Why it is quick to learn
Because you make one decision per hand: which side to back, before anything is dealt. After that the cards turn over according to fixed rules — there is no choice about drawing or standing the way there is in some card games. Most people have the shape of it after a few hands.
Counting the hand
Cards from two to nine count at face value. Tens and every picture card count as zero, and an ace counts as one. When a total goes above nine, only the last digit counts: seven and eight make fifteen, which is a five.
About the pattern board
Baccarat tables usually display a grid of previous results, and a great many players read it for patterns. The fact worth holding on to is that each hand is independent of the one before it. The board records what has happened; it does not indicate what is about to.
Believing otherwise is the most common reason a stake creeps past the plan someone arrived with. If you fix your limit before you sit down, the board becomes decoration rather than a decision tool.