TABLE GAMES

ARIZONA’S NEW LIVE BACCARAT GUIDE

A Quick Overview Of The Basics To Get You Started

Baccarat as an electronic game came to Arizona in 2013, but now the live version is here too. Hailed for being the lowest house-edge table game, Baccarat has been a massive favorite in Las Vegas and Macau for years. Unfortunately, we probably won’t be getting the stylish full-table game played by suave and daring Agent 007 in the 1960s James Bond films. It’s possible, but unlikely.

The large tables take a crew of dealers, more space, and larger bets to make them palatable to casinos. Although higher table wager limits have been approved in Arizona, most casinos will roll out a slightly simplified, faster game of Mini-Bac. And, instead of paying a 5% commission on winning Banker wagers, EZ Baccarat has been adapted to allow it to be played with zero commission. Here’s the scoop.

How To Play Mini-Bac

A Baccarat game is played with six decks of cards held in a standard plastic shoe like Blackjack; card values are slightly different. Deuces through nines are worth their face value while tens and face cards are zero. Aces always count as one. However, if cards drawn make a total over 9, the 10’s digit is dropped. That means when the hand is 5-2, and a ten gets pulled, the point total is still 7. And, if the hand is 5-2 and an 8 gets drawn for 15, the point total becomes 5.

There are only three standard bets at Baccarat: Player, Banker, and Tie. The dealer handles all the cards and all the decisions. Players root for their Banker or Player wager spot to be the closest to 9.

Then, the dealer delivers two cards to the Player spot and two to the Banker. If either spot has a natural of 8 or 9, the hand is over. A natural 9 is the best hand and beats a natural 8 or any other hand total. If both spots have a natural 8 or a natural 9, the hand is a tie. In this case, the tie wager wins 8-1.

Player Draw Rules

If the Player spot has a two-card total of 0 to 5, a third card is drawn. No other cards are drawn for a 6 through 9.

Banker’s Draw Rules

If the Player stood with 6 through 9 and the Banker has 0 to 5, they draw one card.

If the Player spot draws a card, the Banker follows set rules for drawing. All winning Player wagers pay even money. The Banker has a slight advantage, so winning bets pay even money minus a 5% commission.

EZ Baccarat

EZ Baccarat was invented to eliminate commission and add side bets. The game plays like standard Min-Bac, but anytime the Banker wins with a three-card total of 7, the Banker bet is a push while the Player and Tie bets lose.

EZ Baccarat also introduces side wagers. The Dragon 7 wager: if the Banker spot wins with a three-card total of 7 the payoff is 40 to 1, and the Panda 8: if the Player spot wins with a three-card total of 8 the payoff is 25 to 1.

EZ Baccarat Banker and Player wagers have a house edge of just 1.02 percent. Dragon 7 house edge is 7.65 percent; Panda 8 is 10.2 percent. $

Writer Al Moe has worked in the casino industry for many years. He has lived and worked in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe. He also attended the University of Nevada, Reno. He is an avid writer and blogger. His book, “Vegas and the Mob," is available online at Amazon.com. He is also the proud father of four beautiful girls.

IS YOUR GAME FOR FUN OR PROFIT?

Why Putting In The Effort To Sharpen Your Skills Pays Off

Are you playing Blackjack just for fun, or are you serious about making some money? I think that if you are reading this column that you at least have an interest in playing a better game of Blackjack.

First of all, if you have mastered basic strategy, that’s a step in the right direction. For the perfect basic strategy player, the casino has about a 0.57% advantage. So in theory, for every $100 you play, in the long run you will lose 57 cents. However, I can count on one hand the number of players I have seen who play it perfectly. The way I see most play, they give the casino about a 2-10% advantage. If they are also playing side bets too, the casino edge jumps up to around a whopping 26%. So instead of losing 57 cents per $100 dollars, they are dropping $26 dollars or more per $100.

Side bets can be fun to hit, but if you play them every hand you will almost always walk out a loser. If you’re just playing for fun and don’t care if you lose, have at it! You will soon be the casino’s favorite customer. As for me, I go to the casino for one reason, to make money. If I didn’t make money month after month, I wouldn’t do it.

When I sit down at the Blackjack table, instead of being at a disadvantage it is me that has the edge, about a 1.5% average advantage. This doesn’t mean that I win every time I play because I don’t, but I win most of the time. I keep a log of every time I play, where I play, when I play and how much I win or lose. I show a profit month after month, year after year.

I have a friend of mine, (we’ll call him Jason—to protect the guilty), who wants to make money when he goes to the casino. I have worked with him on basic strategy, and he almost has it down. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t want to put in the time to master it completely.

We will go to the casino and both sit down at the same Blackjack table. The first thing he does when buying chips is get some singles. Then he makes his bets and always plays the side bets no matter what they are, even though I have shown him the math on what a bad bet they are. For example, he will make a bet of $10, then put $5 on the Push bet and $2 on Lucky Ladies. So, if he wins his $10 bet, and loses the other two he nets $3. He gets bored because he is not making any money. Then he gets frustrated and goes to play slot machines because of the potential for a big hit. When we leave the casino I will usually be ahead $300-$500, while he’s down $600 or more!

Don’t be like my friend Jason.

If you would like to be the one that has the winning edge over the casino, my new book, How To Become A Blackjack Jedi by TJ Jorgensen, is available on Amazon in both hard copy and eBook format. I teach how to overcome the house advantage. After all, it’s much more fun to win than it is to lose. Who knows, you might even improve your overall Blackjack playing skills too! $

Writer TJ Jorgensen has been a professional Blackjack player for over 20 years. He is well known for his tournament play and has beaten some of the top tournament players in the world. He has also won the World Series Of Blackjack. His newest book “How To Become A Blackjack Jedi” is available online at Amazon.com.