Andar Bahar in 4 lines
- The dealer turns up one card, the Joker. Then cards are dealt one at a time to two sides, Andar and Bahar, until one matches the Joker's rank.
- You bet on which side gets the match. It's played with a single 52-card deck.
- Andar is dealt first, so it wins 51.50% of rounds. To even that out, Andar pays 0.9 to 1 and Bahar pays evens.
- Both main bets return about 97% to 98% of stakes. The side bets range from 91.24% to over 98%.
How a round works
- The Joker. The dealer deals one card face up in the middle. Only its rank matters: if it's a king, the round ends when another king appears.
- Bet. Choose Andar (the left side), Bahar (the right side), or any of the side bets.
- Deal. Cards go one at a time, first to Andar, then to Bahar, then Andar again, and so on.
- Settle. The first card matching the Joker's rank ends the round, and the side it landed on wins.
A worked round, card by card
Here's one round dealt out, with every bet settled as if £10 were on it, to show how each one is paid. It's an example: no money is staked.
Joker7♣
AndarK♥19♦34♥57♥7
Bahar2♠2Q♣4J♦6
The Joker is the 7 of clubs, so the round ends at the next 7. It comes on card 7, the 7 of hearts, dealt to Andar: Andar wins.
- Andar wins. £10 on Andar returns £19 (£9 profit at 0.9 to 1). £10 on Bahar is lost.
- Side bets on the count: the match came on card 7, so 6 to 10 cards wins (3.5 to 1) and the others lose.
- First 3: the Joker, the first Andar card and the first Bahar card are the 7 of clubs, king of hearts and 2 of spades. That makes no straight or flush, so the bet loses.
Deal again for a freshly shuffled deck, then deal one card at a time or straight to the end. Demo only: no money is staked.
Why Andar wins more often
Once the Joker is out, 51 cards are left and 3 of them match it. The first match can come anywhere from card 1 to card 49, and it's most likely to come early. Andar gets cards 1, 3, 5 and every other odd card, so in every pair of cards Andar has the first, slightly better chance:
Add up the odd cards and Andar wins 51.50% of rounds; Bahar wins 48.50%. That's why the two bets pay differently.
The main bets
| Bet | Pays | Wins | Return to player |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andar | 0.9 to 1 | 51.50% | 97.85% |
| Bahar | 1 to 1 | 48.50% | 97.00% |
A £10 winning bet on Andar pays £9 profit; on Bahar it pays £10. Andar ends up slightly the cheaper bet: it costs 2.15% of stakes over time against 3.00% for Bahar.
Side bets: how many cards until the match
These bets are on how many cards are dealt, across both sides, before the match appears. The Joker doesn't count.
| Bet | Pays | Wins | Return to player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st card on Andar | 15 to 1 | 5.88% | 94.12% |
| 1st card on Bahar | 15.5 to 1 | 5.65% | 93.18% |
| 1 to 5 cards | 2.5 to 1 | 27.11% | 94.87% |
| 6 to 10 cards | 3.5 to 1 | 21.70% | 97.67% |
| 11 to 15 cards | 4.5 to 1 | 16.90% | 92.97% |
| 16 to 25 cards | 3.5 to 1 | 21.80% | 98.10% |
| 26 to 30 cards | 14.5 to 1 | 6.10% | 94.53% |
| 31 to 35 cards | 24.5 to 1 | 3.70% | 94.29% |
| 36 to 40 cards | 49 to 1 | 1.90% | 94.84% |
| 41 to 49 cards | 119 to 1 | 0.79% | 95.08% |
The returns vary a lot for bets that look alike. 16 to 25 cards returns 98.10%, while 11 to 15 returns 92.97%. If you play the side bets, these figures are the ones to compare.
The First 3 side bet
First 3 treats the Joker and the first two cards dealt as a three-card poker hand. It pays 120 to 1 for a straight flush, 8 to 1 for a straight and 5 to 1 for a flush. If the very first card matches the Joker, the bet is returned.
Checking every possible start, a straight flush comes up 0.22% of the time, a straight 3.26% and a flush 4.96%. Together that returns 91.24% of stakes, the lowest of any bet on the table.
Streaks and the cards panel
The game shows the cards dealt so far, and results of past rounds. The deck is reshuffled for every round, so past rounds say nothing about the next one, and a run of Bahar wins doesn't make Andar "due".
Before you play
Check the table limits and the payouts in the game's help screen before your first round. Other versions of Andar Bahar may use more decks or different payouts, which changes every figure here.
Andar Bahar questions
Which Andar Bahar bet costs less, Andar or Bahar?
Andar, by a little. Because Andar gets the first card, it wins 51.50% of rounds, so it pays 0.9 to 1 against evens on Bahar. That leaves Andar costing 2.15% of stakes over time and Bahar 3.00%, both from a single 52-card deck as Pragmatic Play Live deals it.
Why does Andar pay 0.9 to 1?
Because it's dealt first. Once the Joker is out, the first matching card is most likely to come early, and Andar gets cards 1, 3, 5 and every other odd card. That gives Andar 51.50% of rounds against 48.50% for Bahar, so its winnings are trimmed to 0.9 to 1 to even out the cost.
How many decks does Andar Bahar use?
Pragmatic Play Live's version, the one in the DragonBet live casino, uses a single 52-card deck, reshuffled for every round. Other versions may use more decks or different payouts, which changes the odds and the return of every bet, so check the game's help screen before your first round.
What is the First 3 side bet in Andar Bahar?
It treats the Joker and the first two cards dealt as a three-card poker hand, paying 120 to 1 for a straight flush, 8 to 1 for a straight and 5 to 1 for a flush. The bet is returned if the first card matches the Joker. It returns 91.24% of stakes, the lowest of any bet on the table.
Which Andar Bahar side bet returns most?
Of the bets on how many cards are dealt before the match, the 16 to 25 cards bet returns most, 98.10% of stakes, and the 11 to 15 cards bet least, 92.97%. Bets that look alike return very different amounts, so if you play the side bets, compare those figures first. The game's help screen lists every payout.
Sources and checks
- Pragmatic Play, Andar Bahar game help v1.2 (October 2024): rules, payouts and RTP table. Every return on this page agrees with that table to within 0.05 percentage points. Open it from the help button inside the game.
- Live Casino Comparer, Pragmatic Play Andar Bahar
The rules, payouts and quoted figures were last checked against these sources on . Every other number on this page is worked out from those rules, as how we check the numbers explains. If you spot a mistake, our corrections page says how to report it.