Golden Hands Baccarat is classic Punto Banco with five extra bets that look past who wins and at how the hand was made. A Banker win with a three-card 7 pays 40 to 1. Two three-card 9s on the table pay 75 to 1. Two three-card 7s pay 200 to 1. And Cover All pays 6 to 1 if any of those things happens. The same set of bets is dealt in casinos as 5 Treasures-style baccarat, and under other names such as Lucky 5.
How to play
Main bets. Player pays 1 to 1, Banker pays 0.95 to 1 (5% commission), Tie pays 8 to 1. If the hands tie, Player and Banker bets come back.
Side bets. Each one is a separate bet. You can place any of them with or without a main bet.
| Bet | Wins when | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Banker 3-Card 7 | Banker wins with a three-card 7 | 40 to 1 |
| Player 3-Card 8 | Player wins with a three-card 8 | 25 to 1 |
| Three-Card Nines | both hands are three-card 9s | 75 to 1 |
| only one hand is a three-card 9 | 10 to 1 | |
| Twin Sevens | both hands are three-card 7s | 200 to 1 |
| both hands are two-card 7s | 50 to 1 | |
| Cover All | any of the four bets above wins | 6 to 1 |
A 7-7 tie with two cards on one side and three on the other doesn’t pay Twin Sevens. A two-card 9 is a natural, so it never counts for Three-Card Nines.
Chips come in 20, 100 and 500. Every spot takes up to 1,000 credits, in steps of 20.
The cards. Aces count 1, 2 to 9 count their pips, and tens and picture cards count 0. Only the last digit of a total matters. Two cards each go to Player and Banker. A total of 8 or 9 is a natural and nobody draws. Otherwise Player draws on 0 to 5, and Banker draws by the standard third-card table. The higher total wins.
What each bet costs
House edge and how often each bet wins, counted exactly over every possible deal from an eight-deck shoe:
| Bet | Wins about | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| Banker | 1.06% | |
| Player | 1.24% | |
| Cover All | 1 round in 7 | 2.97% |
| Banker 3-Card 7 | 1 round in 44 | 7.61% |
| Twin Sevens | 1 round in 89 | 7.78% |
| Three-Card Nines | 1 round in 14 | 9.31% |
| Player 3-Card 8 | 1 round in 29 | 10.19% |
| Tie | 14.36% |
These are the same figures the regulators’ rule documents publish for this bet set, which is a good check that the rules here are read the same way.
Strategy
Cover All is the side bet to play. The four other bets never win in the same round, so Cover All simply wins whenever one of them does: about one round in seven. At 2.97% it’s far cheaper than any single line, and only the Banker and Player bets cost less.
The single lines cost two and a half to three and a half times as much. Banker 3-Card 7 and Twin Sevens are the best of them at under 8%. Player 3-Card 8 is the worst at 10.19%.
Twin Sevens is mostly the 50 to 1 line. Two two-card 7s turn up about once in 112 rounds, and the 200 to 1 three-card version only about once in 430.
Three-Card Nines is mostly the 10 to 1 line. One three-card 9 comes up about once in 15 rounds. Both hands at three-card 9 is closer to once in 485.
If you enjoy Golden Hands Baccarat, try Greyhound Race or Hazard next.
