I was at the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles and there was a game called “Easy Bac,” a form of baccarat that doesn’t take the 5% cut off a winning banker bet. I would like to know the odds against the player. It must be less or it would not be in there. Can you elaborate on the game?
Sure. As the question states, Easy Bac, better known as EZ Baccarat, is a variation of commission-free baccarat, where no commission is taken from a winning banker bet. Instead, EZ Baccarat has a “barred” hand, which means a slight change of rules to even out the house edge after the elimination of the 5% commission.
In the game, all the rules of classic baccarat are followed, except for banker bets, which pay even money (no commission). The barred hand is a three-card banker 7; in EZ Baccarat, instead of a win, it’s a push.
In classic baccarat, paying out even-money on winning banker bets and not taking a commission would give the banker bet a 1.235% player advantage. With the commission, the house advantage on banker bets is 1.06%. The house edge on player hands is 1.24%.
Commission-free EZ Baccarat gets rid of the cumbersome and slow commission process by barring the one hand. Barring the three-card banker 7 has a slightly lower house edge than commission-baccarat's at 1.018%, but the two are virtually equivalent to the casino, because it’s a smoother and faster game.
The Dragon 7 side bet at EZ Baccarat is an insurance play on the barred hand. It pays 40-1 when the 3-card banker 7 occurs. The house edge on this bet is 7.61%
The other side bet is called the Panda 8. This gets paid at 25-1 on a winning three-card player total of 8. The house edge on the Panda 8 is 10.19%.
