How to Play Baccarat: The Rules, Hand by Hand

Card values and how a hand is counted

Twos to nines count at face value, tens and picture cards count zero, and an ace counts one (Crown Melbourne rule 3.2; The Star’s Brisbane guide says the same).

A hand is worth only the right digit of its total. In The Star’s words: “These totals are read as if the first digit does not exist – so a hand totaling 15 becomes 5.” Three examples, worked by that rule:

• 7 and 8 make 15, so the hand is worth 5.
• King and 9 make 9, the highest count possible.
• 6 and 4 make 10, so the hand is worth 0.

A hand has two or three cards, and its value runs from zero to nine. The Tasmanian rules add a piece of vocabulary: “A point of zero is termed "Baccarat".”

How a round works, step by step

Each round deals two shared hands, Player and Banker, four cards in all, with a third card for either hand when the rules call for it. The hand closer to nine wins.

1. Bets. You bet on Player, Banker or Tie, or on more than one. Under the Tasmanian rules, no bet may be “made, withdrawn or increased” once the first card of a hand is dealt.
2. The deal. Four cards face up in turn: Player, Banker, Player, Banker (Tasmanian rule 9.2).
3. Naturals. If either hand has 8 or 9 on its first two cards, no more cards are dealt.
4. Third cards. Otherwise the Player hand draws or stands by its rule first, then the Banker hand follows its table.
5. Result. The hand closer to nine wins. At a standard table, if the totals are equal, Tie bets win and bets on Player and Banker are returned; the Tasmanian rules call them “void”.

What happens in a round, in order

P = Player hand, B = Banker hand, T = Tie

1. 1BetsPBTPlayer, Banker or Tie
2. 2The dealPBPBPlayer, Banker, Player, Banker
3. 3NaturalsEither hand 8 or 9 on its first two cards?no
4. 4Third cardsPlayer hand by its rule, then Banker by its table
5. 5ResultThe hand closer to nine wins
6. yes

The two hands belong to nobody at the table. The Star’s guide calls them “community hands” and adds: “You are therefore not playing against the other players or the House, you are simply betting against the cards.”

The third-card rules

The Player hand draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7. The Banker hand always draws on 0 to 2 and stands on 7; on 3 to 6, it depends on what the Player hand did.

Crown Melbourne’s Table 1 gives the Player rule, which applies when the Banker hand has no natural:

If the Player hand stood on 6 or 7, the Banker hand draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7; Crown Perth’s rule 4.14 says so in words. If the Player hand drew, the Banker hand follows the table below. D means the Banker draws, S that it stands.

Columns 0 to 9 are the value of the Player’s third card; “Player stood” means the Player hand took no third card. Source: Crown Melbourne, Table Games Baccarat Rules version 30.0, Table 2 (VGCCC approved 18 August 2026). The Tasmanian, Star Brisbane, Crown Sydney and Crown Perth rules give the same drawing rules; we compared them cell by cell on 19 October 2026.

Two rows in words, as The Star’s guide lays them out: a Banker 3 draws unless the Player’s third card is an 8, and a Banker 6 draws only when it is a 6 or 7. An example, worked from the table: the Player hand has 2 and 3, a total of 5, and draws a 7, making 12, so 2. The Banker hand holds 6, the Player’s third card was a 7, so the Banker draws.

You never apply the table yourself: in The Star’s guide, the dealer calls every play and both hands “must draw according to these fixed rules”.

Bets and what they pay

At a standard table, Player pays 1 to 1, Banker pays 1 to 1 less a 5% commission, Tie pays 8 to 1 and, where they are offered, the pair bets pay 11 to 1.

The three Banker entries are one payout: a winning A$20 Banker bet pays A$19 under each. A winning A$10 Tie bet pays A$80, and A$10 on Player comes back to you when the hands tie.

The version of the game changes the payouts, not the drawing rules. Crown Perth’s rules make each table display its game version (rule 3.9), and in its Game Version C (2 to 1), Player and Banker bets lose on a tie. The Star’s guide says the table sign shows “whether it is a Baccarat or Even Money Baccarat table”.

No-commission tables drop the 5%, but a Banker win on 6 pays half. The Tasmanian rules call this Federal Baccarat, The Star’s guide Even Money Baccarat, and Crown Perth Game Version B (Non-Commission). One name can mean different things: The Star’s Even Money Baccarat pays half on a Banker 6, while Crown Perth’s Game Version D (Even Money) lists a winning Banker bet at 1 to 1. Super Six is not a table version but a side bet: at The Star it “pays 15 to 1 if the Banker hand has a winning total of 6”. Read the sign or the game’s rules, not the name.

The Star’s guide puts the house margin at approximately 1.06% on Banker, 1.24% on Player and 14.36% on Tie; for Banker in Even Money Baccarat, approximately 1.46%. What each baccarat bet costs per A$100 wagered is worked through on our online baccarat page, and the house edge table sets baccarat beside other casino games.

Which main bet carries the highest house margin?

Standard baccarat with commission, as The Star’s guide gives it

BBanker≈1.06%

PPlayer≈1.24%

TTie≈14.36%

≈14.36%Tie: the highest of the three

The rules as Australian casinos publish them

The five rule documents we read on 19 October 2026 count hands, draw third cards and pay the standard game the same way. What differs is the number of decks and the side bets on offer.

In Tasmania, if players ask, the cards may be dealt face down and passed to the highest bettor on each hand to “squeeze”, or turn over. Third cards still follow the table of play (rule 9.3).

Online, Pragmatic Play’s RNG Baccarat files label the bets 1:1, 0.95:1 and 8:1 (read 19 October 2026). We have not read a live studio’s help screen, so check the rules screen of the table you open. Whether online casino games may be offered in Australia is covered in our guide to Australian online gambling law.

What beginners get wrong

Three misreadings, each answered by the rules above.

• Thinking you can choose a third card. You cannot. The Star’s guide: “There are no options regarding drawing the third card for either the Banker’s or the Player’s hand.”
• Reading 8 to 1 as a good price on the tie. In The Star’s guide, the tie carries a 14.36% house margin against about 1.06% on Banker, and gives the tie an approximate hit rate of “1 in 11”.
• Looking for patterns on the scoreboard. Every hand is dealt by the same fixed rules. Why past results do not change the next hand is covered in our section on baccarat systems and the scoreboard.

Learning the rules without staking money

Pragmatic Play’s own site ran a play-money demo of its RNG baccarat when we checked on 19 October 2026 from an Australian connection. After a legal-age prompt, the demo opened without an account, with 100,000.00 in play money. That was one check on one day: the demo may not stay open, and it pays no real money.

Baccarat rules FAQ

Sources and method

We read five Australian baccarat rule documents and compared their drawing rules cell by cell on 19 October 2026. We did not play at these casinos. The online example is one check of Pragmatic Play’s demo from an Australian connection on the same day. Money examples are our arithmetic from the published payouts.

• Tasmanian Liquor and Gaming Commission, Baccarat Rules, approved 3 February 2025 (bank, decks, wagers, deal, squeeze, table of play, settlement, Federal Baccarat), read 19 October 2026
• The Star Brisbane, How to play Baccarat, approved 6 August 2024 by the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (card values, community hands, drawing tables, payouts, Even Money Baccarat, Super Six, house margin and hit rates, Gambling Helpline), read 19 October 2026
• Crown Melbourne, Table Games Baccarat Rules, version 30.0, VGCCC approved 18 August 2026 (card values, decks, Tables 1–3, Baccarat Pair), read 19 October 2026
• Crown Sydney, Game Rules – Baccarat, version 3.5, approved 13 October 2026 (eight decks, drawing table, payouts, Baccarat Pairs), read 19 October 2026
• Crown Perth, Rules of the Authorised Games of Mini Baccarat / Baccarat, updated 18 May 2026 (decks, game versions A to D, Banker drawing when Player stands, tie promotion), read 19 October 2026
• Pragmatic Play, Baccarat game page and its demo (age prompt, play-money balance, payout labels in the game files), one check from an Australian connection on 19 October 2026
• Money examples (A$20, A$10) are our arithmetic from the payouts above

Written by: Helene Berner · First published: 19 October 2026 · Last updated: 19 October 2026