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Speed Blackjack (Pragmatic Play): Our Review, How and Where to Play

Pragmatic Play by Pragmatic Play

Speed Blackjack by Pragmatic Play is a live dealer blackjack game released in 2022. It boasts an RTP of 99.59% with a minimum bet of $5 and a $5,000 maximum wager. The game is available on both desktop and mobile and attempts to make the classic 7-seat blackjack table faster.

Those looking to play live blackjack online and not waste too much time on it typically go for common draw or so-called “one-to-many” tables. Still, the classic 7-seat style of dealing remains a fan favorite among blackjack fans, and this game tries to accommodate both of these desires. Our Pragmatic Play Speed Blackjack review is here to find out all the juicy details.

Speed Blackjack (Pragmatic Play)
  • Excitement
  • Design & Sound
  • Streaming Quality
  • Interactivity
  • Win Potential

Live Speed Blackjack (Pragmatic Play) Review

Game Specifications
Game nameSpeed Blackjack (Pragmatic Play)
Game providerPragmatic Play
Game typeBlackjack
Streaming from Romania
RTP99.59%
Bet range€5 - €5,000
Max win100:1
Side betsYes
Supported platforms Desktop Mobile Tablet
Supported OS Windows Apple Android
Languages Bulgarian Bulgarian Chinese Chinese Danish Danish English English Finnish Finnish French French +15
All supported languages
  • Bulgarian Bulgarian
  • Chinese Chinese
  • Danish Danish
  • English English
  • Finnish Finnish
  • French French
  • German German
  • Greek Greek
  • Indonesian Indonesian
  • Italian Italian
  • Japanese Japanese
  • Korean Korean
  • Norwegian Norwegian
  • Portuguese Portuguese
  • Romanian Romanian
  • Russian Russian
  • Spanish Spanish
  • Swedish Swedish
  • Thai Thai
  • Turkish Turkish
  • Vietnamese Vietnamese

Speedier tables of live casino games are nothing new in 2022. Pragmatic Play itself already offers Speed Baccarat and Speed Roulette – both of which are popular among fans of the classic. Still, to complete the trio of the biggest casino games at lvie casinos, blackjack had to be sped up as well. This is a trickier proposition because 21 is much more “involved” for players. There’s more strategy and details to think about, and players arguably have more control over their hands. Evolution attempted it in the past, to moderate success.

Speed Blackjack by Pragmatic Play is a classic live blackjack table, and most of the differences from regular tables are explained in the title. The idea is to enjoy typical 7-seat blackjack online without having to wait too much between rounds.

This goal is achieved in several ways. First of all, the dealers are expected to work even faster than usual. Secondly, a robust set of features are implemented to make it easier to make your decisions before it’s even your turn. Thirdly, Speed Blackjack live tables are much less forgiving towards players who take too long to decide on their move.

Thanks to this simultaneous decision-making, Speed Blackjack promises to speed up the game by around 30%. The difference can be even bigger, depending on how quick the players are.

As a baseline, though, the game works like regular Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack.

Key Highlights

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Sped-up version of Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack
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A least 30% faster gameplay than with competing blackjack tables. More if players make full use of the special features!
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Lightning-fast rounds thanks to expert dealers and low downtimes
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Customizable features for fully automating your favorite game of 21
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Massive 95.59% RTP for the main bet
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Two classic side betting options, plus the option to Bet Behind other players

How to Play Speed Blackjack Live

Speed Blackjack uses 8 regular decks of cards and typical Vegas-style rules. For starters, this means that the dealer must draw to 16 but stands on any 17.

The first step is to take up an available seat. There are 7 per table, and Pragmatic Play has announced at least 5 tables at launch with varying table limits. Launch the table on which the limits suit you best, and click on a seat to make the main bet.

We suggest checking out the settings first. The Auto-Decision feature is one of the main ways in which Speed Blackjack is faster than regular tables. You can use it to set up the game to automatically Hit, Stand, Double, or Split in certain circumstances. Auto-stand is fairly easy to set up, while basic blackjack strategy can be difficult to get 100% right. It’s an interesting option, though.

Once you take your seat, the dealer will move the game along as usual. Every player gets two cards first, after which they can make decisions. As usual, the goal is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over. To that end, you can Hit, Stand, Double, Split, or take Insurance.

You can Double any hand total and split pairs up to 4 times. Speed Blackjack rules also allow you to double after a split, as well as split aces and other such moves.

Be careful with the auto-decision features, though. There are very few instances in which you want to always double, for example. Also, keep in mind that inactive players will have their decision made for them. Stay on your toes – this is Speed Blackjack, after all.

Also, it’s worth noting that the dealer starts each round of decisions with the player who was quickest. This includes pre-made auto-decisions, too.

    Live Casinos Best Tips for Speed Blackjack
    • 1
      Speed Blackjack tables only affect how quickly rounds go by. The rules are still the same as in all Pragmatic Play live casino tables.
    • 2
      Steer clear of the side bets if you want to minimize the house advantage.
    • 3
      Be sure that you understand basic blackjack strategy before playing Speed Blackjack. With less time to deliberate and look up charts, you will want to have some practice with playing strategically.

    Speed Blackjack Payouts

    Good news if you’re a beginner – the payouts in Speed Blackjack by Pragmatic Play are as standard as they come. This goes for both the main bet and all of the side bets. No surprises there – we’re talking about one of the biggest live casino software providers in the world. The downside is that the side bets will still be bad for most live blackjack fans – but that’s just par for the course if you play casino games in general.

    ResultPayout
    Speed Blackjack Payouts
    Regular Win1:1
    Blackjack3:2
    Insurance2:1
    Perfect Pairs Side Bet
    Mixed Pair6:1
    Colored Pair12:1
    Perfect Pair25:1
    21+3 Side Bet
    Suited Trips100:1
    Straight Flush40:1
    Three of a Kind30:1
    Straight30:1
    Flush5:1

    Good news if you’re a beginner – the payouts in Speed Blackjack by Pragmatic Play are as standard as they come. This goes for both the main bet and all of the side bets. No surprises there – we’re talking about one of the biggest live casino software providers in the world. The downside is that the side bets will still be bad for most live blackjack fans – but that’s just par for the course if you play casino games in general.

    LiveCasinos

    New to Live Blackjack?

    Special Features

    Let’s start with the instant decision features we mentioned earlier. By opening up the Auto-decision tab in the settings menu of this game, you can do one of several things:

    • Auto-Stand simply stands for you if your hand shows cards equal or bigger than the value you choose. It’s a straightforward option that most tables these days have.
    • Auto-Hit is just the reverse. If the hand is lower or equal to your chosen value, you will Hit.
    • Double Offer and Split Offer are a bit more interesting. Basically, the game doesn’t even offer Splits/Doubles by default. Instead, you only get to make the decision if the hand value is one of your Split/Double offers. Use this feature to discard blad opportunities for Doubling/Splitting.
    • Auto-insurance automatically plays Insurance whenever possible. Don’t use this feature.

    Beyond that, Speed Blackjack tables boast two common side betting options. You’re probably aware of how these work if you have any experience with online blackjack games.

    • Perfect Pairs is a side bet that predicts that your first two cards will be of the same rank. If they’re also of the same color or even suit, you get a better reward.
    • 21+3 in Speed Blackjack uses your initial two cards and the dealer’s upcard to make simplified poker hands. Pragmatic Play uses an improved payout table that makes this side bet’s RTP better than with most competitors.

    The menu at the top of the game window contains support chat, further settings, and viewing options. You can also chat with the dealers and other players.

    Languages

    • The five tables of Speed Blackjack currently available are all conducted in English. That said, this software provider does more native-speaking tables than almost any of its competitors. If the Speed Blackjack game turns out to be a success, we can expect tables in other languages.
    • That said, you can still change the language of the UI in the settings menu. Available options include Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, English, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Suomi, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

    Our Verdict of Live Speed Blackjack (Pragmatic Play)

    Pragmatic Play Speed Blackjack shines in some fairly unexpected areas. For example, the difference in how long the rounds take is actually a lot more noticeable than you would expect. This title maintains the classic feel of 7-seat tables but you can now churn out more rounds per hour than ever before.

    We’re especially impressed by the dealers, to be frank. It seems the best of the best Pragmatic Play dealers are selected to operate these tables. They’re quite skilled in handling the cards at huge speeds, but it seems they always find the time to interact with the audience as well.

    All in all, it’s a successful release that delivers on its promises – a fast, speedy live casino blackjack game that doesn’t compromise on quality.

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    Excellent

    FAQ

    Speed blackjack is a variant of 21 found at some live online casinos. It works much like any other live blackjack table, but it offers features like auto-decision to speed up gameplay.
    You can play this game in almost every online casino with Pragmatic Play games. VBet is a great new live casino site you can play this game on.
    The rules in Pragmatic Play’s Speed Blackjack tables are the same as on their regular live blackjack table.s This means 8 decks, dealers stand on soft 17, and you can double on any hand total. Other rules are typical Vegas blackjack rules.
    The official Speed Blackjack RTP is 99.59%, which puts the house edge at 0.41%. That said, we have some doubts, and numbers this high usually rely on you playing perfect strategy. If you’re using a standard basic strategy with no knowledge of the cards in the shoe, the RTP is probably slightly lower.
    The company behind this game claims that tables move at least 30% faster than usual. To us, it seems even faster, so it seems 30% is the “bare minimum” they cited. If players use the auto-decision features (and most do), Speed Blackjack tables go through a lot of rounds very quickly.
    Absolutely. You can use the Bet Behind option to make a bet that another player will win. You can do so even if you don’t have a seat at the table.

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