Baccarat is one of the world’s biggest casino games, a favorite of high-rollers in Asia and a recent addition to American casinos. Its popularity stems from its relative ease of play, the absence of a dealer (players place their bets on either the “Player” or “Banker”) and a simple scoring system in which the winning hand is the one that is closest to nine. But can players really beat the game?

A baccarat table is smaller than a blackjack table and is staffed with three casino employees: two dealers taking bets from as many as 14 players, and a croupier who directs the play of the hand. There are seven numbered positions on the table, each associated with a betting option: player, banker and tie. The object is to bet on which hand, Player or Banker, will come closer to the number nine. A hand is a pair of cards dealt to the players and the croupier, with a third card sometimes drawn when the first two are close enough. The first digit of the total of the cards is dropped when the score is over nine, with tens counting as zero and aces as one.

While baccarat is not an easy game to master, there are ways to improve your chances of winning. The key to success is learning the odds and understanding how to bet wisely. This is not an easy task for most, but it can be done with practice and patience.

Despite the game’s reputation as an elite pastime for high rollers, many ordinary people can win big at baccarat. In 2000, media mogul Kerry Packer dropped $20 million at the Bellagio and raked in a record-setting $9 million at Caesars Palace. These mega-wagers make headlines but they don’t even dent the long-term take that Las Vegas Strip casinos enjoy from baccarat, which averages more than $536 million a year.

Some people have claimed that they have discovered a way to beat the house edge in baccarat by using a particular strategy. These strategies, most of which involve keeping track of wins and losses and doubling or tripling their wagers after each loss, are based on the principle that a single win will eventually recoup all previous losses and provide a profit equal to the original bet. But basic math and the laws of probability indicate that these baccarat-sharpening rituals are nothing more than superstition.

Nevertheless, the quest to find a foolproof method of beating the game persists. Some experts have pointed to the Martingale system as a good place to start, and others have touted the benefits of betting on the banker every time. The truth is, however, that baccarat’s house edge is always in favor of the banker and nothing, not trends or patterns or the color of the dealer’s underwear, can change that fact. If you’re a serious gambler, you should know this before sitting down at the baccarat table. And if you’re not, you should probably look for another game to play.