***Baccarat Strategy***

Baccarat Strategy
Baccarat strategy is often said to be non-existent; this is not quite true. There are a number of things you can do to increase your odds of winning this game, and there are a number of things you can avoid doing. Many people will give you advice on what they would call a baccarat strategy; unfortunately, the majority of the time this advice is wrong.

The first thing you will notice about baccarat at land-based casinos is that almost everyone at the table is tracking the results of each hand on scorecards. It looks like everyone at the table is keeping track of the outcome on each hand, and that's exactly what they're doing. These people are trying to spot patterns and then change their own betting patterns in order to take advantage of a streak. The casinos encourage this behavior simply because they know it has no bearing on the outcome of the game. Chasing patterns in baccarat is as pointless as it is in roulette. Simply put, they are looking for patterns in the outcomes of the hands. "Why?" you ask? There is no rhyme or reason to the use of pattern spotting as a baccarat strategy, it's simply superstition. Where is the rationale behind the assumption that a randomly shuffled shoe of eight decks is going to follow any distinct patterns? One hand has no bearing on the next, and is never influenced by the preceding hands. This is a simple trap that gamblers all around the world fall into at one time or another. If you were betting on the flip of a coin, and it landed heads up 8 times in a row, part of your brain will inevitably yell out to you that a tails is imminent, and it's likely that the 9th flip will land tails up. This reasoning is spurious; the chance of the coin landing tails up on the 9th flip is exactly 50%, just as it was the first eight times. Any baccarat strategy that makes you change your bets based on previous hands is useless and should be completely disregarded.

So, although you will see almost everyone around you at the baccarat table marking down numbers on casino provided cards, you should take it as entertaining company. Don't be fooled into participating, it's just another way for the casino to distract you from the important parts of the game-play. Seriously, would casinos provide everyone with a pencil and a chart if they were really worth anything?

Baccarat can be considered a coin toss played with a lot of fanfare. Many people let this oversimplified impression of the game lure them towards using a martingale-based system. These styles of systems have you double your bet each time you lose a hand, basing its logic on the fact that eventually your choice will win, and if you had doubled your bet each hand that win will recoup all losses from previous hands. This system is perfect and cannot be beaten in games like baccarat or roulette. Because this is true the casinos have issued new rules, which limit how much one can bet in one hand. Table maximums (and minimums) as they are referred to, eliminate the threat of a martingale system gambler completely. Say you bet 10 dollars on banker and lost, next bet you put 20 bucks down on banker, next bet 40, ect, and you keep loosing, it won't be very long before you double your bet right up to or over the table maximum. In this case of course you can't bet any higher, and your system has failed. If I only accomplish one thing with this web site, I hope it is convincing everyone that martingale systems are absolutely horrific techniques designed to prey on the natural thought patterns of the human brain (the bit that thinks if a coin lands heads up eight times in a row there is a greater than 50% chance it will be tails on the ninth toss).

Card counting is usually associated with the game of blackjack, as it can be quite an effective strategy when utilized properly in the right casino. This method is usually associated with blackjack, and involves keeping track of cards that have been played from the shoe in order to gain an advantage against the house. This sounds very promising, especially considering the nature of baccarat. As more cards are played from the shoe, the more you know about the cards that are left. But even though cards can be shown to be mathematically favorable or unfavorable, the effect is miniscule.

It would also appear to be a genuinely worthy strategy in baccarat, as it works off of a similar shoe. The problem is of course the issue of used cards being fed back into the shoe before very many have been removed (thus negating any count you had made to that point). In baccarat specifically the problems with card counting are a little different. Unlike blackjack baccarat does not offer opportunities to alter your bet in mid-hand play. Blackjack offers this ability in a number of specific situations, and so you can increase your bet if your count changes during play. Using card counting in baccarat though offers so few situations with an advantage against the house that the overall efforts are worthless.

      Using card counting as a baccarat strategy finds so few situations with an advantage against the house that the efforts overall are worthless. Baccarat can be considered a coin toss played with a lot of fanfare. Don't let this impression lure you toward systems that involve doubling your bet until you win. Streak analysis or pattern spotting is also useless, but serves as entertainment in a game where the simplicity can produce monotony. Looking at the numbers the odds are always better if you bet on the banker. Does this mean you should always bet on the banker? Technically, the answer is "yes." Practically, perhaps not. This baccarat strategy would be undeniably boring, and so you wouldn't be playing for very long. Remember, the house does have an edge, even though it is relatively small for baccarat. This means that in the long run the house will win, undeniably.

So if card counting, streak or pattern spotting, and systems are all useless strategy for baccarat, what's a good one? Looking at the numbers it becomes clear that the odds are always a little better when you bet on the banker. Does this mean you should always bet on banker? In a technical sense I suppose yes it does, but practically it would be the most boring use of your time ever if you just sat there betting on banker all night. Pattern chasing is most often some added fun to break the monotony that can come from a simple game.

      The point here is, although the casino does have the advantage in the long run, baccarat provides a rare opportunity for short term success. Try to escape with your winnings and don't chase your losses. Never lose track of how much you are betting per hour, this is your best possible baccarat strategy. Good luck!

Email: davidchengkl@yahoo.com