Evolution Peek Baccarat takes the tradition of squeezing Baccarat cards and flips them on its head.
Peek Baccarat makes it possible for players to be given a peek of between 1 to 4 cards and have the opportunity to double or triple their initial bet.
A 20% Peek Fee is automatically taken on every Banker or Player Bet. No fees are taken on subsequent bets.
All other playing rules and payouts remain the same as normal Baccarat.
Peek Baccarat is a relatively slow game that will appeal to players following the Baccarat Roadmaps in predicting which hand will win next.
The “Peek” adds a fun edge to the game, that should please the traditional player.
In this review, I’ll explain how you can play Peek Baccarat, discuss the betting strategies you might use and recommend a few casinos where you can play.
Look out for my Video review where you’ll see me play a few hands to demonstrate this Baccarat variant from Evolution.
Here are eight things you need to know about Evolution Peek Baccarat.
Peek Baccarat is based on normal 8 deck Baccarat, where you bet on the Banker or Player position. The hand that gets closest to a total of nine is the winner. Bets are returned minus the Peek fee if the hand is tied.
The Peek feature enables the dealer to reveal between 1 to 4 cards after the initial deal has been performed.
Having seen the cards, players have the opportunity to increase their initial bet by two or three times, before the dealer completes dealing each hand.
No additional Peek fee is taken for the increased bets.
Once the dealer has completed each of the hands, the hand closest to nine wins. Players are paid 1:1 for a Player win and 0.95:1 for a Banker win.
12 Seconds of betting time, is just about enough time to place your bets on the main betting positions and the side bets.
A peek fee of 20% is taken when you bet on Banker or Player. No fee is taken on any other bets.
Once the initial 4 cards have been dealt, the dealer turns over 1 to 4 of the cards.
You can optionally choose to increase your bet by two or three times once you’ve seen the cards.
No additional fee is taken if you increase your bet. You have 15 seconds to complete any additional bets.
Once the Peek Betting time has expired the dealer reveals the remaining cards and completes the game according to standard baccarat drawing rules.
Peek Baccarat gives the illusion there is an advantage in seeing some of the cards before the next ones are dealt.
My advice for a game like Peek Baccarat is to bet on the Banker most of the time – as the odds favour the banker winning more than the Player position.
An alternative strategy is to use the roadmaps to help you see when trends are happening or about to happen. This bit is tricky, so there is some guesswork involved.
Either bet with the trend or bet against it. Check out my Baccarat Betting Strategy for more information on following trends.
My preferred strategy for Peek Baccarat is to bet on Banker and when I get the opportunity to increase my bet I will.
So, what sort of hand should you increase your bet on? If I knew that answer I would be very rich.
My thoughts on the matter are to bet when the up cards are low. You’ve got more chance of hitting a larger range of cards to get a higher total than you are getting dealt a face card.
Five Baccarat roadmaps are maintained during the life of the dealing shoe. The roadmaps are cleared at the start of a new shoe and are built as each new hand is completed.
The main roadmaps are the Bead Road and The Big Road, while the Big Eye Road, Cockroach Road and Small road are created from the Big Road.
All five are displayed in the betting interface, with the there lessor ones minimised until they are clicked on.
There is a facility to Probe the tables, by selecting either Player or Banker. The feature updates the roads as if the next result was Banker or Player, so you can see the impact on the roads. This can help you decide how you may want to place your next bet.
The RTP for Peek Baccak for optimum play on the Banker bet is 98.80%, which is comparable with most of the other versions of Baccarat.
Ties pay 8:1, while the Side Bets both pay 11:1 and have an RTP of 89.64%.
The Peek fee doesn’t have an impact on the result of the hand. But it does have an impact on your Bankroll. The fee is being taken on every hand you play, win or lose.
When you win, the fee isn’t part of the bet, so you don’t get paid on the Peek fee, only the main bet amount.
So while you’re being paid 1:1 on Player wins the actual payout is more like 0.83:1 accounting for the peek fee. You can see what this does to your bankroll!
Bet | Payout | RTP |
---|---|---|
Player | 1:1 | 98.80% |
Banker | 0.95:1 | 98.80% |
Tie | 8:1 | 93.36% |
Player Pair | 11:1 | 89.64% |
Banker Pair | 11:1 | 89.64% |
Peek Baccarat is in my opinion the poor cousin of all Live Baccarat.
While you can increase your bet two or three times after the Peek cards have been revealed, the chances that this will work for you are 50-50.
It’s a coin toss, just like the main hand of the game. You think you have an edge, but the edge is with the house – both through the main RTP and the fact you’re paying a 20% fee for the privilege of playing.
My advice is to stick to the other variants of Baccarat, like Lightning Baccarat or Red Envelope Baccarat.
I’m not a fan of Peek Baccarat and I’ll tell you why.
This is just plain, ordinary Baccarat. No rule changes have been made, the RTP is the same and the way you play is the same.
The only difference is the way you bet. You get an additional opportunity to double or triple your main bet after a few cards have been revealed.
The game is only halfway through at that point, so anything can happen. While you think you may have a strong hand it could turn out to be weak on the turn of the next card.
Unlike Ultimate Texas Holdem where you have a similar facility, there is no fee being imposed. If you decide not to take the bet, you’re not being penalised with a fee. With Peek Baccarat you are! The fee is always taken. So you’re already down on the deal against regular Baccarat if you play the hand without increasing your bet.
To win in this game, you need to be increasing your bets 2 or 3 times regularly and winning with them. But 50% of the time you won’t!
I’m sure Peek Baccarat will have its fans and appeal to players that use the roadmaps religiously – but they are in the minority.
Peek Baccarat is a version of Live Baccarat where for a fee of 20% of your initial bet you’re able to look at 1 to 4 of the cards dealt by the dealer. Depending on what you see you can increase your initial bet by two or three times before the dealer completes dealing each hand.
The RTP is 98.80%. The Player and Banker Pair side bets have an RTP of 89.68%.
Peek Baccarat is available at all Evolution Live Casinos.
In my opinion, the answer is No. The fee is taken on each hand you play regardless of whether you win or lose. With an RTP of 98.80%, you don’t expect to come out ahead and with a 20% fee being taken, the likelihood is you’ll lose your bankroll much sooner than if you played regular Baccarat.
Peek Baccarat comes with a complete set of five Baccarat Road maps.
If you like Baccarat games with fees, try Golden Wealth Baccarat, as it has multipliers for the price of a fee.