According to mathematicians, the probability of the player's hand winning in baccarat is 44.62 percent. The probability of the player's losing is 45.85 percent, and the probability of a tie between the player's hand and the banker's hand is just 9.53 percent. If you eliminate the possibility of a tie, which is fairly rare in any case, the banker's hand will win just under 51 percent of the time.

Baccarat offers one of the smallest house edges of any casino game — usually a slim 1.4 percent. The casino makes money on baccarat mainly through charging commissions on winning banker bets. Banker hands are slightly more likely to win than player hands, and even with the commission, betting the bank is likely to be slightly more lucrative for you than betting the player. Both banker bets and player bets pay even money, but because of the commission on winning banker bets, the effective payout is .95 to 1.

Tie bets offer attractive payoffs of 8 to 1, but the house edge is more than 14 percent — more than ten times the edge on the even-money bets. The recommendation of most gambling experts is the same for the tie bet in baccarat and the insurance bet in blackjack: pretend it doesn't exist.

As with any form of gambling, you should decide on your bankroll and loss limit before you begin to play baccarat. It's an entertaining game, often played in a sophisticated setting, but unless you can afford to bet — and lose — large sums of money, don't expect an hour or two at the baccarat table to make you rich. If you're lucky, you'll leave with a few extra chips in your hand.