Spanish 21 is a variation of blackjack with more liberal
rules but played without tens in the deck. All face cards
are still used. Six Spanish decks of cards are normally used.
Taking the tens out of play is disadvantageous to the player
as a deck of cards with more small cards favors the dealer.
To compensate for this, the rules are enhanced to favor the
player in some instances, as follows:
Spanish 21 Rules
Spanish 21 is generally played on a standard blackjack table and uses the following rules:
- The game is played four, six or eight decks dealt from a shoe. Each deck is a standard poker deck with the tens (but not face cards) removed, hence the name: a traditional Spanish deck consists of four sets of A through 9, a Jack, a Knight, and a King; there are no tens. (In Spanish 21, the Queen is used in place of the Knight so that a standard deck may be used.) All cards have the same values as in blackjack.
- Blackjack pays 3:2, and always wins regardless of whether or not the dealer has a blackjack.
- Hitting, standing, and splitting all follow the same rules as in blackjack, except drawing to split aces is allowed in most American casinos. Drawing to split Aces is not allowed in Australia.
- Resplitting to four hands is allowed in North America. In Australia, the resplitting rules vary interstate.
- The player may surrender (quit the hand immediately and lose only half the wager) on the first two cards or after doubling down. In Australia, surrender is only permitted if the dealer is showing a ten valued card or Ace; if the dealer gets Blackjack, the player still loses his entire wager.
- In North America, the dealer always checks for blackjack with a face card showing before play continues. In Australia, the dealer determines whether or not he has a Blackjack at the end of the round, after all the participants have played out their hand.
- The player may double down on any total, even after taking hit cards. The only exception to this is in Sky City Adelaide, South Australia, where doubling is only permitted on 2 card hands.
- In some casinos, the player may redouble up to two times after doubling down. For example: the player bets 1 unit and draws a 2 and a 3 giving a hand total of 5; the dealer is showing a 6. The player doubles the first time and draws a 3. The hand total is now 8 and the total amount wagered is 2 units. The player doubles a second time and draws a 3. The hand total is now 11 and the total amount wagered is 4 units. When the player doubles a third time on 11, the total amount wagered will be 8 units.
- A total of 21 always wins for the player. It never pushes against the dealer's 21.
- A five-card 21 pays 3:2, a six-card 21 pays 2:1, and a 21 with seven or more cards pays 3:1. However, these bonus payouts do not apply if the 21 was the result of doubling.
- 6-7-8 of mixed suits pays 3:2, of the same suit pays 2:1, and of spades pays 3:1.
- Suited 7-7-7 against a dealer 7 pays a large bonus (for example, $1000 for bets $5-24 and $5000 for bets $25 and over). All other players at the table receive a $50 "envy bonus". This rule does not apply after splitting.
- In most American and in all Australian casinos, the dealer hits soft 17.
Additional Australian rules
- An Ace in a pre-double hand counts as 1 only, rather than 1 or 11. For example, if you are dealt an Ace and an 8 and you double down, drawing a 2, your hand total is 11 rather than 21. This is why the Australian player never doubles on soft hands.
- With the exception of SkyCity Adelaide, if the dealer wins with a Blackjack, he takes either 1 bet per hand (known as OBBO, meaning "Original and Busted Bets Only") or 1 per box (known as BB+1, meaning "Busted Bets Plus 1") from the player, after all busted bets and bets and payouts on winning hands totalling 21 have been removed from the table. In Sky City Adelaide, a dealer blackjack takes all losing bets.
The removal of the tens in each deck favors the dealer, however, the other additional rules all favor the player (except for dealer hitting soft 17), and usually result in a low house edge, often lower than traditional blackjack.
There are no popular card counting methods in Spanish 21, though it would likely generate less scrutiny. Of course, any counting system applied must account for the fewer ten-point cards in the shoe.
House advantage just under 1%
Where to play Spanish 21:
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