Aug 19 2026
EZ Baccarat Dragon and Panda Side Bets: Response to an E-mail
I originally posted my analysis of the Dragon side bet for EZ Baccarat in this post on the Wizard of Odds website. Shortly after, Michael Shackleford made this post, describing a card counting method to beat the Panda side bet for EZ Baccarat. Subsequently, Stephen How wrote about methods to card count both of these wagers in a series of posts on his website, Discount Gambling.
Cheating the Lucky Pairs Baccarat Side Bet
In this blog post I covered the basics of advantage play against the Lucky Pairs (LP) baccarat side bet. In the most common variation of LP, the player can wager that either the next Player or Banker hand will be a pair. A winning wager pays 11-to-1. With eight decks, the off-the-top house edge is 10.361%.
Card Counting the Total Shot Bonus Baccarat Side Bet
Yet another side bet that can be counted in California card rooms: the Total Shot Bonus (TSB). Formally, this side bet is for the baccarat variant known as Supreme Baccarat. This variant is simply the commission free version where a Banker winning total of 6 pays 1-to-2. Like ordinary baccarat, the main game is not vulnerable to card counting.
Card Counting Zoo Baccarat (ZooBac)
ZooBac is a collection of four independent baccarat side bets, the Rabbit (see this post), Tiger (see this post), Monkey (see the zero/zero tie in this post) and the Zoo.
