What you choose each round
To place a bet, choose before the round which hand you think will finish closest to 9 points: Banker, Player, or Tie. You do not control the cards or make decisions during the deal; cards are dealt under fixed rules, including rules governing whether a third card is drawn.
In baccarat, cards 2 through 9 count at face value, an ace counts as 1, and 10, jack, queen, and king count as zero. If a hand’s total exceeds 9, only the final digit counts: 7 and 8 add up to 15, so the hand counts as 5. The hand closest to 9 wins; if both finish with the same total, the result is a tie.
How the three bets work
A Player bet wins if the Player hand beats the Banker hand and commonly pays 1 to 1: a $50 stake earns $50 in profit, with the original stake returned. A Banker bet wins if the Banker hand is higher. It also commonly pays 1 to 1, but many tables deduct a 5% commission from winnings; in this example, net profit would be $47.50.
A Tie bet wins when the two hands draw. The payout depends on the table: the standard version described in the evidence pays 8 to 1, while some tables pay 9 to 1. So a $10 bet at 8 to 1 earns $80 in profit, plus the $10 stake. Check the table’s rules and displayed payouts before choosing.
Odds and a catalogue example
The three options do not occur equally often or carry the same cost. One source gives approximate win frequencies of 45.8% for Banker, 44.6% for Player, and 9.6% for Tie; these are estimates for the version in question, not guarantees for a particular session. The Banker commission is tied to that hand’s statistical advantage. A tie pays more but occurs less often, and a larger payout alone does not make a bet more favorable.
In practice, choose one of the three betting areas before the round begins, and check whether the table charges commission on Banker and what it pays for Tie. Bettbit’s indexed public catalogue lists Baccarat.