# I'd like to learn baccarat **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [December 2, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336 "2021-12-02T04:11:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/1 "2021-12-02T04:11:50Z")
I’d like to learn how to play baccarat. Where’s a good (free, non-data mining) site to learn? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/2 "2021-12-02T04:55:08Z")
Unless you’re talking about actually _playing_ baccarat as opposed to casino baccarat, I don’t think there’s anything more to learn than “always bet on the banker”. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/3 "2021-12-02T05:15:15Z")
Exactly. Unless you’re somehow in a James Bond movie and playing chemin-de-fer (or maybe in a high roller area somewhere in Europe), casino baccarat is an exercise in watching the dealer. Banker is slightly better than player, but pays a 5% commission on wins. The only other real rules to know is that it’s modulo 10, 8 and 9 on two cards are naturals and stop the game, and that there are fairly complex rules regarding the taking of a third card, especially for the banker. In my experience, you might also learn some Chinese slang, including that a tie is apparently known as a monkey once translated into English. Unless I heard them wrong. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/4 "2021-12-02T05:26:17Z")
I believe that ‘noughts and crosses’ is a more complex game than baccarat. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/5 "2021-12-02T16:01:50Z")
I think the weirdest part is the… What’s the name for it? The percentage the dealer deducts from your winnings. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/6 "2021-12-02T16:07:04Z")
Commission. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/7 "2021-12-02T17:08:31Z")
Try YouTube. Oddly enough there is an abnormally large collection of ASMR videos involving attractive mumbling young women as baccarat dealers. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/8 "2021-12-02T17:48:57Z")
Bet banker, never take the tie bet, ignore the little paper they’ll give you to ‘track the game’. That’s all you ever need to know. It’s basically a tarted-up coin flip with a house edge. I’d find something more fun to play. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/9 "2021-12-03T15:41:11Z")
Playing Player makes you win a little less often – playing Banker makes you pay a Commission for the privilege of winning a little more often. The idea is to make the game almost 50/50 with a small percentage going to the House. While playing Banker is a tiny bit better than Player the difference is so small that unless you are playing many, many hours for very large amounts of money you should really pay no attention to it and simply bet whatever you ‘feel’ while enjoying the ambiance of the tuxedoed employees and the elegant decor. Like others have said, don’t play Tie. Other than that, for all practical purposes it’s a coin flip game. Enjoy the ambiance and the feeling of being a Big Shot in the fancy room while the hoi polloi stand at the rail outside the room, mystified by the arcane rules and your obvious superiority. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/10 "2021-12-03T15:53:57Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > Enjoy the ambiance and the feeling of being a Big Shot I’ll have to buy a tuxedo or dinner jacket. Sadly, I had a baccarat game on my Hoyle Casino; but I lost the games when I upgraded to Big Sur. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-like-to-learn-baccarat/955336/11 "2021-12-04T01:40:43Z")
Obligatory webcomic reference, this one from The Order of the Stick: [![](https://i.imgur.com/p5CHroj.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/p5CHroj.jpg)