Speed Baccarat is ordinary baccarat played at the pace of a live speed table. The rules and payouts are the same as at any Punto Banco table. What changes is the rhythm: a betting clock starts when your first chip goes down, the cards come out in about a second, and Auto keeps your bet going for the next ten rounds. A round takes around fifteen seconds.
How to play
Bets. Chips come in 20, 100 and 500. Every spot takes up to 1,000 credits in steps of 20:
- Player pays 1 to 1, Banker pays 0.95 to 1 (5% commission), Tie pays 8 to 1. If the hands tie, Player and Banker bets come back.
- Player Pair / Banker Pair: that side’s first two cards are the same rank (two 8s, two Queens). Pays 11 to 1.
- Either Pair: either side’s first two cards are a pair. Pays 5 to 1.
- Perfect Pair: the first two cards of a hand are the same rank and the same suit, such as two 7 of hearts. The shoe holds eight decks, so this is possible. One hand pays 25 to 1, both hands pay 200 to 1.
Only the first two cards count for the pair bets. A pair made with the third card does not.
The clock. Your first chip starts a 10-second clock. Add more chips while it runs. When it reaches zero the round deals on its own. Press Deal to go at once, or Clear to take the chips back and stop the clock. The clock stops while an ad is showing or the game is in a hidden tab.
Auto. Press Auto ×10 to play the same bet for ten rounds. If chips are already on the table, that bet counts as the first round; if not, your last bet goes down again. When each round ends the bet is placed again and the clock restarts. The button shows how many rounds are left, including the one on the table. Press it again to stop: the bet waiting on the table comes back to you. Auto also stops if you can no longer afford the bet.
The cards. Card values and drawing are standard. Aces count 1, 2 to 9 count their pips, and tens and picture cards count 0. Only the last digit of a total matters. Two cards each go to Player and Banker. A total of 8 or 9 is a natural and nobody draws. Otherwise Player draws on 0 to 5, and Banker draws by the fixed third-card table. The higher total wins.
What each bet costs
Every figure is counted exactly over all possible deals from an eight-deck shoe:
| Bet | House edge |
|---|---|
| Banker | 1.06% |
| Player | 1.24% |
| Perfect Pair | 8.05% |
| Player Pair / Banker Pair | 10.36% |
| Either Pair | 13.71% |
| Tie | 14.36% |
Strategy
Faster play means faster losses. The house edge per round is the same as at a slow table, but you play three or four times as many rounds in a session. At 100 credits on Banker, about 60 rounds lose around 64 credits on average, compared with about 16 at the pace of a standard table. If you want your credits to last, bet smaller, not quicker.
Banker is still the best bet, then Player. Of the side bets, Perfect Pair costs less than the ordinary pair bets, even though it hits far less often (about one round in 30).
Use Auto for a fixed plan. Ten rounds of the same bet is a clean way to play a fixed amount. Changing your bet on a whim after every result does not change the odds, because each round is independent of the last.
The bead road shows the past, not the future. The strip of P, B and T beads shows the last results. A run of Bankers does not make Player due.
If you enjoy Speed Baccarat, try Split Gems or Spread Roulette next.
