Learn to read the baccarat chart with our help. Baccarat is a game where players keep track of the results of every round almost religiously and adjust their bets accordingly. Unfortunately, this is a waste of time: you can't improve your odds of winning by studying patterns on the scoreboard.
However, it is more fun to play the game when you know how to read the result charts. On this page, we'll explain the main score keeping methods step-by-step.
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Baccarat scoreboards are a way to keep track of the previous results.
There are different score keeping methods, and players use one or more to decide their next bets. On this page, we explain them all.
Each score card starts from the beginning of a new shoe and ends after the shoe runs out.
At brick-and-mortar casinos, you'll get a blank score card at the table so you can make notes and track the results. At Baccarat online casinos, you'll see the results automatically for each live dealer baccarat table.
The short answer is: don't bother.
Many baccarat fans believe in pattern recognition. They keep track of what is happening in the shoe and study the results to predict the outcomes of next hands.
Casinos encourage this by handing out scorecards and pens to mark down the results. At online casinos, you can often see the statistics of every live baccarat table straight at the live casino lobby.
This should be a signal in itself: if the casino freely hands you data, this data doesn't improve your gameplay. Instead, relying on baccarat cards gives you the false impression that by spotting patterns you can predict the results of future rounds.
However, this hasn't deterred players from developing several different scorekeeping methods to track the results of the game. Below, we look at them more closely.
A game developer veteran Taaniel Sülla has also written a very good article on baccarat charts. Complete with mathematical models and flow charts, we recommend checking it out.
The idea in creating and studying baccarat charts is to spot trends and patterns in the previous results and to use these models to guess the outcome of future hands.
There are 5 widespread scorekeeping systems in baccarat:
Every baccarat chart is read from top to bottom and left to right. The chart restarts at the beginning of a new shoe. Each scorekeeping method has a slightly different approach to what things they actually track.
The two main scorecards Bead Road and Big Road show you what hands have actually been played. They use blue and red circles (Bead Road) or rings (Big Road) to mark down Player and Banker wins, respectively. In addition, any Ties, pairs and naturals are faithfully recorded in the Bead Road.
The three "derived" methods (Big Eye Boy, Small Road and Cockroach Pig) try to gauge outlying trends, i.e. "chaos" and "predictability". They use the same colours blue and red, but they mean very different things. Whereas blue means a Player win in the main charts, in the derived systems it stands for chaos. Likewise, red signifies predictability instead of a Banker win.
Understanding how to read these charts can complement your Baccarat strategies, helping you make more informed decisions based on the trends you observe during the game.
The Bead Road scorekeeping method gives you the raw data of every hand played in a format that doesn't take much space. It shows you whether there was a Player win, a Banker win or a Tie. In addition, you'll see every Tie, Banker or Player pair or natural. Some variants of this method also show you the exact score of the winning hand.
The Bead Road fills every square on the scorecard. It is read from top to bottom, left to right. After the column is full, the next entry starts at the top of the next column to the right.
Bead Road is very faithful in showing what hands have been dealt. In addition, it keeps track of the pairs. This may be useful if you rely on previous results when placing the Banker pair of Player pair side bets. Plus, the Bead Road uses very little space if you're stingy with writing paper.
The Big Road is a simplified version of the Bead Road scorekeeping method. Its good readability and simplicity have made the Big Road the main scorekeeping method at live dealer casinos.
The Big Road makes spotting the alternation from Banker to Player and vice versa very easy, since this always starts a new column to the right. The chart is read from top to bottom, then left to right.
At a glance, you can see how long winning streaks either hands tend to get. Although the Big Road doesn't record naturals, the scoring system has evolved to show Ties and pairs.
Here's what the markings mean:
The dragon tail is a Player or Banker winning streak of 7 or more consecutive wins. The standard scorecard is 6 squares tall, so when the winning streak is longer than that, the "tail" turns right at the bottom.
When there's a dragon tail forming, superstitious gamblers usually rush to bet on this winning streak, not against it. However, the odds of the tail breaking or continuing are exactly the same as before.
If there are multiple consecutive dragon tails, they turn right at the bottom instead of overlapping with the previous tails.
The three "derived" scoring systems (Big Eye Boy, Small Road and Cockroach Pig) are derived from the Big Road. Instead of accurately noting down whether the Banker or Player won which hand, these systems try to highlight overall trends of chaos and predictability in the past results. The idea is to use this data to better forecast the winners of future rounds.
In a predictable shoe, there's a certain symmetry between Banker and Player winning streaks. In a chaotic shoe, such clear patterns are hard to find. If this feels confusing, you can learn and practice reading the charts by playing free Baccarat games before moving on to real money games.
The exact rules of measuring chaos and predictability vary from one system to another. However, they all use red to signify predictability and blue to note down chaos or choppiness.
Like the Big Road, the derived systems are read from top to bottom and left to right. Each change of trend starts a new column. However, each marking only uses one corner of a standard square, fitting 4 markings in the space of 1 standard square.
Big Eye Boy is the first of the derived baccarat scoring systems. Like the Big Road system, it uses red and blue rings to keep track of the deck. However, it measures the perceived predictability and choppiness of the deck instead of Player/Banker wins.
The things affecting whether a certain result is counted as chaotic or predictable are:
The rules for determining predictability depend on whether the new entry on the Big Road starts a new column or continues an existing streak:
Small Road is very much like Big Eye Boy. To tell the two apart, the Small Road uses solid circles (red or blue) instead of rings.
In Small Road, you're still comparing the length of consecutive and individual winning streaks, just like in Big Eye Boy. However, you "hop over" one column in the comparisons.
Since you need to look at up to 3 columns back, the Small Road scoring system only starts once there are 4 columns on the Big Road.
Cockroach Pig is also very similar to Big Eye Boy and Small Road. This system uses diagonal stripes of red and blue to track the results.
Whereas Small Road hops over 1 column in comparison, Cockroach Pig hops over 2:
In Cockroach Pig, you need to look at up to 4 columns back. That's why the entries only start once there are 5 columns on the Big Road.
