Lowdown on Live Baccarat Side Bets

Baccarat has a long history among gamblers. It has become a mainstay in popular culture with the James Bond movies, which introduced this amazing game to many. The core gameplay is simple but elegant, but it can lack a bit of excitement after a while. Fortunately, live baccarat games solve this with the addition of several thrilling side bets that can enhance your experience.

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Few games can count themselves as a must-have for every live casino. However, baccarat is one of them! As much as we enjoy titles like Live Sic Bo, they are not as essential. As a result, software providers do their best to spruce up their live baccarat offerings. There is only so much you can change the core gameplay. However, side bets are things developers can customise to their heart’s content.

As a result, which live baccarat side bets will be available to you will vary depending on the table. We will be covering the most common ones, and if they are worth playing or not.

Super 6

If you have ever tried your luck at live no commission baccarat, you will probably have encountered this side bet. The wager works because of the way this game is structured. Boiling it down to basics, no commission baccarat removes the 5% commission you have to pay on a banker win. Instead, it will pay you half of your winnings if the banker bet wins with a six.

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Super 6 allows you to avoid this from happening. If you play the side bet, it will swap that payout for a different win. How much you win tends to vary, but in Evolution Gaming’s version, the reward for winning Super 6 is 15:1. We have seen it range between 12:1 and 16:1. The higher the payout, the lower the house edge is for the side bet.

Pairs

In an ideal game of baccarat, two cards will be drawn on both sides, and the round ends. Unfortunately, it usually does not work out like that. Third cards are frequently drawn on both sides, and there is always that occasional tie that ruins your day unless you play tie bets, which you really ought to avoid! That is just gifting money to your favourite live casino.

Fortunately, the Pairs side bet does not require you to get a win with two cards. It will pay money if the first two cards dealt to the player or banker. In both cases, you are looking at a payout of about 11:1.

An off-shoot of this side bet is called Perfect Pairs. In Perfect Pairs, the two cards have to be identical pairs. This means the value, colour and suit of the cards all have to match for the side bet to grant its payout. If you get one Perfect Pair, you will receive a 25:1 win. However, if you get a Perfect Pair in both the player and the banker’s hand at the same time? You are looking at a mouth-watering 200:1 reward!

Player/Banker Bonus

This side bet looks more complicated than it really is. It pays players if the player or banker wins the round in two ways. First is with a natural eight or nine. Second is if they beat the opposing hand by four or more points. The natural wins pay you a 1:1 reward. It is an alright score, but not the real reason you will play this side bet.

Instead, we imagine most punters will want to try their hand at the non-natural hand wins. The prizes you win increase with the number of points you beat the dealer’s hand with.

  • 4 points – 1:1
  • 5 points – 2:1
  • 6 points – 4:1
  • 7 points – 6:1
  • 8 points – 10:1
  • 9 points – 30:1

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Big & Small

We like this side bet because it is easy to understand while providing decent enough wins. This particular wager is actually comprised of two different stakes! The small side bet will pay if the round ends with four cards: two for the banker, and two for the player. Meanwhile, the big side bet pays you if the total number of cards at the end of the round is five or six. Of the two, the big side bet has the lower house edge, coming in at 4.35%. In contrast, the house edge is higher for the small side bet is 5.27%. Neither are amazing, but offer lovely rewards to make up for it.