Baccarat Rules and Strategy

All this time spent trying to forecast the next hand is a waste of time for those who don't know me. Practically speaking, the odds are the same for every hand, and past performance is irrelevant. Now, before the nitpickers out there come to me, yes, I am aware that if you had access to a computer, a card counter could make computer-perfect judgments based on the distribution of the remaining cards, which would incredibly seldom give them an advantage on some bets. But it is not the topic I'm referring to. I'm trying to make the point that is trying to discern a pattern in previous Player and Banker victories is as pointless as attempting to forecast the next color in roulette (on a fair wheel) based on prior reds and blacks. Even though I don't play baccarat, I've always been curious about some of the tables in those exhibits of shoe history. To assist me in comprehending so that I can educate the rest of the globe, the staff at Venetian has been accommodating.

Let's begin now that the introductions have been made. Here is a photo of an example sign from the Venetian. I will talk about each of the display's different components separately.

Bead Plate

The "bead plate" refers to the area above. Players used to be able to purchase a tray of dice with the sides printed with the words Player, Banker, and Tie wins. These victories are noted:

  • Blue = Player win
  • Red = Banker win
  • Green = Tie win

Starting in the upper left corner, the player moves downward. He moves down one column to the bottom row, then back up to the top row after moving one column to the right.

Big Road

The following portion is known as the "Big Road" and is shown above. This mostly records Player and Banker victories. Slashes and dots are also used to indicate ties and pair victories. A green line running through the previous Player or Banker win indicates a tie, to be exact. A blue dot in the lower right corner of the hand in which a Player pair happened indicates that it. An top left red dot and a pair of bankers. There were only Player and Banker wins in this case for the sake of simplicity.

The player begins in the upper left, same like in the Bead Plate, and marks Player wins in blue and Banker wins in red. But the Big Road only contains the blue and red edges of circles, not a complete circle with a Chinese character in the center.

On contrast to the Bead Plate, each time Player and Banker win in the Big Road, the player is positioned at the top of a new column. Note that the grid has six rows in total. If the Player or Banker wins seven or more times in a row, the results will shift to the right, creating a dragon tail. This scenario shows that this never occurs because one side has never won more than four games in a row.

Big Eye Boy

With the following table, it became less clear what was happening, which is when I realized I needed assistance. As was previously established, baccarat players tend to be quite superstitious. They enjoy predictability and recurring patterns, even though the methods they employ to uncover patterns might be complicated. For instance, everyone at the table would bet on the Banker, the following hand, if the previous 12 hands were BBBPPPBBBPPP. Keep in mind that three-person groupings typically win. To determine how repetitious the shoe is, utilize the Big Eye Boy table. Blue entries indicate a disorganized, “choppy” shoe, whereas red entries indicate repetition. It’s vital to note that, unlike the previous two tables, the Big Eye Boy table does not correlate the colors blue and red with Player and Banker victories.

To have enough information to determine if a pattern is emerging, the first entry in the Big Eye Boy table comes after the first entry in the second column of the Big Road. Pay notice because this is where the air begins to become thin. The Big Eye Boy table, the following two tables, and each entry therein will refer to a particular item in the Big Road. The Big Eye Boy lists each entry as follows:

Compare the Big Road’s preceding two columns if the in question hand creates a new column. Record a red circle in the Big Eye Boy if their depths are the same. Make a blue circle on your record if they are not.

Compare the cell to the left of the newly produced entry in the Big Road with the cell immediately above that one to determine whether the outcome of the hand in question is the same as the preceding hand (skipping ties). If these two cells match, whether they are both Player, Banker, or blank, mark the Big Eye Boy with a red marker. If not, keep a blue.

Consider the most recent stop on the Big Road, in other words. Move a cell to the left after that. Then ascend. Mark red if there is no change due to the step-up; mark blue if there is.
For the sake of the Big Eye Boy, the Small Road, and the Cockroach Pig, and if the Big Road develops a dragon tail, imagine that the Big Road is endlessly deep and ask yourself what would have occurred under that assumption.

Be aware that the Big Eye Boy would be entirely red if the Big Road was made up only of an alternating pattern of x Player wins and x Banker wins.

I explain each entry in the following Big Eye Boy table to aid with this phase. For you to refer to the precise points in the grid, I’m referring to, and I put the results in Excel.

The first entry, for instance, displays cell A1 from the Big Eye Boy table. This is equivalent to the hand shown in cell C1 of the Big Road table. We determine whether the length of the two columns before cell C1 is equal because it marks the start of a new column. We mark the Big Eye Boy in cell A1 as red since they are.

Big Road

Big Eye Boy

Small Road

The “Small Road” table is the one after that, in the lower-left corner of the display. The only difference between the Small Road and the Big Eye Boy is that the Small Road skips the column to the left of the current column in the Big Road. The Small Road must wait until the entry following the first entry in the third column of the Big Road to have enough information to proceed. Here is an accurate transcription of the Small Road.


Compare the first and third columns in the Big Road to the left of the new column if the in question hand results in creating one. Record a red circle in the Small Road if their depths are equal. Make a blue circle on your record if they are not.
Compare the cell two cells to the left of the newly produced entry in the Big Road with the cell immediately above that one if the outcome of the hand in question is the same as the preceding hand’s result (skipping ties). Mark a red in the Small Road if these two cells match, regardless of whether they are both Player, Banker, or blank. If not, mark it blue.


Consider the most recent stop on the Big Road, in other words. Move the following two cells left. Then ascend. Mark red if there is no change due to the step-up; mark blue if there is.

The first four columns slipped off because the Small Road in the sign image was too large to fit in the grid. They were going to be BBRRBR.

Cockroach Pig

“Cockroach Pig” is the following table, located in the lower right corner of the show. The Cockroach functions identically to the Small Road, except that it skips two columns in the Big Road to the left of the current column. The Cockroach Pig must wait until the entry that comes after the first entry in the fourth column of the Big Road to have enough information to proceed. This is an accurate recording of the Cockroach Pig.


Compare the first and fourth columns in the Big Road to the left of the new column if the in question hand results in creating one. Record a red circle in the Cockroach Pig if their depths are equal. Make a blue circle on your record if they are not.
Compare the cell three cells to the left of the newly produced entry in the Big Road with the cell directly above that one if the outcome of the hand in question is the same as the preceding hand’s result (skipping ties). If these two cells match, whether they are both Player, Banker, or blank, label the Cockroach Pig with a red marker. If not, mark it blue.


Consider the most recent stop on the Big Road, in other words. Make a subsequent three-cell leftward motion. Then ascend. Mark red if there is no change due to the step-up; mark blue if there is.

Other Statistics

Finally, the upper right corner of the display is shown in the image above. The left portion displays the total shoe statistics for the frequency of each winning wager. As I only included Player and Banker victories in this example, it is not particularly realistic. The right portion displays the outcomes for the Big Eye Boy, Small Road, and Cockroach Pig depending on whether the banker or player wins the following hand.

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