Baccarat versus Mini-Baccarat

1 December 2024

By Frank Scoblete

Announcer: “It’s a battle to the death folks, veteran baccarat against the new competitor that has for the last 20 or so years been unbeatable and that would be mini-baccarat. Both are champions in their own classes. Who can win this epic contest? The fans….”

Frank: Oh, the heck with the fans. What do they know? There is no comparison between baccarat and mini-baccarat because baccarat wins the battle going away.

Yes, the games are almost – as in almost – the same. But they are different in several ways. By way of analogy:

Do you remember the Joe Frazier versus George Foreman heavyweight championship match? Of course, you do. Frazier was the undisputed champion. He had beaten Muhammad Ali in the battle of the century in his last fight and was now taking on this new kid, the powerful Foreman.

Frazier was a big favorite. How could this kid Foreman beat a man of Frazier’s prowess? He couldn’t. If Ali couldn’t, how could Foreman do it? He couldn’t.

Frazier hit the canvas six times in two rounds. Foreman bounced him all over the place and in the second round he hit Frazier with an upper cut that lifted Frazier off the ground and sent him flying into the air. Frazier was knocked out by that upstart; by the kid.

Foreman went on to clobber a couple of contenders and then a match was set up between him and the great, but aging, Muhammad Ali. Sports writers were worried that Foreman would hurt Ali badly, maybe even kill him. By this time, Foreman was thought of as an invulnerable monster, a fighter so strong and powerful that no one, and certainly not Ali, could even hurt, much less whip.

You all know what happened; Ali turned in a spectacular performance and knocked Foreman out in eight rounds. Out as in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The monster had been slain by the greatest heavyweight of all time (at least according to Ali).

And that my friends is the situation between baccarat versus mini-baccarat.

Today, mini-baccarat is the beast, yes, the powerful monster, the George Foreman of the heavyweight division. Mini-baccarat is probably the fifth favorite game in the casino behind slots, blackjack, craps, and roulette. It has driven just about all the traditional baccarat games out of the high-roller rooms of the bigger and medium casinos. You’ll find it hard to find the old baccarat game.

So, in this contest between the “old” and the “new” why do I state unequivocally that the old baccarat is far better than the new mini-baccarat? Here goes:

Both games are the equivalent of a coin flip; meaningless rules that call for this or that proposition to win – either bank (sometimes called banker) or player wins. Sometimes, the decision is a tie which is one of the worst bets in the casino – like betting a draw in a great boxing match, which almost never occurs. So, only poor players bet tie at baccarat or mini-baccarat.

The rules of hitting the hands or staying with the hands are predetermined in the sense that players do not have the right to determine what they will hit or stand on – there is no free will in such decisions.

Both games come in with low house edges on the two main bets; a little over the one percent range.

The differences in the games make them appealing or less appealing.

Speed: Mini-baccarat is fast, faster, and fastest. It could be the fastest game in the casino while traditional baccarat is slow and, if the players decide to deal the cards, which they are encouraged to do, baccarat is a relaxed, leisurely game. Also, winning bank hands in traditional baccarat have a 5 percent commission extracted from them in order to give the house the edge over this bet. Doing this considerably slows the game down.

Winning bank hands in mini-baccarat often have the “commission” removed on certain winning combinations that will give the casino the edge without slowing the game to actually count up and give the wining player their return on such winning hands.

Speed favors traditional baccarat in a big way. (Yes, I like the players dealing the cards!) It’s a knockout win for traditional baccarat!

Table Minimums: The minimums for baccarat used to be $50 during week days and $100 on week nights or weekends – sometimes more and sometimes less on each. Mini-baccarat comes in with $25 minimums (rarely more, often less) but the speed of the game makes those minimums deadly.

Traditional baccarat can get to 40 hands dealt per hour, while mini-baccarat can get up to 200 hands an hour – sometimes more. Also, mini-baccarat will now offer side bets that extract even more money from the players. Not a good deal.

The winner is traditional baccarat by a decision.

Player Types: Baccarat players can be superstitious. You may notice that the number 4 is rarely drawn on the table because many players feel this number represents death. Players will sometimes blame other players for causing them to lose.

I once had a woman who decided to bet against me at the game. I hit a hot streak and she went nuts. She ran over to me and started screaming at the top of her voice (her loud voice!). Her friends had to drag her away from me.

I am thinking that the severely superstitious players tend to go to mini-baccarat as opposed to baccarat. But I could be wrong here.

The decision is a draw.

Therefore, traditional baccarat is the winner in this contest.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and bookstores.