Riding Streaks Seems Fun, But Dangerous – Baccarat Strategy

By John Grochowski on Tuesday March 13, 2012

baccarat, gaming, gaming-strategy, ride, strategy, streak, tourism, tunica

I was surprised to find in my February email a question from a reader who found something I wrote in this blog in 2010.

“I just found this blog and have been catching up on some of the older entries. You were writing about baccarat, and said that when you play, you like to play the streaks, betting on banker until it loses, then betting on player until it loses. My question is, does this really help you win? Do you catch sometimes when the deck favors player, and sometimes when the deck favors banker?”

The short answer to that is “no.” In the long run, the house is going to keep 1.24 percent of your wagers on player, and, once a 5 percent commission on winning banker bets is factored in, 1.06 percent of the money you wager on banker. Betting the streaks can’t chance those percentages. The house knows that. Many casinos give baccarat players scorecards to track banker wins, player wins and ties. If it feared players who bet the streaks, there would be no scorecards.

Your best percentage play is just to bet banker every time, and pretend the player and tie bets don’t exist.

So why do I bet the streaks? Because it’s fun. At least I find it fun. With a 1.24 percent house edge, the player bet is one of the better bets in the casino, even if it’s not quite as good as banker.  It helps break things up, adding a little interest to the game, to flip back and forth between bets. Betting the streaks gives me a systematic way of making that switch.

When a streak comes and I’m on it, it’s the good times are on. But change the house edge? No, betting the streaks can’t do that.