Level 3 · Lesson 10 of 4 · Variant Mastery
No Commission Baccarat and Super 6: Why the 'Free' Edge Costs You
What Super 6 actually does to the maths
Standard Punto Banco charges a 5% commission on Banker wins. This is the mechanism by which the casino extracts margin from the Banker bet. Without the commission, the Banker bet would actually carry a player edge of approximately 1.24% in the player's favour, because Banker wins 45.86% of hands against Player's 44.62%.
No Commission Baccarat, branded Super 6 at most tables, eliminates the commission. In its place, when Banker wins with a total of exactly 6, the payout drops from 1 to 1 to 1 to 2: you receive half your stake as profit rather than doubling your stake.
Banker wins with a total of 6 occur on approximately 5.39% of all hands. When you're on a Banker streak, roughly one in eighteen to twenty hands will end with a Banker-six result and a reduced payout. The shortfall in each of those hands is the casino's margin replacement.
The arithmetic of this substitution yields a Banker edge of 1.46%. That is 0.40 percentage points worse than standard Banker at 1.06%. It's not a dramatic difference on a per-hand basis. At $100 per bet, you're paying an extra 40 cents per hand in expected loss. Over 100 hands, that's an extra $40 compared to a standard table.
The actual size of the damage
The difference between 1.06% and 1.46% is 0.40 percentage points. On a single hand, this is negligible. Across a session, it accumulates.
Consider a player who plays 70 hands at $50 average stake. Total wagering: $3,500.
- Standard Banker (1.06%): expected loss of $37.10
- Super 6 Banker (1.46%): expected loss of $51.10
The Super 6 player expects to lose an extra £14 per session in this example. For higher stakes and longer sessions, the gap widens proportionally. At the high-limit tables in Macau or at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, where Banker bets regularly run in the tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars or Singapore dollars, the difference between 1.06% and 1.46% is not academic.
Eliot Jacobson's work on baccarat variants at apheat.net makes clear that the No Commission format benefits casinos operationally (no commission tracking, faster table turns) and costs players. The narrative of "no commission" implies a player-friendly change. The maths says otherwise.
Why the format exists at all
Commission baccarat creates an accounting task at fast-paced tables. The dealer must track commission owed on each winning Banker hand, and settle with each player at the end of each shoe or session. At a table running 150 hands per hour with multiple players each placing different stakes, this is administrative work that slows the game.
Super 6 eliminates the tracking entirely. Every hand settles immediately. The player pays 1 to 2 on specific Banker-six results and collects 1 to 1 on everything else. The game runs faster. The dealer has less to calculate. For a mini baccarat table or an electronic terminal at a busy venue like Aspers Westfield Stratford, operational speed is a genuine priority.
The format is also simpler to explain to new players who find the commission model confusing. "No commission" is easier to describe than "win at nineteen to twenty." The higher house edge is the price of that simplicity.
When you encounter Super 6
Some tables offer only Super 6 rather than commission baccarat. This is increasingly common in online live dealer environments and at tables specifically designed for high-volume, fast-paced play.
If Super 6 is your only option at a given table or casino, here's the correct response: bet Player rather than Banker. Player carries 1.24%, which is better than the Super 6 Banker's 1.46%. This is one of the very few situations in standard baccarat where Player is the mathematically preferred bet.
Alternatively, find a commission table. Most venues in London, including the Hippodrome's Heliot Salon Prive and Aspers Westfield Stratford, run standard commission Punto Banco. The Venetian Macao and the standard floors at Marina Bay Sands both run commission format as their default. If you have the choice, take the standard table. The 0.40 percentage points you save on the Banker edge is real money over a session.
A note on online Super 6
Some online casinos present No Commission Baccarat as a premium or upgraded format. The framing tends to emphasise the absence of commission as a player benefit. It isn't. The house edge on the main Banker bet is higher. Read the rules table on any variant you play. The edge should be listed. If it isn't, find a casino that publishes it.
The UK Gambling Commission requires licensed online operators to provide accurate game rules and return-to-player information. Opacity on house edge is not a feature of a properly licensed UK operator.
The commission format in land-based rooms
When you play commission baccarat at the Hippodrome's Heliot Salon Prive, the dealer maintains a small commission box for each player position, tracking what you owe across the shoe. At the shoe end, the croupier settles with each player. The ceramic chips in those boxes are the 1.06% edge made physical: they accumulate hand by hand, and they add up to a real number by the time the shoe is done.
At high-volume tables in Macau, settlement sometimes happens mid-shoe for convenience at large stakes. The method varies by room. At Crown Melbourne's Mahogany Room, commission is settled at shoe end by default. The arithmetic is always accurate. The No Commission format simply removes the tracking step by changing which hands cost you more.
Key numbers
| Bet | House edge | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Banker (5% commission) | 1.06% | Commission charged on each Banker win |
| No Commission Banker (Super 6) | 1.46% | Banker-six pays 1 to 2 instead of 1 to 1 |
| Player (either format) | 1.24% | Unaffected by the Super 6 rule |
| Difference | 0.40% | Per-hand extra cost of Super 6 Banker |
Sources: Eliot Jacobson on baccarat variants, UKGC technical standards, Hippodrome baccarat, Aspers table games.
Welcome to the lesson on No Commission Baccarat and Super Six.
I'm Annabel. This lesson is about a variant that presents itself as a player-friendly improvement and is, on the key measure, worse than the standard game. The name tells you what's been removed. It doesn't tell you what it cost to remove it.
Here's what No Commission Baccarat actually does.
Standard Punto Banco charges a five percent commission on Banker wins. That commission is the mechanism by which the casino extracts margin from the Banker bet. Without it, Banker would actually favour the player, because Banker wins forty-five point eight six percent of hands against Player's forty-four point six two.
No Commission Baccarat, usually branded Super Six, eliminates the commission entirely. In its place, a rule: when Banker wins with a total of exactly six, the payout drops from even money to one to two. You receive half your stake as profit rather than doubling your stake.
Banker wins with a total of six happen on approximately five point three nine percent of hands. Every time that occurs, your payout is cut in half. The casino collects its margin through those reduced payouts rather than through commission tracking.
The mathematics of this substitution yields a Banker edge of one point four six percent. Standard commission Banker is one point zero six percent. Super Six Banker is worse by zero point four zero percentage points.
That doesn't sound like much. Forty cents per hundred dollars. But let's put it in context. Imagine a player at a hundred-dollar stake per hand, seventy hands in a session. Total wagering: seven thousand dollars.
Standard Banker: expected loss of seventy-four dollars twenty. Super Six Banker: expected loss of one hundred and two dollars twenty.
The Super Six player expects to lose twenty-eight dollars more per session at those stakes. It is not a catastrophe. But it's real money, and it costs you nothing to avoid it if commission baccarat is available at the same venue.
Why does Super Six exist? The commission format creates accounting work. The dealer has to track commission owed on each winning Banker hand and settle with each player at the end of the shoe or session. At a fast-paced table with multiple players and varying stakes, this slows the game and creates mental arithmetic pressure. Super Six eliminates all of that: every hand settles immediately, no tracking required. The table runs faster. The player pays for that speed with a higher house edge.
Here is the thing I most need you to know about Super Six on the casino floor: at a table running a hundred and fifty hands per hour with eight seats, the commission format requires the dealer to maintain a commission box with running chips for every player. At the shoe end, the settlement process can take three or four minutes. The casino's preference for Super Six at high-volume tables isn't mysterious. The question is whether you share that preference. You shouldn't.
Now, here's the practical question. What do you do when Super Six is your only option?
Bet Player.
Player carries a house edge of one point two four percent, which is unaffected by the Super Six rule. The Super Six rule only modifies the Banker payout. Player is still one point two four percent. That's better than Super Six Banker at one point four six percent. In standard baccarat, Banker is nearly always the preferred bet. Super Six is one of the very few situations where Player is the better choice.
Even better: find a commission table. Most London venues, including the Hippodrome's Heliot Salon Prive and Aspers at Westfield Stratford, run standard commission Punto Banco. Online, many live dealer tables offer the choice between formats. If you have the choice, take the commission table.
One more thing. You'll sometimes see No Commission Baccarat presented online as a premium or upgraded format, as if the absence of commission is a gift. It isn't. Read the rules table on any variant before you play. The house edge on Banker should be listed. One point zero six means standard commission. One point four six means Super Six. If the edge isn't published, find a casino that publishes it. The UK Gambling Commission requires licensed operators to provide accurate game rule information. Opacity on house edge is not a feature of a properly licensed UK site.
Super Six removes commission paperwork and adds zero point four percentage points to the Banker edge. If it's your only option, bet Player. If commission baccarat is available, take it. The maths is not trying to trick you. The marketing is.
At Crown Melbourne's Mahogany Room, the commission format is standard. The dealer tracks commission for each player in a dedicated box through the shoe and settles at the end. At Aspers on the main floor and at the Hippodrome, the same format applies. The commission is a small mechanical overhead on winning Banker hands. It is not a burden worth paying extra edge to avoid.