Mini baccarat is ordinary Punto Banco played at a small table: one dealer handles every card, players only choose a bet (Player, Banker or Tie), and the hand closest to 9 wins. The rules and odds are the same as big-table baccarat, so the Banker bet keeps its 1.06% house edge after the 5% commission, Player costs 1.24% and the 8:1 Tie about 14.36%. What changes is the pace, the minimum bet and the fact that you never touch the cards.
Updated October 2026. We rewrote this guide to fix the drawing rules, which the old version had wrong, and added the regulator rules, commission-free variants and live versions.
What Is Mini Baccarat?
Mini baccarat is the low-limit, dealer-run version of baccarat that fills most casino floors. Maryland’s official Mini Baccarat rules, a good public example of a US regulator’s standard, describe a table with numbered positions for no more than nine seated players on one side and the dealer on the other. Many casinos use seven seats. The game is dealt from six to eight decks, and the rules state plainly that players may not touch, handle or alter any cards.
That last point is the real difference from “big table” baccarat, where players traditionally receive and turn the cards themselves in a roped-off high-limit area. In mini baccarat the dealer does all of it, which keeps the game quick and the minimums low. Wizard of Odds notes that the mini game plays much faster than the big table while the odds stay identical.
| Feature | Mini baccarat | Midi baccarat | Big table baccarat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who handles the cards | Dealer only | Players may squeeze the cards (house rules vary) | Players take turns dealing and turning cards |
| Table size | Up to 9 seats (Maryland rules), often 7 | Usually 9 seats | Larger table, often in a separate room |
| Typical stakes | Lowest baccarat minimums on the floor | Mid to high | High |
| Speed | Fastest | Slower, because of the squeeze | Slowest |
| Rules and odds | Identical: same drawing rules, same payouts, same house edge | ||
So if you have learned live dealer baccarat online, you already know mini baccarat. A live online table is, in effect, a mini baccarat table with a camera.
How a Mini Baccarat Hand Is Dealt
- Bet. Place chips on Player, Banker or Tie, plus any side bet the table offers. The dealer then calls “no more bets”.
- Four cards come out. Under the Maryland procedure, the first and third cards go to the Player hand and the second and fourth to the Banker hand.
- The dealer announces both totals. If either hand has 8 or 9 on two cards (a “natural”), the round ends.
- Third cards, if needed. The dealer applies the fixed drawing rules below. Neither hand can receive more than one extra card.
- Payout. The hand closer to 9 wins. Bets on the losing hand are collected, winners are paid, and on a tie the Player and Banker bets push.
“Player” and “Banker” are only labels. You are not the Player and the casino is not the Banker; you may back either hand and switch from one round to the next.
Card values
Aces count 1, cards 2 to 9 count their face value, and tens, jacks, queens and kings count 0. Only the last digit of a total matters. A 9 and a 5 make 14, which is a hand of 4. A 7 and an 8 make 15, a hand of 5. The highest possible hand is 9.
Mini Baccarat Drawing Rules
You never make a drawing decision. The dealer follows the same table in every casino and on every live stream. It helps to know it, because it explains why Banker wins slightly more often.
The Player hand
- Two-card total of 0 to 5: draws a third card.
- Total of 6 or 7: stands.
- Total of 8 or 9: natural, no one draws.
The Banker hand
If the Player stood on 6 or 7, the Banker follows the same simple rule: draw on 0 to 5, stand on 6 or 7. If the Player drew a third card, the Banker’s action depends on its own total and on the value of that Player third card:
| Banker’s two-card total | Banker draws when the Player’s third card is | Banker stands when the Player’s third card is |
|---|---|---|
| 0, 1 or 2 | Any card | Never stands |
| 3 | 0 to 7, or 9 | 8 |
| 4 | 2 to 7 | 0, 1, 8 or 9 |
| 5 | 4 to 7 | 0 to 3, 8 or 9 |
| 6 | 6 or 7 | 0 to 5, 8 or 9 |
| 7 | Never draws | Any card |
Our old version said a Banker 7 is “always in a position to win” and mixed in blackjack advice about hitting against a dealer’s up-card. Neither is right: a Banker 7 simply stands, and baccarat has no hit or stand choices for you to make.
Worked example
Say the Player is dealt 2 and 3 (5) and the Banker 6 and Queen (6). Nobody has a natural. With 5, the Player hand takes a third card: a 2, for a total of 7. The Banker has 6, and the Player’s third card was a 2, so the table says stand. Player 7 beats Banker 6. A $20 Player bet wins $20; a $20 Banker bet loses.
Payouts and the 5% Commission
Winning Player bets pay 1:1. Banker wins also pay 1:1, but the casino keeps 5% of the win as commission (sometimes called vigorish). Ties pay at least 8:1 under the Maryland rules, and 8:1 is what almost every table offers.
At a land-based mini table, the commission is handled in one of two ways. The dealer either takes it from each winning Banker bet as it is paid, or tracks it with a marker in a numbered box that matches your seat and collects the total before the next shoe starts or when you leave. The Maryland rules also let the casino round the commission up to the next multiple of 25 cents, so a $10 Banker win costs 50 cents, while a $7 win (35 cents of commission) can be charged 50 cents. Betting in multiples of $5 avoids the rounding. Online tables simply pay 0.95:1 on Banker.
| Bet | Pays | House edge (8 decks) |
|---|---|---|
| Banker, 5% commission | 1:1 minus 5% | 1.06% |
| Banker, 4% commission (rare) | 1:1 minus 4% | About 0.60% |
| Player | 1:1 | 1.24% |
| Tie | 8:1 | 14.36% |
| Tie | 9:1 (rare) | 4.84% |
Source: Wizard of Odds. With six decks the Banker and Player edges are the same to two decimal places, and the 8:1 Tie edge is 14.44%.
Commission-Free Mini Baccarat: EZ Baccarat and No Commission
Many casinos now run mini tables without the 5% commission. They make up the difference with one special rule, and the rule decides whether Banker is still the better bet.
EZ Baccarat
In EZ Baccarat, Banker wins pay even money with no commission, but a Banker win with a three-card total of 7 (the “Dragon 7”) is a push. Maryland’s rules require the layout to tell players about that push. Las Vegas Advisor, using Wizard of Odds figures, puts the Banker edge at 1.02%, slightly better than a standard table, with Player unchanged at 1.24%.
EZ Baccarat tables add two side bets:
- Dragon 7: pays 40:1 when the Banker wins with a three-card 7. House edge 7.61%.
- Panda 8: pays 25:1 when the Player wins with a three-card 8. House edge 10.19%.
No Commission (Banker 6 pays half)
The other common format pays only 1:2 on a Banker win with a total of 6. Wizard of Odds puts the Banker edge at 1.46% under that rule, higher than the 1.24% Player bet, so at these tables Player is the cheaper choice. Super 6 tables use the same Banker 6 rule; our Super 6 guide covers them.
| Table type | Banker rule | Banker edge | Player edge | Cheaper bet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard mini baccarat | 5% commission | 1.06% | 1.24% | Banker |
| EZ Baccarat | No commission, three-card Banker 7 pushes | 1.02% | 1.24% | Banker |
| No Commission / Super 6 | No commission, winning Banker 6 pays 1:2 | 1.46% | 1.24% | Player |
Other mini baccarat side bets
The Maryland rules list a long menu of optional side bets a casino may offer, from Dragon Bonus to pair bets and progressive jackpots. One example is the Dragon Bonus, which pays when your hand wins a natural or wins by four points or more; Paytable A pays 30:1 for a nine-point win. On the Player side it is one of the cheaper side bets at about 2.7%, while the Banker side is about 9.4%. Player Pair and Banker Pair at 11:1 run about 10.4%. Our Dragon Bonus guide has the full pay table.
Playing Mini Baccarat Online and Live
Live dealer baccarat is mini baccarat in format: a studio dealer deals from a shoe, and you bet through the screen. The exception is squeeze tables, where the cards are bent and revealed slowly for drama; see our Baccarat Squeeze guide. The odds do not change at any of them.
- State-licensed casinos: eight states have legalised online casinos. Seven markets are live (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island), and Maine legalised a tribal-only market (LD 1164: became law without the governor’s signature in January 2026, effective 29 July 2026) that had not launched as of October 2026. Licensed sites stream Evolution baccarat from US studios, and Ezugi’s EZ Baccarat is available to New Jersey players.
- Offshore sites: the four US-facing offshore casinos we review all run live baccarat. Bovada, Ignition and MyBookie each list Super 6 tables, and BetOnline carries Speed, Turbo and All In baccarat. They hold no US state licence, so there is no state regulator to complain to if a withdrawal goes wrong.
- Free practice: live tables are real money only. RNG baccarat in demo mode is the cheapest way to get used to the layout and the speed.
Before you play, check two things: whether the table charges commission or uses a Banker 6 or Dragon 7 rule, and what the bonus terms say. At all four offshore sites live dealer games count nothing towards the casino bonus rollover, so a welcome bonus will not help a baccarat player. Our guide to live baccarat providers compares the studios.
Mini Baccarat Tips That Hold Up
- Bet Banker at a 5% commission or EZ table. It is the lowest-edge bet in the game at 1.06% or 1.02%.
- Switch to Player at a Banker-6 table. There, Player (1.24%) beats Banker (1.46%).
- Leave the Tie alone. At 8:1 it costs about 13.5 times as much as Banker.
- Treat side bets as entertainment. Most carry edges between 7% and 11%.
- Mind the pace. Mini tables deal quickly, and live Speed Baccarat rounds take about 27 seconds at Evolution. More hands per hour at the same stake means more expected loss per hour.
- Ignore the scoreboard for predictions. Bead plates and roads show history only; our Golden Secret strategy test shows why pattern systems fail.
- Do not rely on a betting system. Staking patterns change how wins and losses are spread, never the house edge. Our guide to maximising your baccarat winnings works through the maths.
- Set a budget first. Decide what the session can cost before you sit down, and stop when you reach it.
The old version of this page also told readers to “use a betting system” and to claim bonuses. We removed both: neither improves the odds, and live baccarat rarely counts towards bonus wagering.
Mini Baccarat FAQ
What is the difference between mini baccarat and regular baccarat?
Only the table and the handling of the cards. In mini baccarat a single dealer deals every card at a small table with low minimums, and players may not touch the cards. Big table baccarat lets players deal and turn the cards. The drawing rules, payouts and house edges are identical.
How many decks are used in mini baccarat?
Usually six or eight. Maryland’s standard rules allow six to eight decks, or 12 to 16 when an automatic shuffler alternates two batches of cards.
What is the best bet in mini baccarat?
Banker, at a standard 5% commission table (1.06% house edge) or an EZ Baccarat table (1.02%). At a no-commission table where a winning Banker 6 pays half, Player is better at 1.24% against 1.46%.
How many players can sit at a mini baccarat table?
Maryland’s rules allow up to nine seated players; many casinos use seven-seat tables. Online live tables usually accept unlimited players because everyone bets on the same two hands.
Can you touch the cards in mini baccarat?
No. The dealer handles every card, and regulator rules such as Maryland’s forbid players from touching them. If you want to squeeze the cards, look for a midi or squeeze table.
What is EZ Baccarat?
A commission-free version where Banker pays even money but a Banker win with a three-card 7 pushes. The Banker edge is about 1.02%, and the table offers the Dragon 7 (40:1) and Panda 8 (25:1) side bets.
More Baccarat Guides
- Live dealer baccarat: rules, house edges and US sites
- How to play Super 6
- Live Baccarat Squeeze
- How to maximise your baccarat winnings
If gambling stops being fun, call the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), or see our responsible gambling page.
Sources
- Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency: Mini Baccarat Standard Rules v1.10 (table, decks, dealing, vigorish, EZ Baccarat, payouts)
- Wizard of Odds: baccarat basics and house edge (decks, 4% commission, 9:1 tie, mini baccarat)
- Wizard of Odds: commission-free baccarat (Banker 6 pays 1 to 2, 1.46%)
- Wizard of Odds: baccarat side bets
- Las Vegas Advisor: EZ Baccarat (Banker 1.018%, Dragon 7 7.61%, Panda 8 10.19%)
- Evolution: Speed Baccarat (27-second rounds)
- AGBrief: Evolution brings Ezugi back to the US market
- Gambling Insider: Maine LD 1164 tribal online casinos
- NCPG: National Problem Gambling Helpline 1-800-MY-RESET
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