic Baccarat by not having to pay the 5% commission.
There are also several side bets and a 12:1 insurance against a banker 6 to take advantage of.
If you want to play Super 6 baccarat with live dealers, make sure to check out Bovada.
How to Play Live Dealer Baccarat Online
Playing live baccarat online is easy, with just a few simple steps.
- First you need to find and sign up to an online casino with live baccarat games. Our list of top recommended live baccarat casinos is a great place to start.
- Once your account is made, make your first deposit. Remember to check for any welcome bonuses you can utilize.
- Head to the live dealer section and select the live baccarat game you want to play. The dealers video livestream will pop up, you select a position at the table, and get ready to play.
- Place your bets during the betting window by dragging your digital chips onto the table. Bet on player, banker, tie, and/or the side bets if they’re available.
- The dealer runs the game, and any payouts due are automatically paid. The great thing about live baccarat is you don’t have to do anything other than place your initial wager.
- When you’re finished, end the playing session and cash out your winnings.
The process of playing live dealer baccarat online is basically the same as playing virtual online baccarat casinos. The main differences are that the dealer hosts the game rather than a randomized number generator, and there is a betting window during which you have to place your bets.
How We Rate Live Dealer Baccarat Sites
Here are the criteria we use to judge the best online sites for live dealer baccarat, to ensure you have a quality playing experience.
Licenses and Reputation
We only recommend safe online casinos. The casino operator must have a valid gaming license, and industry-standard security and data encryption technology. We also check the user reviews for any consistent red flags. All our top recommendations have reputations as safe and secure casinos for handling your money.
Live Casino Games
Of course, the online casinos must offer live baccarat games. But we also keep an eye out for additional baccarat variants, such as Super 6, as well as the buy-in limits and available side bets.
We also ensure the live dealer games are run by reputed companies, such as Visionary iGaming and Fresh Deck Studios, who maintain quality video streams and professional dealers.
As a bonus, we look for other games on offer in the live casino, such as blackjack and roulette.
Payouts and Fees
We test the payout speeds and any additional withdrawal fees at real money online casinos. This is to ensure the casino can be trusted to pay your live baccarat winnings on time and without unexpected delays. We further look for a wide range of available withdrawal methods, from cryptocurrencies to traditional payments.
Bonuses and Promos
We check out the special bonuses and promotions that you can take advantage of – particularly welcome bonuses. We examine the bonus terms and conditions to make sure they are fair.
We check that the minimum deposits and rollover requirements are reasonable.
Unfortunately, even at the best online casinos, very few bonuses apply to live dealer baccarat games.
Mobile Casinos
Most modern live dealer baccarat online casinos work well on all mobile devices, but we always double-check just to be sure. If there are apps to download, we test them, and we also log in from our mobile browsers to check out the instant-play games. All of the live dealer baccarat online casinos listed above work well on Android, iOS, and other mobile phones and tablets.
Strategies For Playing Live Baccarat
Quite simply, there are no card counting strategies or betting systems that work playing live baccarat. It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or a pro, your chances remain broadly similar. This is in many ways the beauty of baccarat.
Nevertheless, there are a few betting tips you should bear in mind.
- Betting on the banker has the lowest house edge (1.06%). This makes it – marginally – the safest bet. This is why the house takes a 5% commission on bankers bets in classic eight-deck baccarat.
- Don’t bet on a tie – this has a 14% house edge.
- Try and find a six-deck game of baccarat. House commission drops to 4% on winning banker bets – reducing the house edge to just 0.5%.
- Don’t bother with side bets and progressive jackpots. These bets can take the house edge to anywhere from 3% to 5% or more.
- Ignore commission-free baccarat. The house edge is normally 0.25% to 0.5% higher for bankers bets.
These simple methods should help give you slightly more winnings. Like the game itself, you don’t have to be a master to follow these rules.
Specialty Live Baccarat Games
Live baccarat features new and innovative variants not found anywhere else. The following games are currently available online at live dealer baccarat sites.
Live Baccarat Squeeze
The squeeze is one of the most exciting moments in any game of baccarat . This is when the dealer slowly reveals the face-down cards. In Live Baccarat Squeeze, normal baccarat rules apply. The only difference is HD cameras give you a close-up shot of the squeeze for maximum suspense.
Live Speed Baccarat
If you want to get straight into baccarat with no added frills, then Speed Baccarat might be for you. Each hand lasts under 30 seconds, whereas a normal hand lasts just under 50. That leads to a lot more hands crammed into a gaming session.
Lightning Baccarat
Evolution Gaming has made waves with its “Lightning” series of games. Lightning Baccarat adds up to five cards with multipliers of up to 8x after the betting window closes. For example, if five of hearts could have a multiplier of 8x and you win a hand with that card, your payout is boosted 8x. Multipliers also multiply each other for some potentially colossal wins.
The Pros and Cons of Live Dealer Baccarat
While baccarat games at live dealer casinos are exciting and interesting, there are some downsides. Here are the main pros and cons:
Innovative new live baccarat games
A more social gaming experience
Play with professional game hosts
Higher minimum bets required
No free live baccarat games
Fast, reliable internet needed
Whereas you can play many virtual baccarat titles for as little as $0.10 per hand, you’ll usually have to wager at least $1 per hand when you play live dealer baccarat.
That said, live dealer baccarat is the perfect way to bring that brick-and-mortar casino-feel to your own home, rather playing against a lifeless computer program.
Live Dealer Online Baccarat FAQs
Yes. Many online casino sites – including all our top recommendations – accept US players from most, if not all, US states.
As always, be sure to check the laws of your local jurisdiction before gambling money on live baccarat.
Yes. Many games at the best online sites for live baccarat dealers allow you to bet on player or banker pairs. A perfect pair (same suit, same rank) can pay as much as 25:1, so these bets are worth making.
Other baccarat variants may have other side betting opportunities, so always keep an eye out for these.
Not really. In real money baccarat, you don’t control anything after you place your initial bet. Even pros have failed to come up with any reliable card counting or betting strategies.
There are some basic betting tips you can follow though:
- Betting on banker has the lowest house edge.
- Don´t bet on a tie.
- Don´t bother with side bets.
- Ignore commission free baccarat.
- Try and find baccarat played with six decks instead of eight.
No. Live dealer casinos don’t allow you to play baccarat without putting real money down. After all , someone has to pay the dealer’s wages!
However, in some live casinos, such as those provided by Visionary iGaming, it is possible to watch the live baccarat streams without depositing any money. That way you can get a feel for the game before deciding if you want to deposit your cash to play.
This depends on what you are looking for. Some live baccarat sites have higher or lower buy-in limits, some have more baccarat varieties, and some have lots of side bets.
All our top recommendations are great places to play live baccarat – whether you are a baccarat regular or a complete newbie.
Yes. All our top recommended live casinos function through mobile web browsers. So long as you have good enough internet, you can play live baccarat on your mobile device – whether that be IOS, Android or Windows.
