Lightning Baccarat (Evolution)

Lightning Baccarat is a live casino game from Evolution Gaming that potentially gets you a win of thousands of times the bet.

It is Baccarat with a unique twist!

Evolution Gaming is a pretty well-known provider of live casino games for most live casino players.

The Latvian game maker has become the clear market leader when it comes to live dealer casino games.

In the recent past, they have successfully released live casino games such as Live Dreamcatcher, Lightning Roulette, Super Sic Bo and Monopoly Live.

With Lightning Baccarat, they also know how to give the classic Baccarat game an adrenaline boost by adding some serious multipliers.

How does Lightning Baccarat work?

Lightning Baccarat is played like the standard Baccarat game and has the same rules. The main difference is the multipliers so that your potential winnings are significantly bigger!

Before we explain how Lightning Baccarat works, let’s do a quick recap of the traditional Baccarat game. It helps you to see the differences.

A quick recap of the standard Baccarat game

You choose between the following three main bet types:

• A win of the Player (Punto)
• A win of the Banker (Bank or Banco)
• A Draw (a Tie)

After you place your bet, the game begins. The Player and the Banker both get a pair of cards from the dealer.

Dependent on the hand value (sum of the two cards) of both The Player and the Banker, a 3rd card is drawn for the Player and/or the Banker. This is done by the dealer, according to pre-defined rules.

The party (Player or Banker) closest to the nine wins the game. It can also be a tie.
An Ace is worth 1 point. The K, Q, J and 10 are worth 0 points, and all other cards have the “face value.”

If you bet on the Player and:

• The Player wins, you get paid 2 times your stake (you win your stake)
• It’s a Tie, and you get paid back your initial stake.
• The Banker wins, you lose initial your stake.

If you bet on the Banker and:

• The Banker wins, you get paid 1.95 times your stake (you win 0.95 times your stake)
• It’s a Tie, and you get paid back your initial stake.
• The Player wins, you lose your initial stake.

If you bet on a Tie and:

• It’s a Tie. You get paid back 9 times your stake (you win 8 times your stake).
• If the Banker or the Player wins, you lose your stake.

True connoisseurs have known it for years: Baccarat’s payout percentage is very high, provided you play the right bets. The house edges of the three bets are as follows:

• Player’s bet: 1.24%
• Banker’s bet: 1.06%
• Tie bet: 14.36%

Please keep in mind; we are still talking about regular Baccarat.

As you will soon find out, there are some significant differences between regular Baccarat and Lightning Baccarat.

What are the differences between Lightning Baccarat and standard Baccarat?

Lightning Baccarat works very similarly to the standard Baccarat. You also place bets on the Player, the Banker or a Tie.

There are three main differences:

1. The Tie bet pays out 6 times your stake rather than 9 times your stake.
2. There are multipliers with Lightning Roulette.
3. You need to pay an upfront commission (surcharge) of 20%

We explain this further below.

How do the multipliers work with Lightning Baccarat?

Before the start of each round, between 1 and 5 Lightning Cards are determined. Additional multipliers are attached to these cards, which are at least x 2 and can be x 8 at the most.

If one or more of these Lightning Cards are part of a winning bet (including any side-bets and the Tie bet), all payouts are multiplied by the Lightning Cards’ values.

It’s probably easiest to explain with an example, so here we go.

For example, four Lightning Cards are shown on the screen:

• Ace of Hearts: (x 2 multiplier)
• 7 of Spades: (x 8)
• 5 of Clubs: (x 3)
• 4 of Diamonds: (x 2)

Suppose you bet on the Player, and the Player wins, and the winning cards (2 or 3 cards) of the Player include the Ace of Hearts and the 7 of Spades. Your winning combination is multiplied by 24 (8×3).

But if you bet on a Tie and it is a Tie, the winning cards are the cards of both the Banker and the Player (4 to 6 cards). In theory, you can win 8 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 5 times your stake.

Yes, that is 1,310,720 x (over 1.3 million x) the total base bet!

Lightning Baccarat requires you to pay a 20% upfront surcharge (commission)

Now, you may wonder where the money comes from needed to pay these massive payouts. There must be a catch.

Well, it’s ultimately (of course) paid by you as you need to pay a 20% upfront commission.

If, for example, you place a bet of $€10 on the Banker, you pay a commission to the dealer of $€2. So you pay $€12 if you want to stake $€10.

What are the payout rates on Lightning Baccarat?

The house edges of the three bets are as follows:

• Player’s bet: 1.33% (in normal Baccarat 1.24%)
• Banker’s bet: 1.41% (in normal Baccarat 1.06%)
• Tie bet: 5.49% (in normal Baccarat 14.36%)

As you can see, the best option is to play on the Player. Here the house advantage is very attractive: 1.33%. The Banker’s bet has a slightly higher house edge of 1.41% but is still very attractive compared to many other casino games.

The Tie bet has the worst house edge, but of course, it also has the most variance (and potential for enormous wins).

Are there side bets with Lightning Baccarat?

Yes, there are. You can also choose to place a side bet (Pair) next to the basic bet (as described above).

Here, you bet that the first two cards will be equal (the suit doesn’t matter). In that case, you win a payout of 9:1.

The House Edges of the side bets:

• Side Bet Player Pair: 11.65%
• Side Bet Bank Pair: 11.65%

Needless to say that you should not get trapped and play these bets.

What is the best strategy for Lightning Baccarat? As a player, you do not influence the course of Baccarat’s game, as you do with Blackjack and video poker, for example. So the only influence you have as a player is by determining your bets’ size and the type of bet you play. Therefore, given the excellent payout rates, it is best to choose the Player’s or Banker’s bet. You can still choose to play Baccarat betting strategies with these bet types. The Tie bet, no matter how tempting the maximum payout of more than 1.3 million x the bet is, is best to be avoided. The chance of getting the maximum payout is negligible, and the house edge is too high. Concerning the side bets, we can be clear: they pay out even less than the slot machines in Las Vegas.   You may also like The best Baccarat  betting strategies How often does the 500 x bet hit on Lightning Roulette? How to play Baccarat – detailed explanation

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