Baccarat is a popular fixture of most casinos and for good reason. Dating back to medieval Italy, it’s a simple enough game that’s easier to play than something like poker and it has a fun, competitive betting system that keeps players on their toes. Ever since online casinos became a thing a few years ago, baccarat has also taken the online space by storm and there are as many reasons to play it online as there are at a brick and mortar casino.

How to Play Baccarat

It’s really very simple.

• The dealer deals two cards face down. One to the player, one to themselves. 
• Whoever has the card with the value closest to 9 wins.
• Cards numbered 2 to 9 are worth their face value, Jack, Queen and King are worth zero and an Ace is worth 1.
• The player bets on whether their card is closest to 9, the dealer’s is closest to 9 or that they’re tied.
• Cards are revealed and if the player bet on the right card, they win at a rate of 1:1 (double their bet, basically).
• Betting on the dealer has a slight house advantage so most casinos charge a small percentage on these bets. 

Types of Online Baccarat

In the online sphere, there are actually two very different forms of baccarat available. 

The first of these is live baccarat, which joins an increasingly popular selection of online casinos games where you get to join in with a real-world game from the comfort of your own home or on the go. You join in via a live stream and you make your bets electronically and receive your payouts this way.

The second kind of online baccarat involves playing against a machine that utilizes random number generators to “deal the cards” and like online slots and video poker, it is, in effect, a computer game that you play for money. It plays much the same as real baccarat games, but the mechanics beneath it are different. Plus, because you’re playing against a machine, the games are often much quicker and they’re usually cheaper to play.

The Appeal of Online Baccarat 

There are a number of different things that make online baccarat such a great game to play, though what these things are vary slightly between the two types of baccarat games available online.

Great things about online live baccarat:

• You get to play real games of baccarat with real dealers but from the comfort of your own home or on the go.
• Placing wagers is usually very easy and you have the option of using numerous payment methods, unlike in real world casinos.
• Live chat means that you can converse with other players at the same time.

Great things about online baccarat (computerized version)

• You can play literally anytime you want. You don’t have to look for real-world games that are being streamed live and you can play all hours, all day and all night.
• The payout rates in this form of baccarat is a bit higher than live ones.
• The gameplay is faster and more dedicated than other forms of baccarat.
• Games have loads of bells and whistles in terms of graphics and audio 

Great things about both live and computerized online baccarat

• Both versions are much more convenient than real-world baccarat.
• The gameplay is as accessible and as fun on every version of baccarat available
• Payments and payouts are transacted digitally so there are no worries of carrying cash around after leaving the casino. 

Whichever version you choose or if you decide instead to go to an actual casino, remember to practice responsible gambling. Remember, though winning money is nice, the main point should be to have fun and to keep all money you spend on gambling games like baccarat well within a set budget of disposable income.