Bacarrat beatable?

[Jeffage]

"I dont know the math but I wouldnt think it would be hugely unlikely to still be ahead after 100k hands."

I don't either, but (judging only from personal experience, observations, intuition, etc.) I feel being ahead after this amount of time would be impossible. You're telling me there are once a week baccarat players ahead after 8 years? They may exist, but I would say someone who did this would have maybe one half of one percent chance or less of being a winner after that many hands.

Jeff

[college kid]

I posted this a bit ago. Always bet banker, and you can also not bet every hand without any complaint from the pit. For the possibility of beating it, read the Shuffle Tracker's Cookbook by Arnold Snyder and Baccarat for the Clueless by John May. You'll earn more money playing almost any other +EV game though, but it's cheap, good cover (since you can sit out so long), if you are a BJ counter or other unwanted customer. I have to say though, I think any conver is too expensive, just get a better act.

[joshman1204]

how is shuffle tracking possible at a big table?

maybe at a mini table but they only use the cards once at thebig table.

[Iceman]

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Is bacarrat beatable? Is there a system or is the 5% commission too much to overcome.

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In American baccarat, neither the banker nor the player has any control over the play of the game, and the two sides' plays are so close to symmetrical that even an extreme card distribution does not change the odds by much. This makes counting virtually worthless. You could only beat baccarat by counting if you found a game that dealt almost to the very last cards in the deck and that allowed you to suddenly make a huge bet after being there for days either sitting out or betting the minimum, and even that would only give you a small advantage.

Some European versions of baccarat give one or both sides control over certain plays, and those can be beaten under the right circumstances.

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I only ask cause i see these hard core asians with pens and paper betting with unbelievable accuracy while i lose over and over again. I guess just betting with them would be +EV. But jsut curious if there was a system to beat bacarrat or if its just dumping money.

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Keeping track of past banker and player wins is a complete waste of time. If you want to minimize your losses, bet the banker every time.

[Maulik]

[ QUOTE ]
I posted this a bit ago. Always bet banker, and you can also not bet every hand without any complaint from the pit. For the possibility of beating it, read the Shuffle Tracker's Cookbook by Arnold Snyder and Baccarat for the Clueless by John May. You'll earn more money playing almost any other +EV game though, but it's cheap, good cover (since you can sit out so long), if you are a BJ counter or other unwanted customer. I have to say though, I think any conver is too expensive, just get a better act.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand why the house would care if you play every hand of Bac?

[joshman1204]

he is saying the house dosent care if you dont play every hand. meaning that i could play every other hand and they probably wouldnt care.

[college kid]

I don't know the proceedures and all that, but even if they bring in 8 new decks every time, they still have to shuffle those at the table don't they? Maybe they have the machines at in the baccarat pit, I don't know. If it's a manual shuffle, and you see a nine and know how many cards away it is, you're on to something.

[mattw]

peter griffin, author of "the theory of blackjack" devotes a couple of pages to this topic. he, like thorp, says that it is beatable but a such a low % that its not worth it.