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Winning at Spanish 21

This is a variation of the game of Blackjack that has become very popular, judging by the number of casinos all over the U.S. that have made it available to their customers. The game is played at a standard Blackjack table with a special, copyrighted layout that explains the rules variations and includes a lighted sign that identifies the game to the casino patrons. I gather that the casinos lease these tables and that's the way the inventor of the game is compensated. Because of the copyrights involved, all Spanish 21 games I've seen have the same rules, with the only exception being the dealer's requirement to either hit or stand with a hand of A-6 ("soft" 17). As you'll see, it's an important distinction. Typically played with 6 or 8 decks, the game has a lot of player options and enhancements.

The Rules.

All player blackjacks beat dealer blackjacks and are paid at 3 to 2.
all player totals of 2l beat dealer 2ls and other ties are pushes.
Players are allowed to double down on any number of cards
Players may double down after splitting and may double down for less the original bet.
Players may resplit pairs up to four hands, including Aces.

The game also features these "bonus" payoffs:

any 5-card 2l, (pays 3 to 2)
any 6-card 2l (pays 2 to l)
any 7-card-or-better 2l (pays 3 to 1)
6-7-8 mixed suits (pays 3 to 2)
6-7-8 of the same suit (pays 2 to l)
6-7-8 all Spades (pays 3 to l).
7-7-7 mixed suits (pays 3 to 2)
7-7-7 it suit (pays 2 to l)
7-7-7 all Spades (pays 3 to l).

Late Surrender is allowed (the dealer checks for blackjack first) and there is what's called double down "rescue" where the player can surrender half the total bet and end the hand after doubling. This doesn't apply if the hand is busted, but it's sure a nice answer to those situations where you double 11 against a 10 and catch an Ace.

The price we pay for these liberal rules is that all of the 10s are removed from the decks - not the Jacks, Queens and Kings, but the cards with 10 spots on them - those tens. Everything else plays like a regular Blackjack game. For the most part, this is considered by casino employees to be a "carnival" game that is generally avoided by serious Blackjack players and that's good, because if you are a serious Blackjack player, some time at the Spanish 21 tables might take some heat off you. Plus, I can show you how to win at it.

The Basic Strategy.

Because of all the player options, this is not a simple strategy but it's not so far from that of a regular game to be impossible to learn. Casinos love games that have complicated strategies, because most players never learn it and their mistakes give the casino an additional edge in the game. If you use the proper playing strategy and the dealer hits A-6, the casino's edge is about 0.76%. But, if the dealer stands on A-6, the casino's edge is only about 0.40%. The best strategy to use for either variation of this game has been laboriously calculated by the "Wizard of Odds" and he has graciously agreed to publish it for free on his Web site, here: http://www.thewizardofodds.com/game/spanish21.html/.

If you'll apply what I teach in Lessons 1 & 2 of "The Blackjack School", which is archived on this page, you can learn the proper playing strategy in about a week. That alone will not give you an edge over the casino, but it will cut their advantage to a minimum.

Why Play This Game?

If you play mostly in Atlantic City, the game of Spanish 21 that the casinos there offer actually has a lower casino edge than their "regular" 8-deck game! But here's the real kicker to this and the reason why I'm even writing about Spanish 21: If you're a card counter (or are willing to learn), all of those player options give any reasonable counting system an extra "boost" of power - sort of a turbocharger.

Here's what I mean: An increase of one in the True Count (TC) of Hi/Lo increases the player's edge by about 0.50%. So, it follows that if the casino's advantage is 0.50% "off the top", then at a TC of 3, the player has about a 1% edge over the game and that continues to increase as the count rises.

But in Spanish 21, an increase of 1 in the TC increases the player's advantage by at least 0.70%. So, if the casino's edge off the top is 0.76%, at a TC of 3, the player has an edge of about 1.34%. But, what if the player was in a Spanish 21 game where the dealer stood on A-6? The casino's edge is 0.40%, so a TC of 3 would imply an edge of about 1.7%. That's nearly as good as a TC of 4 in the "regular" game and what that means is you'll ultimately enjoy a bigger advantage, even if the penetration on both games is the same (which I gather it is).

Because the 10-spot cards are removed, you must modify the Hi/Lo count a bit and make 2s count as "0" so that the count remains balanced and that probably means you won't be able to bounce back and forth between Spanish 21 and "regular" Blackjack without some confusion at first, but it just might be worth the effort.

A Plan For Beating Spanish 21

Okay, here's what you have to do if you want to make some $$$ from this game:

Learn the proper Basic Strategy (See Lesson 1 & 2 of the Blackjack School for the way to do it, but get the strategy at the Wizard of Odds' site.)
If you already use the Hi/Lo count, modify it by making 2s count as 0, rather than as 1, in order to keep it balanced (Don't forget that all the 10s are missing). If you don't yet count cards, then see Lessons 3 to 6 of the Blackjack School and it will show you how to learn.
Create a betting schedule for yourself. Lessons 7-9 of the Blackjack School have what you'll need for that.
If you have any questions, e-mail me at aceten1@mindspring.com

I'll see you here next time.

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