Free Casino Games / Baccarat / The Big Road and Bead Road in baccarat
The Big Road and Bead Road in baccarat
The Big Road is the main baccarat scoreboard. Each Banker win is a red circle and each Player win a blue circle, and wins for the same side stack down one column. When the winner changes, a new column starts to the right. A tie is a green slash on the last mark. The Bead Road, or Bead Plate, simply lists every hand in order.
The Bead Road
The Bead Road gives every hand one mark, ties included. Marks fill each column from top to bottom, six to a column, then move one column right. The marks are solid circles: red for Banker, blue for Player, green for Tie. Some boards write the Chinese characters for Banker (莊), Player (閒) and Tie (和) in the circles.
It is the easiest road to check a single hand on. Count down and across to find hand 20, or count the green marks to see how many ties the shoe has had.
How the Big Road is drawn
- The first Banker or Player win goes in the top-left corner.
- If the next hand is won by the same side, its mark goes directly below.
- If the other side wins, a new column starts at the top, one step to the right.
- A tie adds no new mark. A green slash goes through the last mark. More ties on the same mark are often shown as a number.
- A pair adds a small dot to the mark: red for a Banker Pair, blue for a Player Pair.
- A streak runs down six rows. If it keeps going, it turns right and runs along the bottom row.
The dragon tail
A long streak that reaches the bottom and turns right is called a dragon tail. It still counts as one column. A run of 9 Banker wins is six marks down and three across, and the next Player win starts a new column at the top, to the right of where the column began. Long runs are a normal part of a shoe: in our simulation of 20,000 shoes, about two shoes in three had at least one run of six or more.
An example
Thirteen hands: B B B P B T B P P B P P P. The Bead Road:
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | B | B | P |
| Row 2 | B | P | |
| Row 3 | B | P | |
| Row 4 | P | B | |
| Row 5 | B | P | |
| Row 6 | T | P |
The same hands on the Big Road. "B /" is a Banker mark with a green tie slash:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | B | P | B / | P | B | P |
| Row 2 | B | B | P | P | ||
| Row 3 | B | P |
The tie, hand 6, doesn't start a column or add a row. It sits on the Banker mark before it, and the next Banker win carries on down the same column.
Bead Road or Big Road?
| Bead Road | Big Road | |
|---|---|---|
| One mark per | Hand | Banker or Player win |
| Ties | Their own green mark | A green slash on the last mark |
| Columns | Six hands each, in order | One streak each |
| Best for | Finding any one hand | Seeing streaks and changes |
Why the columns matter
The column lengths of the Big Road are what the other roads are built from. The Big Eye Boy, Small Road and Cockroach Pig compare each column with earlier ones and mark red or blue. The derived roads.
The named shapes in baccarat come from the column lengths too. A Ping Pong is columns of 1-1-1-1, a Double Jump is 2-2-2, and a Dragon is one column of six or more. On our table, Baccarat Sky finds named shapes in the Big Road the way people find shapes in the stars, like the Monkey, 1-3-1, or the Pagoda, 3-2-1. Baccarat patterns.
What the Big Road can and can't tell you
The Big Road is a fast way to see how the shoe has gone: which side has won more, how long the streaks have been, and how often the winner has changed. It can't tell you what comes next. Each hand is dealt from the shoe by the same fixed rules, whatever the road looks like, and the odds stay about 45.9% Banker, 44.6% Player and 9.5% Tie.
See it live
Our free table draws the Bead Road and Big Road as each hand is dealt, along with the three derived roads. Play free baccarat.
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Questions
What is the Big Road in baccarat?
The main baccarat scoreboard. Banker wins are red circles and Player wins blue circles. Wins for the same side stack down a column, and a new column starts when the winner changes.
What is the difference between the Bead Road and the Big Road?
The Bead Road gives every hand one mark in order, ties included. The Big Road gives each Banker or Player win a mark, groups streaks into columns, and shows ties as a slash.
How are ties shown on the Big Road?
As a green slash through the last mark. A tie never starts a new column or adds a row.
What happens when a streak goes past six on the Big Road?
It turns right and runs along the bottom row. This is called a dragon tail, and it still counts as one column.
What is the Bead Plate in baccarat?
Another name for the Bead Road: a grid with one mark for every hand, filled top to bottom, six to a column.
More: How to play baccarat · Baccarat rules · Baccarat third card rules · Baccarat terms · How to read a baccarat scoreboard · Big Eye Boy, Small Road and Cockroach Pig · Baccarat patterns · Baccarat odds · Banker vs Player · Baccarat tie and pair bets · Baccarat strategy · Baccarat simulator and practice