Apr 27 2026
Co-Card Counting the Dragon and Panda Side Bets in EZ Baccarat
The Dragon side bet and Panda side bet for EZ Baccarat have known card counting issues. Recently I received an e-mail from an employee in surveillance at a major casino asking if this was still the case, or if I had retracted my work. I discussed this surprising e-mail in this post.
Ultimate Texas Hold’em Hole-Card Play: One Dealer Card, One Turn/River Card
When an AP finds a dealer on Ultimate Texas Hold'em (UTH) who is vulnerable to hole-carding, it is not unusual for her to expose the bottom card of every packet of cards she delivers. This includes exposing one of her two hole-cards as well as one of the common cards.
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%.
