Baccarat shoe size

1) What proportion of baccarat games are single deck? six deck? eight deck? CSM?

2) Does this vary by bet level (like in blackjack where the lowest games almost always shoe or CSM)?

3) Are there major variations by casino?

4) How does penetration vary by shoe size and casino?

Thanks for any knowledge.

The Wizard of Odds site has a nice Baccarat write-up that any prospective Customer should read.
In general the shoe is 8 decks with the stop-card placed 16 from bottom.
The traditional burn takes the top card and counts that many into the shoe removing such cards.
An Ace burns no further cards, a Ten, Jack, Queen, or King burns 9 additional cards, and all others
burn their pip value - 1 additional cards.
The stop-card rule is that when it appears, the next round is the last round. If its the top card, it is
removed and that round dealt is the last round.
In general 393-394 cards are in play on average, and the game has an average of 80-81 rounds.

Differences are 6-deck shoes that very slightly favor the Banker over the 8-deck version. House
variations may include placement of the stop-card deeper into the shoe. In some cases the House
may lower the commission to 4% to draw Customers.

Always ask (even here) what options are availible to a high-roller Baccarat Customer.

I have never seen a 1-deck game in a Casino, but have seen it on-line. I think most Houses will let
you play 6 or 8 decks by going through the Host.

Quote: DMSCR

4) How does penetration vary by shoe size and casino?

Please explain.

I'm trying to get a sense of how they do burns and cut card placement (How many cards do the deal per shoe). 98Clubs gave me a great response, but I would love to hear your experience also as confirmation or a different set of experiences.

Ahhh okay.

These are the shuffles I have experienced.

1) Typical eight deck through Shuffle Master. 14 card cut. Player cuts deck. # of cards are burned. Then shoe plays.
2) As #1 above but hand shuffled instead of Shuffle Master.
3) 8-deck hand butterflied shuffled. Then procedure #1.
4) 8-deck Shuffle Master. Half to one deck cut. Player cuts deck. # of cards burned. Shoe plays.
5) I have seen this online. Instead of cards get burned in the beginning they get burned during play. Like I have seen in poker. Card dealt. Then a card gets burned. A Card dealt. etc.

For EZ Bac

1) 8-deck is divided into half of 2 four deck of cards. Then each of these two decks are divided into four equal parts. Each of these four decks are then placed in a cross position. Then hand twists the deck. Butterflied shuffled. Then stacked back as a whole 8-deck. Then deck is placed back into Shuffle Master or it is hand shuffled. Half to one deck cut. Player cuts deck. # cards burned. Shoe plays.

2) In Atlantic City procedure #1 but with two deck of cards cut.

Thats interesting about the large number of cards cut from the bottom of the shoe. I have figured out by reading here that some side-bets are "countable". Quite possibly even the Pairs bet. Perhaps its the "gimmicks" that are causing the large cut from the bottom.

Quote: 98Clubs

Quite possibly even the Pairs bet.

Especially the Pairs bet.

The probability that the banker will win is 45.843%, player 44.615%, and tie 9.543%. So the return of the banker bet with a 4% commission is .45845*.96 - .44615 = -.00606 . So the house still has a thin 0.6% edge.