How many hands are in a baccarat shoe? 67 on average, as few as 40

2026-09-28

In baccarat the shoe is the box the cards are dealt from, and also the run of hands until the cards are shuffled again. Knowing how many hands a shoe holds tells you how long one sitting really is. We counted with real shoes collected from Evolution live baccarat at the Stake (stake.com) casino.

67 hands on average

How many hands each shoe lasted.

Across 25,133 shoes recorded completely between September 9 and 24, 2026, a shoe lasted 67 hands on average. The median was also 67. Eight shoes in ten fell between 63 and 71 hands.

As few as 40, as many as 90

The shortest shoe was 40 hands and the longest 90. Such shoes are rare. Some may include a dealer changing the shoe early or records bunching up, so the extremes are best taken as a rough guide only.

Why the count varies

The 8 decks, 416 cards, are never all used. A cut card sits near the back, and when it comes out the shoe ends after that hand. A hand can also use 4 cards or up to 6. So even with the same 8 decks, the number of hands shifts a little.

In time

A hand took about 26 seconds at speed tables and 37 at regular ones. For a whole shoe that is about 31 minutes at speed tables and about 45 at regular ones. With about 6 ties per shoe, a little over 60 hands actually decide a winner.

Summary

Hands per shoe       67 average, 67 median
Eight in ten shoes   63 to 71 hands
Shortest / longest   40 / 90 hands
Time per shoe        speed about 31 min, regular about 45 min
Hands with a winner  a little over 60 (about 6 ties)

Hiddenpick is a Windows program that runs Evolution live baccarat on Stake (stake.com) for you, following the rules you set. How long a losing streak can run inside one shoe is shown alongside the martingale calculator.