Online Baccarat

Learn how to play online baccarat in Ireland. Read our guide to get to the bottom of this fun and often misunderstood casino game.

Playing baccarat is never the easiest thing to do at a casino. After all, the Third Card Rule often puts a lot of Irish players off. However, while this may indeed be true for those visiting brick-and-mortar establishments, you will have a much easier time playing online baccarat in Ireland. Reading this guide will not only explain how much simpler it is to play the game at Irish casinos; we will also introduce you to the means to find top online baccarat casinos in Ireland.

Understanding Online Baccarat


Baccarat is often a misunderstood game. Many people see the card game highlight in movies featuring James Bond and immediately assume that it is a high-rollers game - it is not. They might have heard about the Third Card Rule and believe that this is overly complicated - it is. However, here is the good news. When playing online baccarat in Ireland’s casinos, you do not need to know that rule. The dealer (or computer program) will automatically take care of it for you.

In fact, the only thing you need to know to play online baccarat in Ireland is roughly how the game works. Allow us to explain it to you.

How to Play Online Baccarat


Learning how to play baccarat online at Irish casinos is a doddle. For a start, you are not actually “playing the game”. Instead, you are only “betting on the outcome” of a hand. The game’s objective is to bet which hand has the higher ranking - the banker’s or the player’s hand.

Each card is worth its own numerical value in baccarat, with aces counting for one point, and 10s and faces counting as zeros. You cannot go over nine points, but not can you bust. For instance, a baccarat hand consisting of the Five of Clubs (5 points) and the Jacks of Hearts (0 points) counts as a five-point hand. One consisting of the Seven of Diamonds (7 points) and the Eight of Spades (8 points), equals 15 points. But since you cannot go over a nine-point hand, the first digit is subtracted, giving you a 5-point hand.

As mentioned, what you are ultimately doing when you play online baccarat in Ireland is wagering on which hand will triumph and be the best ranking.

Winning at Online Baccarat

Ordinarily, baccarat hands feature just two cards. There are many occasions when a third card may be called for. This would be a pain if you had to remember and recite all the occasions when this was necessary. As mentioned, in online baccarat, you do not have to. Instead, the banker (dealer) will do this for you.

Once the two hands are finalised (and any third cards taken), the two hands will be compared. The hand which has the highest points tally will be deemed the victor. It is possible for the hands to tie, too.

If you bet on the player’s hand winning, you can receive a payout of 1:1. If you bet on the banker’s hand winning, you will only receive a 0.95:1 payout (5% commission is charged), as it has a mathematically better chance of success. It is possible to bet on ties, too, which typically deliver wins of 11:1, but are not likely to appear.

Playing Baccarat Games in Ireland

Most casino software providers will typically carry just one or two baccarat variants. There are not too many games which break from the main rules. Examining each of the major providers, developers such as Microgaming, Playtech, NetEnt and so, will typically see them carry a limited array of RNG baccarat games. These use a random number generator (RNG) software, ensuring that each game is fair, and each hand random.

However, when you jump from algorithm-controlled games to live dealer titles, you can typically find a great selection of variants to choose from. This greater scope of games is where the real action is, so let us look at those next.

Top Baccarat Variants to Explore

If you want to broaden the selection of online baccarat games in Ireland that you can choose from, we recommend playing live dealer baccarat. Here are just a few of the most popular baccarat variants that you can play in Ireland’s top casinos.

  • No Commission Baccarat: This baccarat game eliminates the commission usually paid on winning hands belonging to the banker. Instead, you will pocket a 1:1 win for this. However, to compensate for that (and to maintain the house edge), the game only pays out 0.5:1 if the banker’s hand wins with a six.

  • Baccarat Super Six: This game is quite like No Commission Baccarat, in that there is no commission on a winning banker hand, and a reduced payout on a winning banker hand of six. However, if you bet on the Super Six (a six-point banker hand winning), you can receive a special one-off prize worth 12:1.

  • Lightning Baccarat: If you really want to spice things up, try playing Lightning Baccarat at Irish casinos. This live dealer game comes from Evolution Gaming and has 1-5 random Lightning Cards added to the deck. If you win with one of those, you can pocket a multiplier which boosts your wins by 2x up to 262,144x the conventional prize.

There are, of course, other live and RNG baccarat variants out there for you to try. However, we would recommend that you start playing online baccarat in Ireland with one of these exciting games.

Play Top Online Baccarat Games in Ireland

The best online baccarat games in Ireland are those found at trusted, secure, and safe casinos which offer you a great degree of options to choose from. As it happens, we have plenty of recommendations for you right here with our casino reviews. Nip over there right now to find a host of quality domains and betting sites offering online baccarat in Ireland.