In "How to read baccarat board?", the key is the order in which cards are drawn. Baccarat looks formal and plays simply: two hands, called player and banker, are dealt, and the bettor backs one of them or a tie. Nobody at the table makes a decision about drawing, because a fixed rule decides whether each hand takes a third card. Knowing the point values and that rule makes every round easy to follow, from the first card to the final count.
Baccarat tables display scoreboards, often called roads, that record the result of every recent round in grids of coloured marks. Many players read patterns into them and bet on streaks continuing or breaking. Each round is dealt from a shoe that does not remember the last one, so the boards describe the past and predict nothing. They are useful for following a table, and harmless as long as no betting plan is built on them.
The main bets are player, banker and tie. A winning player bet pays even money, a winning banker bet pays even money less a fee taken because the banker hand wins slightly more often, and a tie usually pays eight to one. When the round ends in a tie, player and banker bets are returned at most tables. Pair bets and other extras sit beside the main boxes, each with its own payout printed on the layout.
Twos through nines keep their face value, aces are worth one, and tens along with picture cards score nothing, so a seven and an eight make five.
The player hand draws on any total from zero to five and stands on six or seven, a rule that stays the same at every table.
A tie usually pays eight to one on the tie box, and at most tables bets on player or banker are handed back rather than lost.
Each box on the layout carries its own minimum, and the table limits show the smallest accepted stake for player, banker, tie and pair bets.