Speed Baccarat by Pragmatic Play is a live dealer baccarat game released in 2020. It boasts an RTP of 98.94% with a minimum bet of $0.2 and a $5,000 maximum wager. The game is available on both desktop and mobile and is easily one of the most popular live table baccarat variants out there.
The game was released as one of three main Pragmatic Play live dealer baccarat tables. Despite the slower-paced Live Baccarat and the No Commission Baccarat variants, Speed Baccarat is an absolute fan-favorite. Keep reading this Pragmatic Play Speed Baccarat review to find out why.
Live Speed Baccarat is played with an 8-deck shoe and allows the players to bet on the Banker or Player positions, or the round resulting in a Tie.
The unusual part is that the betting time is cut short to just a bit over 10 seconds – 12 to be exact. The entire round does not last more than 27 seconds. As soon as the betting time expires (three blinks of an eye later), the dealer will deal the cards face-up.
The game incorporates manual zoom on the player’s cards, as well as various side bets and all 5 traditional baccarat roadmaps. If you like to use scoreboards, check out the Ask Player/Banker feature that tracks in real-time the effects of Banker/Player wins on the roadmaps.
The set of available side bets includes Banker/Player Pairs, Player/Banker Bonus, Perfect Pair, and Either Pair. Big/Small Hand optional bets become unavailable once the dealer has 31 hands from the shoe. The bets are reactivated with a fresh shoe. The RTP is 98.85% and the studio setting is all red and vibrant. The tables are big, so the virtual layout is nicely rendered at the player’s side of the table, which makes the experience more immersive.
We’re dealing with standard casino baccarat rules here, so you’ll find no surprises. All Aces count as one towards a pile’s score, while 10+ cards count as zero. The third card is drawn only in some circumstances, which means that the Banker side is at a slight advantage. As such, a standard 5% commission is charged on all Banker bets.
- The Player Bonus side bet is realistically the only one interesting for new players. The other side bets can be used well by experts, but the house edge is too steep on them to make consistent profits.
- Due to the 5% commission on Banker bets, Player bets are the most player-friendly in terms of RTP.
- Autoplay is a great feature for Speed Baccarat and can be used effectively for baccarat betting systems.
Live dealer baccarat payouts are fairly standardized in the industry, which is not a bad thing. Thankfully, this means that you don’t have to be familiar with every specific title’s payout table. There are some occasional discrepancies, though, which we’ll point out in this review of Speed Baccarat by Pragmatic Play.
The Banker/Player Bonus side bet payouts depend on the outcome. In this context, only the first 2 cards count as a ‘natural’ hand.
As you can see, these payouts are on par with almost all other top live baccarat games. Unfortunately, this also means that every RTP value outside of Player and Banker bets is terrible. Tie bets boast their usual 85.64%, and most other side bets are way under 90% as well. The only exceptions are Banker Bonus with 90.6%, and the much stronger Player Bonus with 97.35%.
