Spanish 21 Payouts

1. Spanish Blackjack. One of the most popular Blackjack variants, Spanish 21, has found its way to the online market, becoming a part of Microgaming's regular and Gold series blackjack editions.Played with eight decks without 10 denomination cards, the game offers an additional paytable with higher potential payouts on specific hand combinations.
2. How to play Spanish 21 is played on a blackjack table with a custom layout and uses the following rules:Spanish 21 or Spanish Blackjack is played with six.

Spanish 21 also offers bonus payouts as follows: A five card 21 pays out at 3:2. A six card 21 pays out at 2:1. A seven card 21 pays out at 3:1. A 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 pays 3:2. If these cards are of the same suit, then they pay out at 2:1. If they are comprised only of spades, then they pay out at 3:1.

Spanish 21 is a variation of blackjack with a lot of variant rules and payout differences. The biggest difference between Spanish 21 and other variations of blackjack is that it uses a 'Spanish deck,' a deck of 52 cards where the 10s have been removed. This leaves a 48-card deck.

Please note that the face cards aren't removed, and they're still worth 10 points each.

If you know anything about card counting, you know that a deck rich in 10s and aces is good for the player. Removing the 10s is bad for the player's odds.

The rules of Spanish 21 offer a bunch of favorable options to give some of that back to the player. But the strategy differences between Spanish 21 and traditional blackjack still give the casino a bigger edge most of the time.

Some of these options include allowing late surrender, allowing double downs after splitting, and allowing you to split and re-split aces. Also, a player ALWAYS wins with a total of 21, regardless of the dealer's hand.

You also get bonus payouts for hands with 5 cards or more in them, or for hands with a total of 21 that are made up of 678 or 777.

This post aims to offer you some advice and tips to keep the house edge in Spanish 21 as low as possible.

I also want to point out that this post doesn't include the absolute correct basic strategy for each situation. I've simplified many of the decisions – if you're serious about the game, you should, of course, memorize every bit of the correct strategy for the game.

1- Master the Easy Decisions First

The first step in learning how to win at Spanish 21 is mastering the easy decisions. Let's start by talking about hard totals.

A hard total is any total where you either don't have an ace or where you must count the ace as 1 to avoid busting.

Any time you have a hard 8 or lower, you always hit. That's because it's impossible to bust that hand, and you'll always improve your hand.

Any time you have a hard 17 or higher, you always stand. That's because the probability of busting a hard 17 by taking a hit is about 70%.

The rest of your decisions with hard hands are based on what the dealer's face-up card is. The important numbers to remember are 6 or lower and 7 or higher.

When the dealer has a 6 or lower showing, she's more likely to bust.

When the dealer has a 7 or higher showing, she's more likely to have a strong hand.

You use this to decide whether to hit or stand in various situations.

For example, if you have a hard 9, 10, or 11, you'll always double down against a dealer's 6 or lower. The combination of having such a great starting total combined with the dealer's likelihood of busting makes this a great place to get more money into action.

Casino cruise near me. You'll always hit a hard 12, regardless of the dealer's up-card.

But when you have a hard 13, 14, 15, or 16, you'll often stand against a dealer 6 or lower, and you'll often hit against a dealer 7 or higher.

Free no deposit slots. In regular blackjack, that's about all there is to consider, but in Spanish 21, there are other considerations.

2- Adjust Your Strategy Based on the Rules Changes

Since you get bonus payouts for a hand of 5 cards or more that doesn't bust, you'll sometimes hit when you would otherwise stand – just because you want an opportunity to get that bigger payout.

This is especially true when you have a hard total between 13 and 16 that consists of 4 cards.

The dealer's going to have a hard time winning, and you want to take the opportunity to try to get that bonus payout for a hand made up of 5 cards or more that beats the dealer.

The payout for a 5-card hand that totals 21 is 3 to 2. For a 6-card hand, it's 2 to 1. And 7-card hands that total 21 pay out at a whopping 3 to 1 odds.

3- How You Play Soft Hands Changes Too

A soft hand is a hand in which an ace can count as either as 1 point or as 11 points. Soft hands can be played more aggressively than hard hands, because you can't bust a soft total. You just change the total by counting the ace as 1 instead of as 11.

You'll always hit a soft 14 or lower, but you'll often double down with a soft total, too. In fact, if you have a soft 15, 16, 17, or 18, you'll usually double down if the dealer has a 6 showing – which means that the dealer is more likely to go bust than usual.

But when you have 4 cards or more, it's time to consider hitting again, because you want those bonus payouts for the 5 or 6 cards totaling 21.

You'll always stand if you have a soft total of 19, though. That's such a good hand that trying to improve it would be like gilding the lily.

4- Splitting Pairs in Spanish 21 Is Pretty Similar to Regular Blackjack

When you get 2 cards of the same ranking in blackjack or Spanish 21, one of your options is to split the hand. This means putting up an additional bet so you can play an additional hand. It also means starting 2 new hands using the 2 cards in your hand as the first cards in your 2 new hands.

You'll never split a pair of face cards, by the way. That's a hard total of 20, which is hard to beat.

You're basically trading in an excellent hand for 2 potentially good hands with twice as much money in action. Stick with the best hand here. Cleopatra casino slots.

If you have a pair of 9s, you should usually split. You'll just stand if the dealer has a face card or an ace showing.

If you have a pair of 8s, you should always split, with one exception – if the dealer has an ace, make the move to surrender instead.

If you have a pair of 6s or 7s, you should split if the dealer has a 6 or lower showing.

You never split a pair of 5s. You play it just like you would any other hard total of 10.

With a pair of 4s, you just hit – never split 4s, 5s, or 10s.

With 2s or 3s, you'll split if the dealer has a 6 or lower showing.

5- Even Spanish 21 Has Rules Variations from One Game to Another

It seems like Spanish 21 has enough rules variations between it and blackjack that you wouldn't need to worry about distinguishing between one Spanish 21 game and another.

The biggest difference to worry about is what the dealer does with a soft 17. In many cases, the dealer MUST hit any total of 16 or lower and stand on any total of 17 or higher.

But in some cases, the dealer also hits a soft 17.

If you can avoid the games where the dealer hits a soft 17, you should do so in favor of a game where the dealer has to stand on soft 17.

The difference in casino house edge is 0.2%, which doesn't sound like much, but it adds up over the course of 100 hands per hour.

Think about it this way:

If you play 100 hands per hour at $10 per hour, then you're looking at $1000 per hour in action.

0.2% of $1000 is $20.

Do you really want to pay an extra $20 per hour just because the dealer hits a soft 17?

Find the better game.

Conclusion

If you're serious about Spanish 21, you should memorize the exact basic strategy for every hand. The tips and advice I've offered in this post are meant to be 'close enough' for the recreational player who isn't spending much time at the table.

But if you're going to spend significant time playing Spanish 21, it's worth your while to learn the correct basic strategy.

In fact, if you're serious about Spanish 21, you can get an edge if you learn how to count cards. The principles are the same for card counting in Spanish 21 as they are in regular blackjack.

If you consider yourself a bona fide real money blackjack specialist, but you've never played Spanish 21 before, boy, are you missing out.

This relatively new addition to the blackjack family tree branched off in 1995, when Masque Publishing decided to take its shot at the hybrid table game fad.

These days, Spanish 21 is largely relegated to the best US online casinos, but you can still find it kicking around at the Venetian and Palazzo casino resorts in Las Vegas. Smaller regional casinos across the country, especially in the Pacific Northwest, also spread Spanish 21 tables alongside their traditional blackjack games.

1 – Full Basic Strategy Chart Outlining Optimal Play for All Possible Scenarios

One of the saddest sights you'll see in the table game pit is a blackjack player trying to use their basic strategy skills in Spanish 21.

When they see a pair of sixes to start against the dealer's three, these players will split ‘em up, as per blackjack basic strategy. Little do they know, however, that Spanish 21 basic strategy says to take a hit with 6-6 against a dealer's three.

Same goes for something like a 17 versus the dealer's seven, which is a clear hit in regular blackjack. In this game though, the book advises sharp players to stand.

Little wrinkles like this aren't readily apparent, leaving even blackjack experts to flail around like tourists trying table games for the first time.

If you want to add Spanish 21 basic strategy to your gambling repertoire, look no further. To begin, just remember that many plays are no-brainers that don't require any thinking at all.

https://busterstorrent.mystrikingly.com/blog/monarchs-online-casino. When you have a hard total of 8 or lower, just take your free hit and proceed from there, as you'll never run the risk of going bust. And with a hard 17 or higher, simply stand and avoid the 69% chance of busting that a hit will incur.

Those are the easiest plays anybody can make, so you'll need to study the tables below to master more complicated Spanish 21 spots.

2 – Primer on Why You Shouldn't Place Match the Dealer Side Bets

Every so often, you'll see a Spanish 21 player shout for joy as they collect a 'jackpot' payout of between 4:1 and 18:1.

Or should I say, not very often… Spanish 21 offers an optional side bet called 'Match the Dealer,' which pays out whenever one or both of your starting cards matches the dealer's up card.

The best scenario is two suited matches, or something like the 8 of clubs + 8 of clubs for you against the dealer's 8 of clubs. That's clearly a longshot, but even a single eight (suits don't matter here) matched with the dealer's eight pays out at 4:1.

But, as you can see below, that minimum payout of 4:1 only comes around roughly 1 in 10 hands.

Spanish 21 Payout Sheet

Spanish 21 Match the Dealer Hands and Payouts

Conversely, a whopping 85% of hands will result in a loss when playing Match the Dealer.

All told, this side bet carries a house edge of 3.05%, which is simply too high to chase when Spanish 21's primary game is already so great.

3 – Online Casino Guide to Find the Best Spanish 21 Tables

Nowadays, Spanish 21 is largely relegated to the realm of online casinos.

That's good news for fans though, as the best online casino platforms make sure to include Spanish 21 as a staple of their table games menu.

4 – ThePro's Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon (2008) by Katarina Walker

Spanish 21 Payouts

When the game first hit casino floors, most gamblers assumed Spanish 21 was nothing more than a gimmick game like Triple Zero Roulette—something designed to separate suckers from their bankroll while smart players wisely avoided the additional action.

This misconception lingered until 2008, when advantage play specialist and casino game strategy writer Katrina Walker published The Pro's Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon.

Walker herself posted insights to a popular online blackjack forum while explaining exactly why Spanish 21 is more beatable than standard blackjack. https://mpvpq.over-blog.com/2021/02/external-storage-for-macbook.html.

And it's no coincidence that Walker's book was published just before the big casinos suddenly stopped spreading Spanish 21 as often, or at all. She really did crack the code for this game, so grab a copy of The Pro's Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon and add this masterpiece to your gambling bookshelf.

Conclusion

Spanish 21 isn't for everybody, but if you enjoy blackjack with a twist, it just might be the perfect game. Bonus payouts, automatic winners which should be pushes, and the freedom to make creative double down and split plays combine to make Spanish 21 a true player's game.

Anyone can fly blind at the tables and find a few winners. But, armed with the four resources listed above, you'll be target shooting accurately in one of gambling's most player-friendly affairs.