Odds & Payouts
Faro was historically known as the most player-favourable banking game in America. The following describes the odds as implemented in this simulator.
Standard Rank Bets
| Event | Payout | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Your rank appears as the player card (winner) | 1:1 | Win |
| Your rank appears as the banker card (loser) | −1:1 | Loss |
| Neither card matches your rank | 0 | Push — stake returned |
| Both cards match your rank (doublet) | −½ | Half lost to the house |
Copper bets reverse the outcome: a copper bet wins on the banker card and loses on the player card. Doublet half-loss applies regardless of copper.
Doublets (Splits)
When both cards in a turn share the same rank, any bet on that rank loses exactly half its stake to the house. The remaining half is returned. This is the house's primary edge in honest faro.
There are 13 ranks, and each rank has 4 copies in the deck. Out of the 52 cards dealt as 25 turns plus soda plus hock, doublets occur when a rank's copies happen to land in the same turn slot. The copper flag does not affect a doublet.
High Card Bet
| Event | Payout |
|---|---|
| Player card rank > banker card rank | 1:1 |
| Player card rank < banker card rank | −1:1 |
| Same rank (doublet) | 0 |
Copper reverses: copper high-card wins when player rank is lower, loses when higher.
Call the Turn
When exactly three cards remain in the deck, players may predict the exact dealing order of all three cards. The third card is the hock and is never dealt — only the banker (first) and player (second) positions are active.
| Situation | True Odds | Payout | House Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three distinct ranks | 5:1 | 4:1 | 16.7% |
| Two cards share a rank (cat-hop) | 2:1 | 1:1 | 33.3% |
| All three same rank | — | Void | Stake returned |
The distinct-three-rank case (5 possible orderings, payout on 1) has historically high house edge compared to the rest of the game. The cat-hop case (2 orderings, payout on 1) is even worse. Most experienced faro players skipped or minimised call-the-turn wagers for this reason.
Overall House Edge
On standard rank bets, the only house edge comes from doublets. The frequency of doublets is low and depends on the specific deck order each round. Historical accounts often placed faro's effective house edge at under 2% on rank bets alone — unusually competitive for a banking game of the era.
The call-the-turn side bet carries a substantially higher edge and is optional. Players who prefer minimal house exposure should stick to rank bets and skip the final wager.