Baccarat is one of the most popular casino games in the world. You’ll find it just about everywhere that casino games are being played. But what makes it so universally loved?
One of the best elements of baccarat is the abundance of gameplay and betting strategies that can be used. Whether you’re looking for a simple guide to maximising your bets or prefer a more complex approach to playing the game over time, there’s something for just about anyone. The hard part isn’t finding a strategy to use, in other words, but rather finding the right one for your play style. It’s important to do a bit of research into the more well-known systems before you play.
At Tonybet, we want our players to have the knowledge they need to make informed choices about their wagers. In this guide, we’ll explore the baccarat two-sided strategy. This includes what it is, how to use it, and why it’s a popular option among experienced and new players alike.
With all of that said, let’s dive into everything you need to know about the two-sided strategy in baccarat! By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll be ready to play Tonybet baccarat with confidence.
Understanding the two-sided strategy
Baccarat’s two-sided strategy is known as a rather ‘gentle’ approach to maintaining control of your bankroll when playing. This means that it’s not something that takes too much time to learn, and there are really only a few elements to consider. We’ll dive into the principles and strategies that drive this approach in later sections, but for now, we’ll go through the basics so that you’re ready to start playing.
The two-sided strategy helps players control their money by hedging their bets. You’ll place dual bets on every turn, which means that you’ll bet on either the tie and banker, or the tie and player. This is also called ‘hedging’. The idea is that by placing more bets, you are more likely to win something every round. This isn’t a new idea – it has been a tried-and-tested method in both casino and sportsbook bets for decades.
Every baccarat round has three potential outcomes. Instead of betting on all three, which can be cost-prohibitive, players will choose just two, as indicated above. There’s no guarantee of winning anything. This is because there are three potential outcomes, but only two bets are placed. Despite this, many players hedge their bets as they believe that it helps increase the likelihood that they’ll win something, if only a very small amount. Remember that while hedging your bets can do this, it also reduces the amount you win because you’ve placed a wager for each bet (meaning that there are two stakes coming out of wins rather than one).
You might not have considered using the two-sided strategy in baccarat, but as you can see, it’s not a terribly difficult one to learn and can be effective in helping players to limit their risk every round. By spreading your funds over a range of potential results, you can sometimes avoid losing all of the money you’ve wagered, the way that you would with only a single bet. You might be able to ‘fall back’ on the second wager if the first is unsuccessful.
Note that this is not the same thing as improving your chances of winning, but rather a way to make smart wagers and get the most out of your money.
Principles and strategies
While the two-sided approach’s exact principles and strategies depend on house rules (if any), there are a few universal rules in standard games. The first step is to decide how much you want to wager before the cards are dealt. This is when you’ll decide which two bets you want to place. There are three potential options:
- Banker win
- Player win
- Tie
Once the bets have been placed, two cards each are dealt to the player and the banker. Both of them are added together, with the goal being to reach nine or just under. Going over nine means that you’ve gone bust and the banker wins (unless they’ve also gone bust). The person closest to nine without going over wins the game. If one of your dual bets was placed on the winning party, you’ve wagered successfully and will receive your payout at the end of the round.
Note that the ‘banker’ in baccarat is also the dealer, so if you make a bet on the player and banker, you’re wagering on the dealer as well as the player at the table. A tie game, as the name implies, occurs when both the player and dealer have the same hand. In this instance, wagers are returned, and a new round begins – unless you’ve bet on a tied hand occurring. In this instance, you’ll receive your payout of either 9:1 or 8:1 before the start of the next round.
Placing a two-sided bet in baccarat means aligning yourself behind two of three possible outcomes. You should know that the house edge is not the same across all of them. Tie bets face a significantly higher house edge, which means that the chances of placing successful wagers can be much lower than for other bets. The player and banker also have different house edges.
Player vs banker: understanding the difference
As briefly mentioned above, the player and banker in baccarat have different house edges. The player has a 49% chance of winning, and the banker has 51%. Betting on the banker is the safer option thanks to the slightly higher chance of them winning, but that’s not necessarily the best way to win money. The payouts for banker wins tend to be lower than for player wins, for example, and the difference is really quite small. You might be better off betting on the player instead. The great news is that with the two-sided strategy, you don’t have to decide which to bet on.
How to use a two-sided strategy in baccarat
Using a two-sided strategy in baccarat is fairly straightforward. While we’ve covered some of this in previous sections, it’s important to fully understand how to employ the strategy when you sit down to play.
You don’t need to do anything special to use this method. Neither the banker nor the players need to know that you’re using a bet management system because it only impacts you and your bankroll. Simply sit down and place your bets. Most players start off by placing equal stakes on each bet. If you think that luck is siding more with one party than the other, you can compensate for this by increasing your stake for the party you think might win. Keeping close track of outcomes helps you make more informed betting options in the future (though past results do not influence future results).
Make sure that you set a budget for your play session before you start betting! Stick to this even when it becomes tempting to blow past the limit.
Pros and risks of two-sided betting
Remember that baccarat is a game of chance, not skill. You cannot improve your chances of winning, but rather manage how much you’re betting. You might place 10 dual bets without a single winning hand – that’s just how it goes. The two-sided strategy exists to help you reduce the risk of loss as much as possible and extend your gaming session.
Knowing that, what are the pros and risks of two-sided betting? While they don’t increase your chances of winning, many players enjoy using strategies and employ them every round. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of the two-sided baccarat strategy.
Pros
Strategies are popular for a few different reasons. The most important of them is the additional element they add to gameplay and their structured approach to betting. Using different systems and approaches helps build tension and elevates anticipation, and it’s possible to do it in a structured, manageable way. The latter is very important in games of chance, where emotions run high, and betting can sometimes turn scattered and risky. Forcing yourself to stick to a single strategy helps you avoid emotional betting and potentially higher losses. It also helps you avoid placing inordinately large bets that can quickly drain your bankroll.
In addition to emotional betting, sometimes players bet with no rhyme or reason. A systematic method of betting can help players really consider the amount of money they’re playing with and make more logical decisions as they wager. Additionally, some strategies can help you limit losses and maximise winnings (but not whether you win or lose).
Ultimately, casino gaming is meant to be a light-hearted experience with little risk of significant losses. Strategies help enforce this and boost player confidence and focus.
Risks
As with anything, using the two-sided strategy in baccarat has its downsides. If you prefer to play more flexibly and adapt your betting on the fly according to which way you perceive luck to be leaning, strategies might not be your best bet. The two-sided method might quickly become a bit of a grind at that point. It also doesn’t truly impact whether you win or lose. All it does is help you potentially recoup more money over time if the hands you wager on are successful.
Wagering on baccarat is inherently risky, in other words, and the two-sided strategy is just as likely as other systems to fail and result in you burning through your bankroll.
No strategy can improve the house edge in a game based on luck rather than skill. However, using the two-sided method is still useful for maximising your bankroll and potentially extending your play time.
Are you ready to put your new knowledge to the test? Take a look at Tonybet’s baccarat tables!
