If you play Baccarat, whether online or at land-based venues, there is good chance you will encounter the game’s famous roadmaps sooner or later.
Practically indecipherable to beginners, the so-called roads record results and highlight trends – and they are relatively easy to understand.
The roadmaps are not going to guarantee wins, but many players will attest that using them has enhanced their gaming, especially when it comes to basing betting decisions on probability. Try these out the next time you pay and play for fun at one of the top Canadian casino sites around like Casino Sites Canada.
History Of The Roads
Baccarat’s roads or roadmaps were created in the then-Portuguese colony of Macau. The second Macanese casino concession holder, Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, introduced the game in 1962 or shortly after, and it was an instant hit.
Many players around the world believe that game results can be analysed to find trends that can be used to make predictions. At the early VIP Baccarat tables in Macau, the host recorded the results of each hand.
Over time, different ways of analysing those results were used. The five roadmaps are known as Big Road, Big Eye Road, Bead Plate, Small Road, and Cockroach Road.
The Big Road
The Big Road is the main roadmap. Its most common form is as a grid of 6 rows and between 36 and 50 columns. The result of the first game is recorded in the top left corner.
If the result of the second game is the same as the first, it is recorded below the first result. If the other hand wins the second game, the result is record to the right of the first. Banker wins are represented by red circles, and Player wins are shown as blue circles.
Ties are recorded as a green line across the last circle. Natural winners receive a yellow dot in the centre of the circle. Winning pair bets are shown as red or blue dots on the edge of the circle.
The Bead Plate
The Bead Plate is a simpler version of the Big Road. Recording also begins from the top left corner downward, but columns do not change with the winning side.
What’s more, ties are recorded as green circles in blocks of their own, rather than being added to the previous result as a green line.
The Small Road
Results start being recorded on the Small Road at the end of the first hand in the Big Road’s third column. If there are no patterns in the results, solid blue circles are used. If a pattern can be identified, solid red circles are used.
The Big Eye Road
The Big Eye Baccarat road is almost identical to the Small Road. It is also derived from the main record-keeping grid.
The only difference is that its records begin at the end of the second hand in the Big Road’s second column.
The Cockroach Road
The third of the derived Baccarat roadmaps, the Cockroach Road uses the same solid circles as the Small and Big Eye roads.
The Cockroach Road begins at the end of the second hand in the Big Road’s fourth column.