How to Play Baccarat Online: Rules, Payouts and the Third-Card Bit Everyone Forgets

Last updated: 14/09/2026

To play baccarat online, you bet on one of three outcomes, Player, Banker or Tie, and the cards are dealt for you. Whichever hand finishes closest to 9 wins. You don't make any decisions once your bet is placed: the drawing rules are fixed, and the dealer or the software applies them automatically.

What's worth learning is how the cards are counted and when a third card is drawn, because that's what decides each round.

How do you play baccarat online?

You play baccarat online by choosing a table, placing a bet on the Player hand, the Banker hand or a Tie, and letting the round play out. Two cards are dealt to each hand, a third card may follow under fixed rules, and the hand closest to 9 wins.

The steps, start to finish:

1. Pick a UK-licensed casino and verify your account. Our guide to choosing a UK betting site covers the checks.
2. Choose a table: a live dealer table streamed from a studio, or a digital one.
3. Set your stake within the table's limits.
4. Bet on Player, Banker or Tie, plus any side bets the table offers.
5. Watch the deal. The cards are drawn and the round settles on its own.

"Player" and "Banker" aren't you and the casino, which catches out a lot of beginners. They're just the names of the two hands, and you can bet on either.

What are the rules of baccarat?

The rules of baccarat decide how hands are valued and when a third card is drawn, and they're the same whether you play online or at a table in a casino. Baccarat rules leave nothing to the player after the bet, so learning them is about following a round rather than making choices.

How are cards valued?

Baccarat cards are valued differently from most card games:

• Aces are worth 1.
• 2 to 9 are worth their face value.
• 10s, jacks, queens and kings are worth 0.

How is a hand scored?

A baccarat hand is scored by adding the cards and keeping only the last digit, so the highest possible hand is 9. A 7 and a 5 make 12, which counts as 2. A 9 and a 6 make 15, which counts as 5. A hand can never go bust.

What is a natural?

A natural is a two-card total of 8 or 9 for either hand. If either hand has a natural, both hands stand, no more cards are drawn and the round settles straight away.

When is a third card drawn?

A third card is drawn under fixed rules that depend on each hand's two-card total, and for the Banker, on the Player's third card too. The Player's rule is simple: on 0 to 5 the Player draws, and on 6 or 7 the Player stands.

The Banker's rule is the one everyone forgets. If the Player stood, the Banker draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7, the same as the Player. If the Player drew a third card, the Banker's move depends on what that card was:

A 10 or picture card counts as 0 for the Player's third card.

Three illustrative hands, to see it working:

• Player 7 and 5 (a total of 2), Banker king and 4 (a total of 4). The Player draws on 2 and gets a 6, for a total of 8. The Banker is on 4 and the Player's third card was a 6, so the Banker draws too, and gets a 3 for 7. Player 8 beats Banker 7. Player bets win, Banker and Tie bets lose.
• Player 10 and 8, Banker 9 and queen. Both hands have a natural, 8 against 9, so nobody draws. Banker wins. Banker bets win, Player and Tie bets lose.
• Player 4 and 2, Banker 3 and 3. The Player has 6 and stands, so the Banker, also on 6, stands too. It's a tie. Tie bets win, and Player and Banker bets are returned.

What can you bet on in baccarat?

In baccarat you can bet on the Player hand, the Banker hand or a Tie, and most tables add side bets such as Player Pair and Banker Pair. Each main bet pays differently, and each carries a different house edge.

House edge figures from Wizard of Odds for an eight-deck game.

The Banker wins slightly more often than the Player, because of the order the drawing rules play out, so a 5% commission is taken from Banker wins to keep the maths in the house's favour. In an eight-deck game, Wizard of Odds puts the Banker at about 45.9% of hands, the Player at 44.6% and a tie at 9.5%.

No-commission tables drop the 5% and instead reduce the payout on one particular Banker win. On Midnite's No Commission Baccarat, there's no commission on a Banker win, except when the Banker wins with a total of 6, and that one pays half your stake instead.

Side bet paytables vary from table to table, so check the rules panel for those too.

How is online baccarat different from a casino table?

Online baccarat comes in two forms: live dealer tables streamed from a studio with real cards, and digital tables where software deals the cards. The rules are the same. What changes is the speed, the stakes and the extras bolted on top.

• Live tables use a real dealer and a real shoe of cards, streamed as it happens.
• Speed tables deal a round in well under a minute.
• Peek and squeeze tables turn the cards over slowly, the way high-stakes players do in land-based casinos.
• Multiplier tables such as Lightning Baccarat add random multiplier cards to each round. They're paid for with a 20% fee on each bet, so a £1 bet costs £1.20.

Faster tables mean far more rounds in an hour than a traditional table. That's worth knowing when you set a budget, because the same stake gets bet a lot more often.

You'll find all of them in the Midnite live casino, alongside live roulette and blackjack.

Is there a baccarat strategy that works?

No baccarat strategy removes the house edge. The only choices that change the maths are which bet you make and which table you pick: the Banker bet carries the lowest house edge at 1.06%, and the Tie the highest at 14.36%.

Betting systems don't change that. Doubling your stake after every loss (the Martingale) makes your stakes climb quickly, and a run of losses can hit the table limit before a win comes along.

Tracking the scoreboard for patterns doesn't help either. Those streaks are past results, and they don't make the next Player or Banker hand more likely.

What should you know before your first hand?

Before your first hand, decide what you're prepared to spend and set it as a limit in your account. In the UK, online casinos must verify your age before you can play any game, free-to-play versions included, so you'll be verified before you see a table.

A few things that help:

• Watch a few rounds at a live table before you bet. It's the easiest way to learn how to play baccarat online, because the drawing rules make sense once you've seen them happen.
• Start at a low-stakes table.
• Set spending and loss limits in your account before you play. At Midnite, Reality Check reminders cover casino and live casino games, and you can set them to pop up at regular intervals.
• Take breaks. A Cool Off pauses your account for anywhere from one day to 30.

If gambling stops feeling like entertainment, GAMSTOP lets you exclude from every UK-licensed site in one step, and the National Gambling Helpline is free and confidential on 0808 8020 133.

Where can you play baccarat online at Midnite?

Midnite's live casino includes baccarat tables such as Lightning Baccarat and Peek Baccarat, alongside the rest of the live and table games. No Commission Baccarat is returning to the lobby in early October 2026.

Each table has its own rules panel with the payouts, the commission (or no-commission rule) and the side bets, so it's worth a look before your first hand.

FAQs

What is a 7 and 5 in baccarat?

A 7 and a 5 in baccarat make 12, which counts as 2, because only the last digit of a hand's total counts. On a total of 2, either hand draws a third card.

What happens if you get a 10 in baccarat?

A 10 counts as zero in baccarat, and so do jacks, queens and kings. So a 10 and a 7 make 7, and two picture cards make 0, the lowest hand in the game.

How do I play baccarat online as a beginner?

Learn the three main bets and how hands are scored, then watch a few rounds at a live table before betting. Choose a low-stakes table, set your limits first, and know that the Tie bet carries a much higher house edge than Player or Banker.

What is a good place to learn baccarat?

A rules guide like this one is a good place to learn baccarat, followed by watching a live table in action. In the UK you have to verify your age before playing any online casino game, including free versions, so learning starts with the rules rather than a demo.

Before you take a seat

You're betting on Player, Banker or Tie, and whichever hand finishes closest to 9 wins. The third-card rules look complicated, but the table handles them automatically.

Treat it as entertainment with a cost, and only play with money you can afford to lose. Set your limits before the first hand, and find the full set of tools on our Responsible Play pages. Midnite operates under a licence from the Great Britain Gambling Commission, which regulates us. 18+, please gamble responsibly.

About the author

Johanna Barsi is Live Casino Manager at Midnite, where she leads the development and performance of the live casino offering. She has spent 20 years in the live casino industry, beginning her career in land-based casinos before moving into online gaming 10 years ago. Since then, she has held roles across the iGaming industry, including at BetVictor and Evoke, building extensive experience across live casino operations, product strategy and player experience. Here she shares her experience of baccarat: how the game works, what makes it unique, and why it remains one of live casino's most enduring games.

Connect with Johanna on LinkedIn.