A great skill that any professional baccarat player possesses is recognizing "trends" or "streak" as they occur. While in other games there are tricky "holes" through which the casino takes your money, such as the '0' or '00' in the roulette or the '7' of craps, in baccarat there are no such holes, no "bust" hands like in blackjack and the house edge is fair in comparison to other casino games. That is the reason that you should be aware of trends that happen at a baccarat session since baccarat is a more natural game, which makes trends an actual possibility.
Most baccarat players would base their bets according to the croupier's actions or according to the player's actions - this is simply wrong. When such gamblers decide to put their faith on people, and not on the cards themselves, they would eventually lose their money, and it wouldn't take long. But for the professional baccarat players, there's nothing but the cards and the baccarat's 'trends' or 'streaks'.
Remember, there are only two bets you can put - player or bank, in case of a tie you don’t lose nor win money, as in Chemin de Fer, and so streaks of "player" or "bank" wins are obvious. It will take you time to train yourself to recognize a trend as it occurs but you can save yourself money in the process by sticking to the rules of our money management guide.
A good example for a trend can be found at any baccarat table, including internet baccarat rooms: You must have seen players losing their money after placing bets on "bank" simply because "it was time for the bank to win!" or "the player would never win again!", this are wrong assumptions by people that forget that baccarat is not about such things.
An essential part of trends is to set time limits for your trends. This would cut your losses in case a trend "shifts" away. Let's say you're playing at a baccarat table for half an hour and you bet on "bank" for more than fifteen minutes now, that is the right time limit, don't continue to bet on "bank" since any trend would eventually pass. Hopefully in time you'll recognize streaks and you'll leverage them into your favor, also, you'd know a "trendless" baccarat table and you will get up and leave it immediately.
David Grossman, Editorial staff – 27/12/05
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