Spanish 21 has bonus payouts for hands like 6-7-8, and 5-card 21’s, sometimes called 'Perfect Charlie' (2-3-4-5-7) and also for busted Perfect Charlies. Hit, Stand & Split Rule In this particular game, the rules regarding hitting, standing and splitting are the same as the classic table game's rules. Spanish 21 Blackjack, although having a longer list of rules to become familiar with, is definitely a preferred version of blackjack for those players looking to claim large payouts from card games. Possibly not a game to play if you're new to blackjack, as trying to grasp the rules and use them to your own advantage is not something that's so.
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.
Spanish 21 Payouts
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.
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.
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.
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.
Spanish 21 Payout Sheet
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.
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