Learn
A live table rules primer: baccarat, roulette, blackjack
The core rules of the three games that fill most of a live lobby, what tends to vary from table to table, and where to find a given table's own rules.
Three games fill most of the lobby
This site's catalogue holds 91 live tables. By name, 27 are baccarat, 26 blackjack, 20 roulette and 3 dragon tiger; by studio, 58 are Microgaming, 27 Pragmatic Play and 6 Evolution.
Unlike slots, live tables carry almost no figures on a spec sheet — exactly one of the 91 lists an RTP. What there is to read is the game's core rules and the table's own variations on them.
Baccarat: Player, Banker, Tie
In baccarat you do not play a hand. You bet on which of two hands, Player or Banker, will total closer to nine, or on the two tying. Tens and face cards count as zero, and only the last digit of a two-digit total counts. Whether a third card is drawn is set by a fixed table, not by anyone's choice.
A commission on winning Banker bets is common, often 5%, but not universal. “No commission” variants drop it and instead reduce the payout on Banker wins with certain totals, and how they do that differs by table. Tie and side-bet payouts also need checking against the table's rules.
Roulette: 37 pockets or 38
A European wheel has 37 pockets: zero plus 1 to 36. An American wheel adds a double zero for 38. A straight-up bet pays the same on both, but the pocket count differs, so the same bet sits in a different probability structure. That is arithmetic about pockets, not a forecast.
Of the 20 live roulette tables in this site's catalogue, 2 have “American” in the name. For most of the rest, the name alone does not tell you the wheel layout. Variants that add multipliers, such as Lightning or Mega, can also change the standard payouts, so read the paytable alongside the pocket count.
Blackjack's core actions, and finding the table rules
Blackjack asks for a total closer to 21 than the dealer's without going over. The core actions are hit (take a card), stand (stop), double (double the bet and take exactly one card) and split (play a pair as two hands). Insurance and surrender are offered at some tables and not at others.
Details such as whether the dealer stands on soft 17, whether blackjack pays 3:2 and whether you may double after splitting vary from table to table. They are usually set out in the rules or help menu inside the game. With a live spec sheet mostly blank, the table's own rules screen is effectively the one place to confirm them.
Terms used here
- Banker commission
- The cut taken from winning Banker bets. Often 5%, but it varies by table.
- No commission
- A baccarat variant that drops the commission and alters some Banker payouts instead.
- European / American wheel
- A 37-pocket wheel with one zero, or a 38-pocket wheel with zero and double zero.
- Soft 17
- A 17 counting an ace as 11. Whether the dealer stands on it is a table rule.
- Split
- The blackjack action of playing a pair as two separate hands.