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STRATEGIES
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SPANISH 21 Tips & Strategies
Unlike standard
blackjack, spanish 21 is a negative expectations game. There is no playing
strategy that will overcome the house edge and make the game profitable for
the player. Sure, you can learn to count cards and reduce the house edge, but
to swing it to a positive expectation is not easy to do in spanish 21. Designed with computers,
spanish 21 was specifically designed to thwart card counters.
Whether of not you count cards, when playing spanish 21 you must use some reasonable
strategy or you will lose consistently. The problem is that the basic strategy
rules for standard blackjack do not work very well for spanish 21. Experienced
blackjack players should be aware that they have to learn a new set of strategy
rules if they expect to last very long at a spanish 21 table.
The basic strategy for standard black is not very simple. In spanish 21,
the basic strategy is not any simpler, just different. The changes in strategy
are mainly due to the 25% fewer 10-value cards in the deck. The bonuses for
certain 21-count hands also contribute to the variation in strategy rules.
The simple strategy table is a condensed and simplified version of the full basic
strategy. Before sitting down at a spanish 21 game, you should try to
learn the following rules:
| Simple spanish 21 playing strategy |
| Hard Hands |
Dealer's upcard |
Action |
| 17 thru 21 |
Any |
Stand |
| 15 & 16 |
7 thru A |
Hit |
| 15 & 16 |
2 thru 6 |
Stand |
| 12 thru 14 |
Any |
Hit |
| 10 & 11 |
8 thru A |
Hit |
| 10 & 11 |
2 thru 7 |
Double |
| 10 & 11 w/5+ cards |
2 thru 7 |
Hit |
| 5 thru 9 |
Any |
Hit |
| Soft Hands |
| 18 thru 21 |
Any |
Stand |
| 13 thru 17 |
Any |
Hit |
| Pairs |
| A-A & 8-8 |
Any |
Split |
| 9-9 |
2 thru 9 |
Split |
| 6-6 & 7-7 |
2 thru 7 |
Split |
| 2-2 & 3-3 |
2 thru 7 |
Split |
| Other Pairs |
Don't split, treat as hard hands |
Following the
basic strategy above the house edge in spanish 21 is 0.76%. However
if the dealer stands on a soft 17 the house edge is only 0.40%! This is lower
than the Atlantic City blackjack game at 0.43%.
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