Third Card Rules in Baccarat

To determine how many cards a hand will stand with, different rules are used for the Banker and Player side. The rules are fairly straightforward when it comes to the Player hand. Since the first two Player cards are the first to be revealed in any round, that’s where you start. The Banker side, however, depends on several things, including all currently known cards on the table.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll go with a step-by-step guide for knowing when to draw the third card in Baccarat.

When Does Player Draw the Third Card?

Every baccarat game follows the same process. Two cards are dealt to Player and Banker each. The first to be revealed are the initial Player cards, and they’re the ones you look at first.

The Player third card in Baccarat is thankfully the simpler part of this process. Simply look at the total value of the two cards to determine whether you need an additional one.

• If the Player’s initial two cards have a total of 0-5, the Player is dealt an additional one.
• If the Player’s first two cards total 6 or 7, Player stands pat. This means that no new cards are received and the Banker initial hand is revealed next.
• If the first two cards are showing an 8 or 9, no new cards are drawn and that side wins outright. This is also called a natural hand or natural win. If both Player and Banker end up drawing a natural win, the round is considered a tie. The only exception is that a natural of 9 beats a natural of 8.

Pretty simple, right?

Note that these are the standard rules for Punto Banco, which are the rules you’re usually using when you play Baccarat at live casinos. Almost all the variations of baccarat found at live casinos work this way. This fact also extends to more exotic variants such as Peek Baccarat. Peek Baccarat merely allows players to wager at additional stages of any given round. The rules that determine when a third card is drawn in Punto Banco still apply.

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When Does Banker Draw the Third Card?

Now this is where things can get a bit more complicated. In addition to the rules we outlined above, the Banker side uses both its total and the Player side cards to decide on the next step.

If Player stands pat with just two cards, the same Baccarat third card rules are applied to the Banker side. In other words, Banker draws an additional card if the total of the first two cards is 0-5.

However, if Player has three cards already on the table, a new set of rules kick in. Generally, both the total value of the Banker’s first two cards and the Player’s third card are used to determine whether Banker draws or not. Here’s how that works.

• If the Banker’s first two cards have a total of 0, 1, or 2, Banker always draws. Remember – neither hand can get a natural win if it’s already received three cards.
• If the Banker’s initial hand totals 3, another card is dealt in all cases except if the Player’s third card is an 8.
• If the first two Banker cards have a total of 4, a third card is drawn if the Player’s third card is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.
• If the first two Banker cards have a total of 5, it draws another card if the third Player card is 4, 5, 6, or 7.
• If the Banker’s total is 6, the third card is dealt if the Player’s third card is a 6 or 7.
• If the Banker totals 8 or 9 with the first two cards and the Player didn’t, Banker wins outright.