Baccarat vs. Blackjack – Which Is the Better Game?

Today’s modern casino floors have all kinds of new ways to get in on the action. New table games, new slot machines, poker, sports betting, keno, bingo, and the list goes on and on. To put it lightly, there are nearly endless ways for a casino to take your action.

Today, we are going to take a look at a couple of those classic real money games as we compare blackjack vs baccarat in what is essentially a heavyweight title fight when it comes to the battle for the title of the best casino game of all time.

What Is Blackjack?

Blackjack is a card game where players square off against the dealer, trying to get closer to 21 without going over. The game starts with the player getting two cards face-up, and the dealer getting two cards, one face-up, and the other face-down. The player then has the option to hit or stand based on the strength of their two cards.

• If the player goes over 21, they automatically lose. If they stand prior to going over 21, the dealer will then play their hand based on a predetermined set of rules.
• If the dealer goes over 21, or busts, the player automatically wins. If the dealer gets to 17 or higher, they will draw no additional cards, and whichever hand is closer to 21 wins.

We aren’t going to go too deep into blackjack strategy, as there are plenty of resources available out there that can help you improve your blackjack game.

What Is Baccarat?

Baccarat is another casino card game that, to the untrained eye, might appear to be very similar to blackjack. Players have three options to bet on a baccarat table. They can bet on the player, the banker, or the tie. After making their wagers, the dealer then deals two cards to both the player and the house or banker.

While you might see the player or the banker draw an additional card, those cards are dealt according to a set of predetermined rules, not because the player requested them. There are no actual decisions to make for the player outside of where they place their bet.

• In blackjack, the winner is the hand that gets closest to 21 without going over.
• In baccarat, the game is decided by which hand gets closer to 9, and there is no such thing as going over!

To calculate the score of a hand in baccarat, you add up both cards. Aces through nines are counted at their face value, and tens and face cards count for zero.

If a player has a nine and a seven, which adds up to sixteen, the one drops off, and the hand is counted as a six. While that might seem a bit confusing at first, you will get the hang of it after just a couple of hands, and remember, we already mentioned that you can’t go over nine on a baccarat hand!

While you might think that the player is rooting for the player hand and that the house is rooting for the banker hand, that isn’t always the case, as players are allowed to bet on either hand.

There are several different variations of baccarat available, but on a traditional bac table, a bet on the player hand pays even money, and a bet on the banker hand pays even money minus a 5% commission. That slight difference in payouts is based on the card drawing rules that favor the banker hand.

Similarities Between The Two

Visually, baccarat and blackjack appear to be very similar games as they both involve a player and a dealer getting two cards to start and then potentially drawing additional cards to help improve their holdings.

At the end of the day, these games may appear to be similar, but they are very different.

Differences Between The Two

There are lots of differences between baccarat and blackjack, but to me, the biggest difference is that in baccarat, players don’t make any decisions whatsoever that could affect the outcome of the hand.

Decisions like splitting pairs, doubling down, or surrendering are major decisions that can greatly change how the hand plays out. That makes these games completely opposite, as in one game, you just watch, and in the other, you are in complete control of what happens with your hand.

Do Decisions Make Blackjack The Better Game?

Now that we have established that being able to make decisions is what truly separates these games when comparing baccarat vs blackjack, the real question is, does that make blackjack the better game?

For the informed and skilled blackjack player?

Absolutely it does. But for a player that doesn’t understand or use basic strategy, being able to decide what they do with their hand can actually work against them! We have all seen the player that splits tens against an ace on a blackjack table or hits their 14 when the dealer is showing a bust card like a six, and those poor decisions significantly increase the house advantage on the game.

Being able to choose your own destiny makes players feel like they have a bigger edge, but for the vast majority of casual players, it actually hurts them in the long run.

Baccarat vs Blackjack – Which Game Is Better?

As with most things, the answer here falls somewhere in the middle. When you look at the theoretical hold for these games, both games are very good gambles with small house advantages. But there is always going to be a delta between the theo hold and the actual hold, and with blackjack, depending on the skill of the player, that delta can be massive!

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Not all blackjack games are the same. Some pay 3-2 on blackjack, whereas others pay 6-5. Some tables allow you to double down on any two cards and others only allow you to double down on only ten or eleven. Can you split aces just once or up to four times? ​

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There are lots of different rules that make a difference on what the house advantage of a blackjack game might be. Casual players usually don’t fully understand how these minor changes can make a big difference in the hold, and that is where the casino tricks you into playing a bad game.

Please Note:

The theo hold on a BJ game with optimal rule sets and played at perfect strategy, is about 1%, the best of any game in the casino. But when you sit at a table that has rules in place that favor the house and the player doesn’t play perfect strategy, we see the actual hold on blackjack swell into double digits.

Many of the lower limit blackjack tables that you will play at are holding well above the theo hold and holds of 12-15% are very common. When you look at the math involved here, you can easily argue that those decisions that blackjack players love, make blackjack a game that they aren’t going to win at in the long run.

Baccarat Is Better!

While baccarat might be a little boring at times, as all you do is watch as the hand plays out, the fact that they take away the ability to make decisions on your hand, actually gives you a much better gamble, as you can’t mess things up!

Nobody is sitting at a blackjack table and trying to mess things up, but that is absolutely what happens more times than not. Blackjack might be more fun, but that doesn’t mean it is the better game. When you are playing baccarat, the house essentially protects you from yourself, as they don’t allow you to jump in and change the house advantage by playing poorly. That inability to play baccarat “better” or “worse” keeps the actual hold very close to the theo hold on a baccarat table.

A standard baccarat game is going to hold less than 2% and when you compare that to a BJ game that will easily hold double digits, these games aren’t close in terms of giving players a chance to win money.

And for me:

That is why I can confidently say that when comparing baccarat vs blackjack, that baccarat is the far superior game!

Conclusion

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