If you want to find out where the high rollers are playing, then look for the special high stakes Baccarat room. Unless you are wearing a tuxedo and looking rich, then you might be able to get in there, but you will face considerable scrutiny before being able to do so. To play in the high stakes Baccarat room being a millionaire is no longer enough; people play with that sort of money in the baccarat bankroll.
The reason that the game is so popular with these high stakes players is because the rake the casino takes is quite low, that is as long as you don’t bet on a tie.
Each different bet has a different house edge. Although the house edge is only levied on winning banker bets, because of the different odds of winning the different bets all payouts are a little less than the odds of winning, so all bets contribute to the overall house edge.
These are the actual house edges at casinos which impose a 5% levy, which many online casinos do. However some online casinos have a reduced house edge, and only impose a 2.5% levy on banker wins.
On a six deck show the house edge on a player win is 1.06%, on a banker win it is 1.24% and on a tie it is 14.4%.
Given these figures the strategy you should adopt to maximise your chances of winning is to only bet on the player, and you might wonder why anyone would ever bet on a tie which is subject to a relatively massive house edge of over 14%.
Of course if we were all completely rational then we probably wouldn’t gamble anyway; we don’t gamble to be rational, we gamble to enjoy ourselves, to have some fun, to flirt with danger, to feel that adrenaline rush that makes the hairs on the backs of our necks bristle, and to hopefully win some money.
Which is why people bet on a tie; it pays out at 8 to 1 which is always a nice win even if it only happens on average twice in nineteen hands. It is just good to be there when it does.
Online you can play online baccarat for high or low stakes as you please, and as long as you don’t place too many tie bets you will not be contributing too much of your money to the casino.