Best 10 Live Baccarat Casinos
Do you want to start playing live baccarat online, but have no idea where? Don’t worry; that’s a perfectly understandable situation. That is why we have this list of what we consider are the best online casinos available for UK players right now, both for live baccarat and any other fine casino games that strike your fancy:
| #1 | Bet 365 |
| #2 | Casumo |
| #3 | LeoVegas |
| #4 | Betway |
| #5 | Coral |
| #6 | Grosvenor Casinos |
| #7 | Paddy Power |
| #8 | Parimatch |
| #9 | Mr Green |
| #10 | NetBet |
What Makes a Live Casino the Best
What makes a truly great live casino? As you might expect, that depends on a lot of factors. Reaching such a conclusion on any online casino is made difficult by the number of sites offering live baccarat games, but we have managed to sort out the best from the merely good using the following criteria:
Different Variants Available
Baccarat has been around in some form or around since the 15th century, meaning there are plenty of variations of the game out there for you to check out. Here are but a few to keep an eye out on – Chemin de Fer, Punto Banco, Baccarat Banque, European Baccarat, Baccarat Squeeze and Dragon Tiger. The rules vary slightly between variations, meaning a reliable baccarat strategy can be employed across all of them!
Overall Good Payouts Ratio
The payout you can expect while playing live baccarat for real money depends on hands you are betting on. As a rule, the house edge of a Banker bet clocks at 1.06%, while that of Player bets stands at 1.36%. Tie bets, on the other hand, have a very high house edge of 14.04%! If you want to learn more about how to play baccarat, then make sure to check this article’s strategies section.
Interesting Live Baccarat Bonuses & Offers
We’ll admit that online casino bonuses specific to baccarat, be it online or live, are as rare as it gets. But don’t worry – as a rule, any casino bonuses you get can be used on all the games the site has to offer, including live baccarat. That said, always make sure this is the case by reading the terms and conditions carefully before committing to a bonus.
What is a Live Baccarat Game
In a few words, Live Baccarat is a version of online baccarat that is played together with other punters and an actual croupier. This way, the convenience of online casino is combined with the thrills of a real casino experience! You can watch the croupier as they deal the cards on the table, as well as chat with both them and your fellow players. No webcam or microphone are required, and you can play whenever and wherever you are, so long a dealer is available at the time.
Differences Between Live Dealer Baccarat and Online Baccarat
You might be asking – what’s the difference between live and online baccarat? First off, as mentioned above, live baccarat is streamed from a real-life location (usually either a studio or an actual casino), with an actual trained croupier running the game using physical cards. On the other hand, online baccarat uses virtual cards, which are dealt using a Random Number Generator (RNG). As such, while live baccarat has the croupier shuffle and deal the players’ cards, online baccarat deals out the players’ cards randomly using the RNG.
Exclusive Live Baccarat Features
The main advantage of live baccarat is being able to see the croupier shuffle and deal the cards, as well as chat with them and the other players. Add the live stream featuring a casino or studio backdrop, and you get an experience that is as close to the real thing as you can get without leaving the house!
Squeeze Baccarat Games
Squeeze Baccarat is very much like regular baccarat, but with a twist that’s perfect for the live version of the game – the croupier hands out the cards face down before slowly folding them over, building up the tension and excitement! This is a great choice if you want an even more exciting night out at the online casino.
Multi-Camera Feature
Multi-camera versions of the game are, at least according to some, the ultimate baccarat experience. As the name suggests, here you have multiple views of the action, ensuring every detail is captured. Evolution Gaming’s Multi-Camera Baccarat, for instance, uses no less than 17 high-definition cameras, and even allows players to briefly take a look at what is going on at other tables!
Pair Side Bets & Other Exclusive Side Bets for Live Versions
Side bets are bets you can, well, place on the side together with your main bet. The types of side bets available depend on the game you are playing. For instance, Playtech Live Baccarat games allow you to place different side bets, such as one on a progressive jackpot that can be won by the player forming specific hands, Pairs (a bet on whether the player or banker’s hands will form a pair) or Small/Big bets on the total number of cards dealt to a hand, among many others.
Faster, Faster, Faster
Want to play a few rounds of live baccarat but don’t have too much time to do so? That’s where Speed versions of Live Baccarat come into play! Evolution Gaming’s Speed Baccarat has the croupier deal out the cards face-up, while any extra cards are dealt out as soon as possible. The result? A game of baccarat with an impressive deal-to-deal time of 27 seconds!
How to Play Live Baccarat?
Playing live baccarat is the same as playing regular online baccarat, if with the live croupier handling the cards and interacting with the players. The aim of the game remains that of beating the Banker (the croupier or dealer) by having a hand that is as close to 9 in value as possible. Each game is played with eight decks of 52 cards each, and before the croupier deals the cards the players can wager on which player’s – including the Banker’s – hand will win.
Basic Rules Summary
The basic rules of baccarat are easy to understand. As mentioned above, the aim is to bet on whose hand will be as close to 9 as possible without going over. Cards in baccarat have the following values:
- Aces count as 1
- Tens, Jacks, Queens, and Kings count as 0
- The number cards from 2 to 9 have their face value
The total value of any hand in baccarat can only total from 0 to 9, since 10 is always subtracted from any hand whose value exceeds 9. This way, if you have a hand consisting of a 5, 8 and 3, then its value is 6 (16-10). As such, it’s very desirable to have a pair of 9 cards, since their total is 8 (18-10), while a hand with a total value of 20 becomes a 0. Do keep in mind that the suits of the cards don’t matter in baccarat, only their values as listed above.
The game starts with the players facing their bets before the croupier deals out two cards to both banker and the player. If the player has a total hand of 8 or 9 then they cannot draw any additional cards. The player can stand if their hand totals 6 or 7, but will draw another card if the total is between 0 and 5.
There are a few other rules that determine when the Banker can draw their third card. These are based on the value of their hand, as well as that of the player’s third card. You can check this in the table below:
Banker, Player or Tie when you play Live Baccarat?
There are three main bets in baccarat – banker, player or tie. These are self-explanatory, as you can bet on whether the banker or player will have the winning hand, or whether these will be equal in value to make a tie. The odds of each bet vary, as listed here:
- The odds of a Banker bet stand at 1.06%
- The odds of the Player bet are 1.36%
- The odds of a Tie bet are 14.4%.
The payouts are the same whether you bet on the Banker or Player – if you win, you get double your stake. A tie bet comes represents a higher risk, but you stand to win 8x your bet!
Live Baccarat Strategies
Considering the lower house edge, you have more chances of winning at baccarat if by betting on the banker. In fact, Banker bets are won 45.68%, and considering that ties push (the player and banker get their wagers back in case of a tie), then the chance of winning by betting on the banker clocks at 50.68%! However, in order to compensate for this, the house tends to take a 5% commission on games (unless you are playing a No Commission variant of baccarat), making for a house edge of 1.17% on banker bets.
Want to know even more about baccarat odds and payouts? Then we have the table for you right here:
Advances Live Baccarat Tips – Beat the Dealer
We’ve been playing baccarat for quite a while here at CasinoHawks, so here are our 3 tips to improve your gameplay – and potentially lead to a few wins – while playing live baccarat at the casino of your choice.
Familiarise yourself with the rules, side bets, and payouts.
This one might sound obvious, but it still bears repeating. While baccarat is a simple game, it has rules and side bets that are worth learning before setting out to play!
Learn the different betting strategies of baccarat
Continuing from the first tip, do take your time to familiarise yourself with the different strategies involved in a game of baccarat. For instance, ignore the tie bet unless you are feeling ready to take on more risk, while the Gambler’s Fallacy (where you try to predict the outcome of a round by basing it on that of previous rounds) is exactly that, a fallacy.
Create a budget and manage your time responsibly
Always remember to practice responsible gambling while playing baccarat. While this is a very fun game, and it’s great to win, creating a budget and managing your time responsibly will ensure you do not end up resorting to detrimental gambling behaviour.
Top Live Baccarat Providers in the UK
Playtech
A veteran of the live casino industry, Playtech has a full suite of interesting live baccarat options for you to play. Baccarat 7 Seat has up to seven players on the same table together with the croupier, creating an immersive multiplayer experience, while Baccarat Squeeze cranks up the tension with multiple camera angles of the croupier dramatically revealing the cards. Want to feel like you’re playing at a truly high-class casino? Then VIP Baccarat, with its highly-trained croupiers and 7 players per table, is the game for you!
Evolution Gaming
Evolution Gaming is another well-known name – and one that offers a variety of live baccarat games found at all major online casinos. Evolution’s Live Baccarat is streamed from a studio designed after the best Macau casinos, while Salon Privé is a VIP experience aimed at the high rollers complete with a VIP Room Manager. Enjoy an immersive experience with Multi-Camera Baccarat, or the 15+ camera angles of the tense Live Baccarat Squeeze. Fans of Lightning Roulette should try Lightning Baccarat, which adds random multipliers to the cards.
Authentic Gaming
A live dealer game developer that streams from real casinos, Authentic Gaming offers both regular live baccarat and an interesting variant called MultiBet Baccarat. This version of the game allows you to play two different versions using the same interface – the classic where the Banker takes a 5% commission if their hand wins, or a No Commission option that pays 50% on Banker wins of six. It also adds 14 optional side bets, such as Player/Banker Pair, Perfect Pairs and Big/Small.
Try Out the Live Version of James Bond’s Game of Choice!
In Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, the famous superspy played baccarat whenever he visited a casino – and there’s good reason why! While simple to play, baccarat brings plenty of classic thrills to the table, and you can experience from the comfort of your own home by playing live baccarat. So choose one of our casinos and get a bonus while you’re at it, and make sure to continue following CasinoHawks to learn more about all kinds of casino games.
Frequently asked questions
