Live Lightning Baccarat by Evolution is a live dealer baccarat game released in 2020. It boasts an RTP of 98.76% with a minimum bet of $1 and a $500 maximum wager. The game is available on both desktop and mobile and features multipliers and Evolution’s professionally trained live dealers.
The Lightning feature of the original Evolution Lightning Roulette proved to be quite a success. More similar titles were rolled not long after, and a live table baccarat table seems like the obvious choice. In this Lightning Baccarat game review, we’ll see how Evolution baccarat meshes with such shocking features.
As most baccarat games, Lightning Baccarat is played with 8 standard 52-card decks and the dealer draws cards from a shoe of previously shuffled cards. You will be betting on Banker, Player, or Tie, the three standard wagers in baccarat. Therefore, you will see three main betting areas for these three bets. There will also be two additional side bet areas for Banker Pair and Player Pair. We’ll discuss these in more detail in the special features section.
Betting on the Banker means that you stake your money on the Banker’s hand to beat the Player’s hand. The hand that has a value closest to 9 wins. To interpret the hand values you need to remember that Aces are ranked the lowest in a game of baccarat and they are worth 1 point each. Cards from 2 to 9 retain their face values, whereas 10s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth 0 points.
Importantly, there are rules for drawing a third card. If the pile’s point total is between 0 and 5 after the first two cards, that side draws another. The only exception is if the banker already has 8 or 9, in which case the banker wins outright. This means that the banker side has a slight advantage – it’s more likely to win in the right circumstances. That’s why a 5% commission is charged on all banker wins.
The only other thing you need to know about how Lightning Baccarat works are the multipliers. We’ll explain these further down.
- Statistically speaking, you should see a Lightning card dawn once every 3 rounds.
- Some lightning cards are better than others, depending on which cards were discarded in previous rounds.
- In other words, some basic baccarat card counting can be quite useful.
Below, you’ll find a nice compilation of stunning Lightning Baccarat moments, compiled by Evolution themselves. It does a great job of showing how to win Lightning Baccarat. Both the multiplier feature and stunning studio are there, which should give you a solid idea of the game experience.
The good part about Lightning Baccarat is that the payouts remain largely identical to regular live baccarat. This is most important for the two main bets – Player and Banker. Both sides still pay out even money, though Banker bets have a standard 5% commission.
The Tie wager and the side bets are where things become bad for the overall RTP. Tie bets payout an abysmal 5:1, compared to the standard 9:1. However, the tie bet can stack up with lightning multipliers for some stunning wins.
However, each bet is also charged a 20% fee to cover the cost of the multipliers. That’s why we recommend sticking to the two main bets – Player and Banker. Otherwise, you’re taking an increase to the house’s edge twice over.
If you play Lightning Baccarat for real money, keep in mind that the multipliers are integral to the game. That’s why these payouts are not nearly as bad as they might seem at first glance. These can stack with each other for impressive amounts, but all payouts are maxed at $500,000.
