Baccarat Betting Systems: A Winning Baccarat System

• Like most gambling games, Baccarat is based on luck
• Players have tried to come up with all sorts of betting systems to get an advantage
• This article examines all the most popular Baccarat betting systems

A Baccarat System — Debunked

Every time I talk to someone about Casino games, they say Baccarat is one of the easiest games to play. I disagree — and this article about the only effective betting systems you can use in Baccarat shows you why.

But first, let me spend a few words about the self-proclaimed 'Baccarat winning systems' that populate the internet and the darkest corners of the Casinos.

Last week, when I was chilling at the bar of the Hilton hotel in Tallinn, Estonia, a lad told me he found the perfect Baccarat winning system.

"I can win every time I want," he shared. "I developed the perfect baccarat system."

Bollocks.

The guy went on to tell me that he spent a few hours at the Olympic Casino next door and walked away with an insane amount of money thanks to his perfect betting system.

And yet, there he was. Sitting next to me at the bar looking nothing like a fresh-made millionaire.

What he didn’t know, however, was that I had also spent most the evening on the casino floor at the Olympic and, well...suffice to say I didn't notice any remarkable win at the Baccarat tables that evening.

Why am I telling you this?

I hear people talking about "Baccarat systems that work" or super-secret betting systems all time.

What I find curious is that most of these stories happen late at night and come from people who never seem to have enough cash to pay for their own drinks. Go figure.

This article is a comprehensive guide to the most popular Baccarat betting systems.

Although some players claim they had massive wins through them, none of these systems will make you a millionaire overnight or help you win every time you play. If you are looking for a Baccarat winning system to win money and pay your mortgage, you have only one option: do not play at all.

The right Baccarat betting strategy can help you get better results and limit your losses — especially if you combine it with correct and savvy bankroll management.

What no Baccarat betting strategy can give you, however, is a 100% success rate. Baccarat is a gambling game and, as such, it is based mainly on luck.

Want to Play Baccarat Online?

Play the best Baccarat games online and use the betting systems on this article to win more!

Register a free account, use the free games to practice, and then activate the bonus to play Baccarat for real money.

START HERE*T&C’s apply.

The Martingale Betting System

The Martingale Betting System is one of the most popular betting systems used in Baccarat and also one of the oldest in the world.

This is a so-called negative progression system that you can use when you play Baccarat and a variety of other games like Roulette and Craps.

When you play Baccarat, the Martingale betting system works as follows:

As a player, you should bet the same amount every time you win a hand and double the size of your bet every time you lose one.

Although there are many limits that make this betting system particularly ineffective, let's see how everything works with a practical example.

The Martingale Betting System in Action

Step 1: You sit at a table, you bet €5, and you win your hand.

Step 2: Since you won the previous hand — you are going to repeat the same bet once again. This time, however, you lose.

Step 3: As the Martingale betting system suggests, you now need to bet 2x the amount (€10) on your next hand.

If you win, you can go back to the initial €5 bet whereas if you lose, you need to double the previous bet and get ready to pony up €20 to continue playing.

Find it confusing? Look at the table below:

What's the Point?

This system is designed to help you recoup your losses as soon as you win one hand — and it works great if you can afford it.

Sadly, you can't.

That's because the Martingale system is a great Baccarat betting system if you don't find yourself stuck in a negative streak.

While I am sure you could afford to 'risk' the €80 in the example, let's bring our example to a more self-explanatory extreme and let's imagine you get on a 13-hand losing streak in a game that you started with an innocent €5 bet.

Do you see where I am going? While it takes only one winning hand to make you recover all the money that you lost, the Martingale strategy is a dangerous betting system that can cost you a lot of money in a very short period of time.

Martingale Strategy System: Why You Should NEVER Use It

Once at the casino, the Martingale strategy system is your Swiss-army knife. Use it wisely, and you can win big. Or you'll lose bigger.

Read More*T&C’s apply.

There's one more problem.

Even if you had the money to continue that progression, the amount you would need to wager is so high that it might go against the limits of your table.

In that case, you'd have no chance to continue and everything you played until then would be lost.

The Paroli Betting System

When you use the Paroli betting system to play Baccarat, you join a long-standing gambling tradition that is over 400 years old.

Many believe the origins of this Baccarat betting system are to be found in the game of Bassetta (or Basset, in English), which the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington claims it became so popular that "the [English] Parliament enacted a prohibition with severe penalties against its play."

In essence, you can look at the Paroli betting system as a Martingale in reverse. It's a positive betting system that, once again, can be used to play a wide variety of gambling games.

You can use the Paroli to build your winning Baccarat system as you can apply the same betting pattern to other games like Roulette, Pai Gow Poker, Caribbean Poker, Sic Bo, and Craps — to name a few.

This system consists of a set of betting rules and has no direct impact on the outcome of your games.

The Paroli Baccarat Betting System in Action

In a nutshell, you ought to keep the same bet amount after every losing hand and 2x your bet after each win.

Step 1: Set up the initial stake. Some players suggest this should be not more than 2% of your total bankroll. In this example, we will not use the same €5 base bet we used for the Martingale but we'll start from a €1 bet.

Step 2: If you lose your first hand, the bet doesn't change and the second hand begins with another €1 bet.

Step 3:If you win your second hand, you need to 2x the amount of your winning bet to continue playing. This way, the third bet costs you €1.

Here's a quick overview of how this Baccarat winning system can evolve depending on the outcome of your games:

A Small Variant

There are a few variants of the Paroli betting system. If you don't want to double the size of your bet every time you win a Baccarat hand, you can do so every three consecutive wins.

This way you'll have even better control of your bankroll and of the money you invest in your games.

The Labouchere Betting System

If you are looking for something more challenging that gives you the impression (illusion?) to control a game of Baccarat, take some time to discover the Labouchere betting system.

This is the Baccarat winning system that most pro players use and it is an evolution of the Martingale.

The Labouchere betting system was created by Henry Du Pré Labouchere, "a British politician, publicist, and noted wit," as the Encyclopaedia Britannica writes.

Fun fact: although the rich British MP is the one who gave his name to it, the Labouchere betting system finds its roots in France as it was originally developed for the game of Roulette (in French) by the philosopher and mathematician Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet.

The Labouchere Betting System in Action

As in the Martingale Baccarat betting system, the goal of your betting pattern is to recover your losses. This time, however, you can balance your bets so that the game will not become too expensive, too quickly.

This betting system is a bit more complicated than the others and requires you to start with a pre-defined sequence of numbers of your choice.

The sum of the numbers in your sequence is the potential profit of each full cycle

Step 1: Write down a sequence of numbers (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 --> Potential profit: €36.

Step 2: The stake of your bet should be equal to the sum of the first and last numbers. In this case, it's €9 (€1 + €8).

Step 3: If you win, you cross out the numbers 1 and 8 and proceeds with the new first and last ones. So your bet stays of €9 (€2+€7).

Step 4: If you lose, you need to add a new number to the sequence. In this case, your sequence would become 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.

Step 5:Once again, your bet is going to be the sum of the first and last numbers in the sequence, or €11 (€2+€9).

This progression allows you to have better control of your game (and finances) than the base Martingale betting strategy, even if it becomes expensive when you face case long losing streaks.

To make this more affordable, you can add lower numbers to the sequence. Although I used consecutive numbers in my example, you don't have to.

The Fibonacci Betting System

This journey through the best betting systems in search for a winning Baccarat system ends with the Fibonacci betting system, one that introduces us to "the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages" (source: University of Houston, Department of Mathematics)

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1250) was an Italian mathematician who learned Algebra while travelling to the Middle East and who's famous sequences originated some of the most fascinating theories of our time.

In gambling, the Fibonacci sequence is used in the so-called Fibonacci betting system - a popular betting choice in Roulette and Baccarat.

In essence, this is another negative progression that offers a less risky and more affordable and controlled approach compared to the Martingale.

The Fibonacci sequence is an infinite sequence of numbers where each number is the exact sum of the two that precede.

Although it usually begins with a 0, the 'gambling variant' of the Fibonacci sequence begins with a 1 and goes like this:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1,597, etc.

The Fibonacci Betting System in Action

When you use the Fibonacci betting system to play Baccarat, you adopt the Fibonacci sequence as your betting guideline.

Step 1: Start with a €1 bet as that's the first number in the Gambling version of the Fibonacci sequence.

Step 2: When you lose, you move to the subsequent number. In this case, the second bet stays of €1.

Step 3: If you lose again, you continue to progress through the sequence and bet €2.

Step 4: Following the same principle, if you lose again, your bet becomes of €3.

Step 5: Every time you win, you go back two numbers and place a bet of the corresponding size. In this case, you would bet €1 again.

Note: If you win on the first or on the second bets, the sequence starts from the beginning and your bet remains of €1 until you encounter your first losses.

Important Note for Online Players

If you are a Baccarat player and you are looking for a Baccarat system to improve your winning chances when you play at an online Casino, do keep in mind that none of these betting systems alters the house advantage in your real money games.

When you play Baccarat against the computer or at a live Casino, the result of the player hands is not connected with the betting strategy you use.

The fact that you double your bet after your good/bad hands or that you opt for a more conservative flat betting does not influence the house edge nor it affects your chances to win on a banker bet or betting on the player.

That’s why I suggest you begin with a free bankroll at this online Casino and then move to real money play only if you are comfortable with it and you can afford to lose.

Want to Play Baccarat Online?

Play the best Baccarat games online and use the betting systems on this article to win more!

Register a free account, use the free games to practice, and then activate the bonus to play Baccarat for real money.

START HERE*T&C’s apply.

AUTHORGiovanni Angioni

BioPolitical scientist, and gambling expert, I have spent the most part of the last ten years writing about the casino and poker industry. As a professional journalist, I work with FOX News, La Repubblica, the Economist, Politico, and PokerNews. As a gambler, I won money pretty much anywhere in Europe. As a gambling editor, I'll help you do the same.