Tournament Baccarat

Casino games tournaments are fun, and they can be profitable too. In upcoming articles, we will continue to publish a series of excerpts from Stanford Wong’s book, Casino Tournament Strategy.

Baccarat tournament rules vary from tournament to tournament. Some are funny money with no commission taken from bank wins, and some are real money with the standard 5% commission taken from bank wins. Some have maximum bets equal to or greater than starting bankrolls, and some have maximum bets that are small compared to starting bankrolls. Number of winners per table varies from one to six. Number of decks shuffled varies from one to five. Number of shoes played is one or two.

All tournaments have a cut card that defines the second-last hand. Some have a secret bet, and on some secret bets the only secret is the amount of the bet and not where the bet is placed. These factors generally hold true whether the tournament is held in a brick and mortar casino such as in Atlantic City, or is held online.

Seat Selection

Seat selection in a baccarat tournament is important. The standard format is to play one shoe (or two), with bets placed in order starting with seat 1. After each hand, the next player bets first. The average hand uses 4.94 cards. In some tournaments the betting order does not change after a tie, in which case the betting order changes once per 5.46 cards. Since you know total cards used, you can find the expected number of times the betting order will change. If you know how many players per table, you can figure out which seat is most likely to bet first on the final hand if nobody busts out.

Edge Over Player to Left

The player to your left bets after you only once per number of players. With twelve players per table, you bet after the player to your left eleven times out of twelve. That means you have a big edge over that player. If you get ahead of the player to your left, you can match that person’s bets eleven times out of twelve. If that person is ahead of you, you can bet the opposite way eleven times out of twelve. Therefore, do not worry if the person on your left gets ahead of you, as long as that person does not get too far ahead.

The opponent on your right, however, is a different matter. That opponent can match your bets or bet opposite from you eleven times out of twelve.

Best Bet

Whether a commission is taken or not, the best bet in baccarat tournaments is bank. Therefore, you generally want to bet bank. Tie is the worst bet. Bet it only on the last hand when you are trying to tie up the highest possible probability of winning the table.

Though you generally prefer to bet bank, there are at least two situations in which you should bet on player. One is if the opponent you are trying to catch already has a bet on bank; then you bet on player to get more swing for a given bet size. The other is if a commission is taken on winning bank bets and so few hands remain that paying a commission will leave you with odd chips you will not be able to bet; then if you bet on player you preserve your option of betting your whole bankroll.

Know How Many Hands Remain

Participants in baccarat tournaments generally are allowed to use pencil and paper. Use them to keep track of total cards remaining to be dealt. You can divide that number by five to estimate how many hands are yet to be played. You can figure out what your betting position will be on the final hand.

Watch the placement of the plastic card or cards that determine how many cards will be used. Sometimes the actual placement is different from what you were led to expect. For example, at one tournament the participants were told that plastic cards were to be placed at one and two decks, but they actually were inserted at about 40 and 80 cards. In another tournament, participants expected the stop card to be 15 cards from the end of the shoe but it was inserted a full deck from the end; that tournament ended way too soon for anyone who was not watching the placement of the stop card.

Secret Bets

If you get one and only one secret bet, save it in case you need it on the final hand. You may not need it; in baccarat, unlike blackjack, when you bet last you have absolutely no reason to make a secret bet.

If you get more than one secret bet, save one for the final hand. The others you might use when you have to bet first or second on the final time the betting order comes around to you before the final hand, or you might save them for the hands immediately before the final one. Do not use a secret bet earlier than the final time the betting order comes around to you.

Just because you want to make a big bet is no reason to do it secretly. For example, in one baccarat tournament I had 900, five other players had 1100 to 1400, three players were going to advance to the next round, and we had plenty of hands left to play. I decided to bet 300, and if that bet lost, I intended to bet my final 600. So what if everyone knew what I was betting? I did not use a secret bet.

This article is part of a series, to be continued…

Excerpted with permission from Casino Tournament Strategy by Stanford Wong, edited for this format.