Other strategies

Packer method

In December 1996, Australian media magnate, Kerry Packer descended on Las Vegas to play Baccarat. Hours later he left with a staggering $22,000,000 and caused a 19% drop in the quarterly takings for the Hilton Hotel Corporation.

A princely sum? Not if you’re Mr Packer and worth an estimated 15 Billion dollars. And therein lay the key to his success. Packer achieved this by playing $250,000 Baccarat hands. While huge by the standards of ordinary gamblers, Packer’s win is unsurprising in light of the stakes he plays for.

In addition to betting high for short periods, Packers technique was to quit while he was ahead. He knew that a player is likely to have runs of short-term luck, and is almost certain to win at some point. His limitless resources meant that in there was no possibility of him being ruined by a streak of bad luck.

Maximum boldness

The reasoning behind this theory is that the longer a player stays at a table the more likely he is to lose the mathematically expected amount determined by the odds. Advocates of this system reason that the best technique is to wager every penny of money you will ever gamble on one hand of baccarat, as for one hand only, the house advantage plays little part.

There are cases of many gamblers trying this and winning hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Seating position

In other card games, such as blackjack and poker, position has an important effect on playing strategy and this may lead some to believe the same is true of baccarat. This is not the case. Because baccarat is a purely mechanical game with no room for playing decisions it matters not where a player chooses to sit.