Live Dealer Baccarat Controlled Squeeze: Crafty or Crazy?

Superstitions tend to exist in every form of gambling. Whether its blowing on the dice at the craps table, or bringing those bum-ugly troll dolls to the bingo hall, good luck charms are all-too common in the casino industry. For baccarat players, squeezing the cards is every winner’s secret weapon.

Baccarat-Squeeze In Macau, Baccarat Squeeze is played at the majority of their tables. I don’t mean the majority of baccarat tables, but the majority of all tables throughout the casino. Baccarat is the most popular game among Chinese gamblers, and they sure are a superstitious lot! Without the squeeze option, they probably wouldn’t even bother playing.

What Is Baccarat Squeeze?

Squeezing the baccarat cards, as it’s called, is a process in which one player (or the dealer, at some casinos) will carefully turn up the edge of a card to reveal only the suit symbols on that edge (not the number). Otherwise, the rules are exactly the same as traditional baccarat.

Wait a minute, isn’t baccarat dealt with the card face up? In most countries, yes. But not in Macau. Even casinos in Australia, Canada and the United States have taken to playing the face-down squeeze variety. It’s become so popular, in fact, Evolution Gaming has several live dealer baccarat squeeze games, and just last October, released three new Live Dealer Baccarat Controlled Squeeze tables.

What’s the difference? In standard Baccarat Squeeze, the dealer squeezes the cards to reveal the edges. In Baccarat Controlled Squeeze, that job belongs to a player. To be more precise, it belongs to the player who stakes the highest amount of money on the hand.

Okay, but how does a player squeeze baccarat cards from a computer or mobile device thousands of miles away? That’s another great question. In this case, the highest-wagering player gets to click on the edge(s) of the card(s) they wish to reveal. The table’s are specially designed with glass inlays, and the cards are dealt atop that glass. The covering below the glass is automatically pulled back just enough to reveal the chosen edges.

In standard Live Dealer Baccarat Squeeze, its not up to the players to decide which cards are squeeze. Instead, which ever hand got the most bets placed on it – Banker or Player – will have it’s card squeezed by the dealer.

What good does it do to see the suit symbols on a card? Glad you asked. It won’t reveal the number on the card, of course, but it can give information as to what numbers could be on the card. If we see the top and side edge of a card, and it reveals two hearts on the top, plus 3 on the side, we can surmise that the card is either a 6, 7 or 8.

But the bets are already made – the cards already dealt – does this really change anything? This is where superstition comes into play. Many Chinese gamblers believe they can alter the suit symbols they haven’t seen yet. Maybe they really need that card to be a 6. In a live baccarat setting, you might see the player blowing on the card or – in the most passionate of cases – even stabbing through the middle of the card with a pen. This is to remove the suit symbols that may be in the middle of the card, supposedly turning a 7 or 8 into a 6.

So that’s it? Yep, that’s it. Chances are, you’ve had one of two reactions at this point. You either think Chinese gamblers are completely out of their minds, or you’re the superstitious type and are scrambling to find an online casino where live dealer baccarat controlled squeeze is offered. If it happens to be the latter, Royal Vegas is a good option.