The Wait Out: Why Baccarat Favors Patience over the Hard Push

In baccarat, silence can be golden.

The quintessential casino game of decision-making is none other than your beloved battle of baccarat.

Unlike the spontaneity of blackjack or craps, baccarat can often become a long, extensive contemplation of which of two alternate futures the cards may hold. Players hover around the felt semicircle, sometimes comatose, checking in with their intuitions in quest of the right play.

But while you’re mulling over which horse to bet on – the Banker or the Player – there’s a judgment call of an even higher order.

It whether or not to engage in the hand at all.

Like a hitter digging his spikes into the batter’s box, there’s no rule that claims you need to swing at every pitch. In fact, sometimes your boldest, wisest move is the dolce far niete – the act of doing nothing.

Seasoned dealers who’ve dealt and witnessed countless hands of this casino classic will note that the wise baccarat player is the patient one.

“The key to baccarat,” a dealer once told us, “is to refrain from playing every hand. The ones who play every hand tend to be the ones who get burnt the most.”

Being selective – as a proficient hitter is against a diverse pitch count – is the formula for a higher success rate on the baccarat table.

After all, baccarat is essentially a guessing game, not unlike predicting a heads or tails outcome in a flipped coin.

Unlike blackjack, no amount of card counting will accommodate the baccarat player in predicting a hand’s outcome. It’s why casinos allow players to scribble the details of each hand’s results onto a “cheat” sheet.

While some folks assess the patterns displayed on the board to determine their next play, others ride the streaks or rely on gut feelings as to which way they’ll sway – Player or Banker.

At times, the ambiguity settles in, and the intuition is torn in a “could go either way” kind of manner.

Or a tie could intervene and disrupt a steady ebb and flow, leaving the table to wonder if a seismic shift is underway.

“Always bet the Banker after a tie,” one player recently claimed. “That’s my golden rule.”

However, when things get a tad hazy, we offer our own Johnny Cochran-style mantra for all seekers of the Natural-9.

“When in doubt ... sit it out.”

That’s right. If significant uncertainty lingers, refrain from dropping a pile of chips onto the layout. Why wager a dime unless you hold the utmost confidence in your choice, especially when you’re not required to?

Oftentimes, as a shoe is nearing its end, the eager baccarat player will sneak in one last play, regardless of confidence level. After all, it will take a torturous ten minutes for the dealer to reload a fresh shoe.

In reality, the proper play is the no-play, allowing the game to conclude without forcing the issue.

Some casinos, particularly in the high rollers haven, will even offer a “free game” feature in which a hand is dished out without anyone actually wagering it.

Perhaps one of the great challenges of baccarat is to resist the temptation of getting in on the action.

And that’s precisely why casinos look to capitalize on one of the primary human flaws of gambling fanatics – lack of discipline.

Patience, my dear. Patience.

And remember...

When in doubt, sit it out.