Banker and player bets in baccarat
Banker and player bets are the two main wagers in baccarat, where you back which of the two hands dealt, called Banker and Player, will finish closer to nine. Neither name refers to you or the dealer; they are simply labels for the two hands. On the standard eight-deck table, Player pays even money and Banker pays 0.95 to 1, because a 5% commission comes off winning Banker bets. A tie returns both stakes.
How the house edge on each bet is worked out
Banker wins slightly more often because its drawing rules let it act after seeing whether Player took a third card. In an eight-deck shoe, published calculations put Banker at 45.86% of rounds, Player at 44.62% and the tie at 9.52%.
At even money, Banker would favour the punter, so the commission exists to tip it back. A winning Banker unit returns 0.95, and 0.95 times 45.86% gives 43.57%; take away the 44.62% chance of losing the stake and the house keeps 1.06%. Player needs no commission: 44.62% minus 45.86% leaves a 1.24% edge. Over €1,000 staked on Banker, that is an expected cost of about €10.60, as a long-run average rather than a forecast for any session.
Six-deck shoes change these figures only at the second decimal place.
Where the standard figures stop applying
The 1.06% applies only to the classic 5% commission rule, and live studios do not all use it. No-commission tables pay Banker at even money but pay only half on a Banker win with a total of six, which raises the Banker edge to roughly 1.46% and makes Player the cheaper bet there.
Variants differ, so the paytable on the table itself is the thing to read.
A common confusion is the scoreboard of past results. A run of Banker wins does not make Player due, since each round is dealt to the same rules and the edges above stay fixed whatever the roads show.
