Game Types & Side Bets
Punto Banco is the only type of baccarat you’ll find at US-facing online casinos. Other versions include Super Six (where you can bet on the dealer or you to pull two sixes) or Chemin De Fer, where the player and the dealer swap turns playing as the banker. As you can imagine, Chemin De Fer is not too common at online casinos.
There are dozens of possible baccarat side bets you might find at online casinos. The tables on offer at US-facing casinos include:
- Pairs
- Dragon Bets
- Big
- Small
- Bonus
The Dragon Bet, sometimes known as Tiger7s, is a bet on the banker or player to pull three 7s. It usually pays out in the region of 40-1.
Banker and Player Bonus bets add an increasing pay-out if the selected side wins by more than four points. However, should the win be closer than that you’ll only get your stake returned. This is a trade-off, as the potential for big wins is higher but the baseline win is lowered from the usual 2:1.
Pairs bets are similar to those in blackjack. The bet pays out 5:1 to if the either the player’s or the banker’s hand forms a numbered pair. Perfect Pairs bets pay out 25:1 but require an unlikely pair of the same suit to be in either hand.
As with blackjack, side bets can be fun – but for serious baccarat players they are far from the optimum edge.
Mobile
Not many US facing online casinos offer live baccarat for US players on mobile – and the ones that do certainly don’t have an Android or iOS official app. However, baccarat fans rejoice because Arrows’ Edge baccarat tables are available in your mobile browser.
We visited Drake Casino to play a few hands on our cell, and it worked rather well. Although some of the immersion was sacrificed as the betting area had to be larger on the smaller screen, there’s still a lot of fun to be had for baccarat fans here.
Everything worked smoothly with HD stream quality and bets were a cinch to place, with no fiddling about.
