Atlassino Academy · Baccarat · Lesson 3 of 7
At the baccarat table: bets, commission, pace
What the Player, Banker and tie bets pay, how the commission on the Banker bet is collected, who deals, where you can sit, and what an hour of hands costs.
An example $10 on the Banker hand, on every hand for an hour. What does that hour cost?
The short answer
About $7.62 on average. The same $10 on the Player hand comes to about $8.89 an hour, and on the tie to about $103. The commission on the Banker bet is already inside the Banker figure, not added to it afterwards. Each figure is the average price of one hand over eight decks, times 72 hands, the pace in the Las Vegas Strip rating table. The $10 is only an example bet: not a table minimum, and not a suggested bet.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
At a baccarat table the dealer and the rules do almost everything. Three decisions are left to you: which circle your chips go into, how much goes there, and how long you stay at the table.
Three circles, and what each one pays
The game itself has three bets: the Player hand, the Banker hand and a tie. At a baccarat table in Ontario, each seat has its own three betting areas, one for each of those bets, above the seat’s number on the felt. Player and Banker are the names of the two hands the dealer deals, not of two people at the table, and you can put your chips on either hand from any seat.
Our own plan of a mini-baccarat table, not a copy of any one room’s layout. Each seat has the same three betting areas in front of it: P for the Player hand, B for the Banker hand, T for a tie. The small numbered boxes near the dealer, one for each seat, are where some tables keep count of the commission each seat owes.
Under the rules for B.C. casinos, a bet on the hand that finishes closer to nine is paid 1 to 1. When the two hands tie, the Player and Banker bets are neither paid nor lost: they come back. A bet on the tie is paid 8 to 1 when the two hands tie.
| How the hand ends | $10 on Player | $10 on Banker | $10 on the tie |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Player hand is closer to nine | paid $10 | lost | lost |
| The Banker hand is closer to nine | lost | paid $9.50 | lost |
| The two hands tie | comes back | comes back | paid $80 |
Each row is one way a hand can end, and each column is one of the three circles. A paid Banker bet brings $9.50 rather than $10: the difference is the commission, and the next section is about it. Every paid bet also gets back the $10 that was bet.
The tie is the dearest of the three bets by a long way, and the hour at the end of this lesson shows by how much.
Under the rules for B.C. casinos you may not bet on the Player hand and the Banker hand in the same round: not both on one seat, and not Banker on one seat with Player on another seat. That ban is a rule for B.C. casinos; none of the other documents we could read prints it.
The commission on the Banker bet: when it is taken, and who keeps count
A Banker bet that is paid is charged a commission of 5%. Under the rules for B.C. casinos you can put the commission down beside your Banker bet before the deal, or it can be taken out of the payout, and the dealer takes it only when the Banker hand finishes closer to nine.
A paid Banker bet: the payout at 1 to 1, less the commission, is what you take beside the bet that comes back.
The commission is charged only on a Banker bet that is paid. A Banker bet that is lost, or that comes back on a tie, is charged no commission, and neither is a Player bet or a tie bet.
At some tables in Ontario, the dealer marks the commission you owe against your seat number instead, and you settle it when you leave the table.
The commission in Quebec rooms is worked out differently again, and that is lesson 6.4, together with the tables that take no commission at all.
However it is collected, the commission is part of the price of the Banker bet, not an extra charged beside it: the hour at the end of this lesson already counts it.
Who deals, from how many decks, and what the dealer calls
In mini-baccarat in B.C. the dealer does all of the dealing, and you are not dealt any cards. Under the rules for B.C. casinos the four cards are dealt face down, and the dealer then turns the Player hand and then the Banker hand face up and announces the two totals. Tables where players hold the cards and squeeze them are lesson 6.6.
A baccarat shoe holds six to eight decks under the rules for B.C. casinos, and the figures on this page are worked out for eight.
Under the rules for B.C. casinos the dealer also announces every tie bet of more than $25 out loud, and the Player hand is always played out first.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
I dealt this game for years. Every call you hear at the table is a rule being carried out where the whole table can hear it.
No call is the dealer’s opinion, and no call changes a card. If a call goes past you, it is fine to ask what it was.
Seats, standing, and bets on another player’s hand
Seat counts at baccarat tables run from 5 to 21, depending on the room and on the version of the game. The only count that matters on the night is the count at the table in front of you.
Under the rules for B.C. casinos one player may play more than one position in the same round, up to 9 of them, and anyone, seated or not, may bet on another player’s hand on conditions, one of which is that the player who holds that spot does not object. Betting on a hand at a seat that is not yours is called back betting.
In Ontario, back betting is acceptable as long as the seated player agrees. In Quebec you may also play standing, unless the table says otherwise: the seats are the betting spots, there is no limit on how many players stand, and a standing player’s bet goes on a seated player’s bet or on the community spot, as the table indicates, before the first card is dealt.
What the table and the room tell you
Under the rules for Quebec casinos, the minimum and the maximum bet are shown at the table itself, and a room in Ontario posts its minimums, maximums and maximum payouts at its tables. Where a table shows its limits, read them before your first bet.
Of the documents we could read, only three room pages, all of them in Quebec, print a minimum bet for live baccarat, and no document we could read prints the maximum bet at a live baccarat table.
- A room in Quebec$20minimum bet
- A second room in Quebec$25minimum bet at its EZ Baccarat tables
- A third room in Quebec$100minimum bet
- Any live tableno maximum printedin any document we could read
Three rooms, three minimums, and no maximum printed anywhere. The $10 used on this page is below every one of those minimums: it is an example bet for working out a price, not a bet at any particular table.
Some rooms also have electronic baccarat; the price of an hour in this lesson is for a live table.
What an hour of hands costs
No Canadian document we could read prints how many hands an hour a baccarat table deals. The figure used here is the one in the Las Vegas Strip rating table: 72 hands an hour.
- One hand$0.11the average price of one example $10 Banker bet over eight decks, rounded to the cent
- Hands in an hour72the figure in the Las Vegas Strip rating table
- One hour$7.62on average, at the example bet, from the unrounded price of one hand
Multiply the average price of one hand by the hands in an hour, and you have the average price of the hour. The price of one hand is shown rounded to the cent, and the hour is worked out from the unrounded price, which is why multiplying the rounded cents by the hands lands a little away from the figure for the hour. The same multiplication gives the Player and tie figures in the bars under the short answer. A hand you sit out costs nothing at all: the price is charged on each bet, not on each hand the table deals.
The hour price is a long-run average and not a forecast. One hour can come out well above it or well below it, and the practice run below plays one hour of hands from a shuffled shoe to show how far apart the two can be. Price of an hour works the same arithmetic for your own bet and your own hours.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
An hour at this table is 72 hands, and every one of them is a bet, so set a time limit before the first hand and keep it. Decide the money for the evening at home, too, and stop when either the time or the money is used up.
A good stretch of hands does not lower the price of the next hand, and a bad stretch is not a debt the table owes you. Putting more down to get a loss back only buys more hands at the same price. If the money on the table starts to feel like money you need, the lines below are there for exactly that.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
Practice: an hour at the table
One hour at a baccarat table, taken a stretch at a time: 72 hands in nine stretches of eight. Before each stretch you choose where your example $10 goes on each of its eight hands, on the Banker hand, the Player hand or the tie, or you sit the stretch out. After each choice you see what each of the four choices costs on average over those eight hands and, in grey, what those eight hands actually did to each bet. The last screen shows the whole hour for each bet held on every hand.
Nothing is scored here. There is no right bet to find: every choice is allowed, and the point is to watch the average price and the actual result pull apart. The money is an example, and nothing is bet.
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The practice table needs JavaScript. Here is one stretch of the hour from it, with the answer.
The first eight hands of the hour
The hour so far, in rows of eight hands
$10 a hand, an example bet
Hands 1 to 8 of the hour are next. Where does your example $10 go on each of those eight hands?
- The Banker bet On average the Banker bet costs $0.85 over these eight hands at $10 a hand. What these eight hands actually did to the Banker bet: −$31.00.
- The Player bet On average the Player bet costs $0.99 over these eight hands at $10 a hand. What these eight hands actually did to the Player bet: +$30.00.
- The tie bet On average the tie bet costs $11.49 over these eight hands at $10 a hand. What these eight hands actually did to the tie bet: +$10.00.
- Sitting these eight hands out No bet means no price and no result: these eight hands cost nothing and pay nothing.
Hands 1 to 8 went: Player, tie, Player, Player, Player, Player, Banker, Banker. The two hands tied once: on a tie the Banker and Player bets come back, and the tie bet is paid 8 to 1. Eight hands are far too few for the average price to show through. The average is what the same bet costs over many hours; what one stretch of eight hands does is mostly luck.
The end of the hour
The whole hour
- The Banker bet on all of the hourcame out +$42.00
- The Player bet on all of the hourcame out −$60.00
- The tie bet on all of the hourcame out −$180.00
- No bet at allnothing in, nothing out
$10 a hand, an example bet
The hour is over. With $10 on the Banker hand for all 72 hands, this hour came out +$42.00. What did that hour of the Banker bet cost?
- Nothing: the hour came out ahead Coming out ahead in one hour does not make the hour free. The price is what the Banker bet costs on average, and one hour lands above or below that average by luck.
- $36, the commission on every bet That charges the commission on all 72 bets. The commission is charged only on a Banker bet that is paid, and the average price already counts it.
- About $7.62, on average The unrounded price of one Banker bet at the example bet, which rounds to $0.11, times 72 hands. That price was charged in this hour too: this hour simply ran ahead of the price, and the next hour can run as far behind it.
- $0.11, the price of one hand That is the average price of one hand at the example bet. An hour at this table holds 72 hands, and each of them is priced the same.
Over many hours like this one, $10 a hand over eight decks costs about $7.62 an hour on the Banker bet, $8.89 on the Player bet and $103 on the tie bet; sitting the hour out costs nothing. An hour that mixes the bets costs, on average, the eight-hand averages of the stretches you bet on, added together, give or take a few cents of rounding.
Every stretch of the hour is worked out the same way: the hands come out of one shuffled eight-deck shoe, each of the four choices is settled hand by hand, and the average price beside each result comes from the price of one hand times the hands played.
How the practice run works
Where the hands come from. All 72 hands are dealt in advance from one eight-deck shoe, shuffled by our baccarat engine with a fixed seed, so every visitor plays the same hour: the hands are played out card by card by the same drawing rules as everywhere else in this track. When three quarters of the shoe has been dealt, the shoe is shuffled again before the next hand. The rules for B.C. casinos say how the cards are mixed but not how far into a shoe the game goes, so where our practice shoe ends is our choice.
What each figure is. The average price under each choice is the price of one hand of that bet times the hands in the stretch. The grey figure settles each of those hands at the payouts above: 1 to 1 for Player and Banker, less the commission on a paid Banker bet, 8 to 1 for the tie, and the Player and Banker bets back on a tie.
Your own hour. Add up the averages under the choices you made, stretch by stretch: that sum, give or take a few cents of rounding, is what your hour cost on average. It lies somewhere between nothing, if you sat out every stretch, and the tie’s hour, if you put the tie on every stretch.
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Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. An example $10 on the Banker hand, on every hand for an hour, costs about $7.62 on average over eight decks, with the commission already counted in it.
Where to go next, and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Rules of Play for Table Games — Baccarat · BCLCThe full B.C. rules: the deal, the third-card rules for both hands, the commission, Ruyi Baccarat, the squeeze tables and every side-bet pay table.
- How to play baccarat · BCLCB.C.’s plain-words page: who deals at a mini table, how the commission is taken, and the no-commission and squeeze tables.
- Game rules: Baccarat and EZ Baccarat · Loto-QuébecQuébec’s rules for both games on three pages, with the whole drawing chart written out as text.
- Baccarat: how to play · OLG PlaySmartThe table, the deal and the commission box, in plain words.
How it’s worked out
Rules, numbers, pace, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every rule, procedure and price on this page is for a live baccarat table in a room you can walk into, with a dealer running the game; where a rule or a procedure belongs to one format, such as mini-baccarat, or to one version of the game, such as EZ Baccarat, the page says so, and nothing here says which formats the rooms in Quebec run. Electronic baccarat appears only as the forms the rooms list; its screens and its pace are not described here.
Rules. The payouts, the ban on Player and Banker in the same round, where the commission is put, the face-down deal, the announced tie bets and the Player hand going first are the rules published for B.C. casinos: a set of rules for a province’s casinos rather than a report of what any one room does. The commission procedures for Ontario and Nova Scotia, and the dealing, standing and seat figures for Ontario and Quebec, come from each province’s own guides, regulations and room pages. The documents differ, and the differences are kept rather than smoothed over: who deals the cards is a different procedure in each of three provinces; the commission is collected four different ways in four provinces; the number of seats changes from room to room; and the rules for Quebec casinos print “and/or” between the Player and Banker hands, which this page quotes as it stands without drawing a rule from it. How to buy chips is lesson 0.4: no document we could read describes buying chips at a baccarat table, so this page does not describe it either.
Numbers. Every price on this page is worked out when the page is built by our baccarat engine: the price of one hand of each bet over eight decks, the payouts of the rules for B.C. casinos, and the hour as one hand’s price times the hands in an hour. Eight decks is an assumption, the most either set of rules allows. Amounts under ten dollars are shown to the cent and larger ones to the dollar, and every figure is worked out from unrounded values, so multiplying or adding the rounded figures you see can land a little away from the figure printed for the result. The practice hour is one shuffled shoe played out hand by hand. Our checks recompute every figure from the engine rather than reading it back from this page.
Pace. No Canadian document we could read prints how many hands an hour a baccarat table deals. The figure here is the one our Price of an hour tool uses and names: 72 hands an hour in the Las Vegas Strip rating table. It carries no source button on this page. Your table may be faster or slower, and the hour costs whatever the hands you actually play cost.
What is deliberately absent. How to count a hand, the order of the deal card by card and the rule for the Player hand are lesson 6.1; the chart the Banker hand follows when the Player hand draws is lesson 6.2. What each bet costs as a share of the bet, why the Banker bet costs less than the Player bet, the commission in Quebec, and tables that take no commission are lesson 6.4. Side bets are lesson 6.5; tables where players hold and squeeze the cards, and how fast each format plays, are lesson 6.6; the scoreboard and its roads are lesson 6.7. There is no maximum bet on this page: no document we could read prints one for a live table.
Sources. Every rule and every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Maya and Leo are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former floor supervisor and a former dealer, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Baccarat is played against the house. Knowing what each circle pays and what an hour costs lets you check every payment and plan every hour; nothing on this page makes any bet cheaper, and nothing here says how an evening at the table would end.
Player and Banker at once, under the rules for B.C. casinos
Player may not bet on both the Player and Banker on the same hand.
If Player is betting Banker on one hand, they cannot bet for Player on the second hand i.e. thereby offsetting the results.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 3.1.1.a to 4.2.1
exception that Player may not bet on both the Player and Banker, thereby offsetting the results.
Section 7.0 Ruyi Baccarat, 1.1.1 to 3.2.1 and 7.2 to 7.2.2
The commission, under the rules for B.C. casinos
A 5% commission shall be charged for winning banker bets.
Prior to commencement of play, all Players betting the banker hand shall place the 5% commission adjacent to the appropriate betting spot or commission may be taken out of the winning wager.
Dealer takes the commission only when Banker hand wins.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 5.1, 5.1.1 and 7.4
If you bet on the Banker hand and it wins, you’re paid out at 1 to 1, minus a 5 percent commission, which the dealer collects. If you bet $10, you net $9.50.
What each bet pays, under the rules for B.C. casinos
Winning bets won on the Banker or Player hand shall be paid at the odds of 1 to 1.
When the Banker hand and Player hands tie, there shall be a push with no Banker or Player bets paid or collected.
Winning bets on the tie are paid 8 to 1.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 7.1 to 7.3
Three betting areas, in a guide for Ontario
Each player will find three bet boxes, one each for Player, Banker and Tie, above their number on the felt table top.
Choose to bet on the Banker’s hand (1:1 odds), Player’s hand (1:1 odds) or a Tie (8:1 odds).
What each bet pays, under the rules for B.C. casinos
Winning bets won on the Banker or Player hand shall be paid at the odds of 1 to 1.
When the Banker hand and Player hands tie, there shall be a push with no Banker or Player bets paid or collected.
Winning bets on the tie are paid 8 to 1.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 7.1 to 7.3
The tie pays 8 to 1
If you bet on a tie, and the hands are identical, you’re paid out at 8 to 1.
A winning bet on a tie pays 8 to 1.
If both hands tie, neither hand wins or loses, but if you have a wager on the tie, you win 8 to 1!
(c) the inscription “tie bets pay 8 to 1”;
Province of Nova Scotia · Casino Regulations (Gaming Control Act) · read
TIE wins (pays 8 to1)
Player and Banker at once, under the rules for B.C. casinos
Player may not bet on both the Player and Banker on the same hand.
If Player is betting Banker on one hand, they cannot bet for Player on the second hand i.e. thereby offsetting the results.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 3.1.1.a to 4.2.1
exception that Player may not bet on both the Player and Banker, thereby offsetting the results.
Section 7.0 Ruyi Baccarat, 1.1.1 to 3.2.1 and 7.2 to 7.2.2
The commission, under the rules for B.C. casinos
A 5% commission shall be charged for winning banker bets.
Prior to commencement of play, all Players betting the banker hand shall place the 5% commission adjacent to the appropriate betting spot or commission may be taken out of the winning wager.
Dealer takes the commission only when Banker hand wins.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 5.1, 5.1.1 and 7.4
If you bet on the Banker hand and it wins, you’re paid out at 1 to 1, minus a 5 percent commission, which the dealer collects. If you bet $10, you net $9.50.
The commission, at tables in Ontario
A winning bet on this hand pays even money, or 1 to 1. For example, if you bet $10 and win, it pays $10, minus the 5% commission.
The dealer takes a 5% commission on winning bets on the Banker’s hand. In full Baccarat, a long rectangle filled with numbers, located next to the bank, is called the commission box, and is used to keep track of all commissions.
On other Baccarat tables, a commission circle is next to each individual betting area.
Each number represents a player, and every time a player owes commission, the dealer will mark it until the player is ready to pay and leave the table.
Commissions are tracked in the commission box by the dealer every time it’s owed, and collected for each winning Banker’s hand.
The dealer takes a 5% commission on winning bets made on the Banker’s hand only.
No commission is charged on a tie or a payout on a winning Player’s hand.
Next to the dealer is an area called the Commission Box. It’s used to keep track of all commissions owed by each player. Smaller tables have commission areas next to each player’s betting area.
All winning Banker wagers are paid even money; however a 5% commission is collected on ALL winning Banker hands.
Who deals the cards, in three provinces
In mini-baccarat, the dealer does all the work. You aren’t even dealt any cards.
The dealer deals two cards to the Player hand and two to the Banker hand, and announces the point totals.
Two, two-card hands will be dealt by the dealer.
Each hand gets two cards and they are dealt face up.
OLG PlaySmart · Get Your Game On — Mini Baccarat (video transcript) · read
Cards are dealt by the dealer.*
*At the discretion of the Société des casinos du Québec, the players may deal the cards.
The deal, under the rules for B.C. casinos
Deal four (4) cards face down;
The first card shall be dealt to the Player hand;
The second to the Banker hand;
The third to the Player hand;
The fourth to the Banker hand;
Turn the Player hand and then the Banker hand face up in the appropriate boxes;
Announce the point total of the Player hand followed by the Banker hand;
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 8.2 to 8.6
During each deal, the first and third cards dealt from the shoe make up the player’s hand, while the second and fourth cards make up the banker’s hand.
The first and third cards are the Player’s hand and the second and fourth are the Banker’s hand.
First, the dealer slides out a card and places it in the Player box.
The next card is placed in the Banker box. This is repeated so that each box has two cards.
How many decks
Mini-Baccarat is a card game played with six (6) to eight (8) standard decks of 52 playing cards dealt from a shoe, the cards shall be mixed using a multi-deck-shuffling device by a Dealer.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 1.1 to 1.2
Baccarat and EZ Baccarat™ are played with 6 or 8 decks of 52 cards.
Baccarat is a game played with eight decks of pre-shuffled standard playing cards (416 cards) out of a card shoe.
Baccarat is a game played with eight decks of standard playing cards (416 cards) out of a card shoe. The cards are either manually shuffled or by using an automatic shuffler.
Club Regent Casino · Gaming · read
Tie bets announced, under the rules for B.C. casinos
Announce all tie bets in excess of $25.00;
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 8.2 to 8.6
The Player hand first, under the rules for B.C. casinos
The Player hand shall always be played out first.
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 8.2 to 8.6
Seats at a baccarat table
There are from seven to 14 seats for players, depending on the version of Baccarat, and a dealer’s area.
Joueurs par table max. 7
Max number of players at the table 7
Max number of players at the table 9
There are 22 Baccarat tables at Fallsview Casino Resort.
There are 5 - 21 seats at the Baccarat tables at Fallsview Casino Resort.
Up to 10 players may play at a Baccart table.
Baccarat is played on a nine seat (Midi-Baccarat) table.
Club Regent Casino · Gaming · read
100 Baccarat and punto banco shall be played on a table having numbered places for 10 to 14 seated players.
103 Mini-baccarat or midi-baccarat shall be played at a table having on one side, places for players, and on the opposite side, a place for the dealer.
104 Each table may have a maximum of 9 areas for the players at the table with each area being numbered.
Province of Nova Scotia · Casino Regulations (Gaming Control Act) · read
Positions and back betting, under the rules for B.C. casinos
A Player shall be permitted to play more than one Player position in the same round up to a maximum of nine (9) positions.
Back Betting shall be permitted (i.e. Players not seated at the gaming table or other individuals wager on another Player’s hand) conditional upon the following restrictions:
There is no disagreement from the Player who controls the spot;
Section 1.0 Mini-Baccarat, 3.1.1.a to 4.2.1
Back betting, in a guide for Ontario
This is called back betting, and if the seated player agrees, it’s perfectly acceptable.
Playing standing, under the rules for Quebec casinos
The maximum number of players seated at a Baccarat or EZ Baccarat™ table is the number of betting spots at the table.
Unless otherwise indicated at the table, players can also stand, in which case there is no maximum number of standing players.
Bets by standing players must be placed on a bet made by a seated player or on the community spot, as indicated at the table, before the first card is dealt.
Limits posted at the table
Minimums and maximums, and maximum payouts are posted at the table.
Les mises doivent respecter les limites minimale et maximale indiquées à la table.
Minimum bets at baccarat tables
Mise min. en casino 20 $
Minimum casino bet $25
Minimum casino bet $100
Table minimums and selection of available games are dictated by business volumes.
Electronic baccarat tables
Sit down at one of our Mini or Midi Baccarat tables in Salon Privé or on the main floor and bet on on whether the Banker’s hand or your hand will have the closest to nine. Electronic Baccarat is available on the main floor near the tables.
Yes, there is an electronic Baccarat table at Fallsview Casino Resort.
Baccarat – Auto Mode (Limit $3 to $300)
Level 3 now features more ways to enjoy your favourite games, including 24 electronic baccarat terminals.
Parq Casino · Table Games · read
From blackjack to baccarat, roulette and beyond, some of the most popular casino table games are playable in electronic formats with lower bet limits.
Currently, both roulette and baccarat are offered as a linked game.
eTables in this linked to live category are: Quartz Hybrid Roulette and Baccarat.
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