Spanish 21

spanish 21 has become increasingly popular at casinos across the country. Have the blackjack experts devised any counting systems that produce advantage play?

With the tens missing, the game is heavily tipped in favor of the Casino...While it is said that each face card or extra Ace is worth 0.5% in regular blackjack, saying that the Casino advantage is 2.5% is not totally right---I suspect...The lack of tens reduces our potential to get a blackjack and also reduces the value of doubling down...I hope someone else with more knowledge than I can give you will answer your question...I am also interested in the answer.

An unbalanced count-not tied to bet gives a sharp picture.
6 deck shoe count would normally start at 25 down from 45
for one deck. Now at -2 for each ten, minus 48-or a starting
count of minus 23- with rich still at Plus 49. I know
one counter that has had some luck at S-21. He says I win,
I don't know why, but counting won't help a damn bit, the
shoe will never be rich. He lives in LV.

Red,

An Aussie I met in the UK counts Spanish 21 by using a BJ single-level count but ignoring the twos, claiming results little different to BJ.

His reasoning was that as a two was a much more 'dangerous card' in Spanish 21 by not counting ( good job I proof-read this, I'd left the 'o' out of counting ! ) it as a possible bust card, it negated the effect of the ten removal.

He stated that the dealer bust rate was far lower in Spanish 21 and so was more inclined to hit 12-14 against a 2 or 3 depending upon count.

He used the basic strategy on the Wizards website as a start point.

He said there was less opportunity in the game, as it produced fewer strong counts but could spread better as the game was almost exclusively the preserve of gamblers in his home casino. Jumping bets didn't seem to get noticed.

There is no Spanish 21 where I am currently but had planned to look into these ideas further when I was going to come across the game again.

He seemed genuine enough and counted BJ perfectly.

He made sense.

The Doctor.

Thanks Frank but I have never bothered with unbalanced counts as they are too complicated and not worth whatever extra advantage they might have to offer...As I previously stated, the Casino advantage is at least 2.5% and then you add on the reduction in blackjacks that occur because there are no tens and the reduction in value for ones double downs also.

I am not willing to pay attention to your friend who says that he is winning but doesn't know why...People in this site, perhaps Don Schlesinger, or others who are intelligent enough to figure out the advantage that is available from the scraps that the Casino offers such as surrendering bad double downs, are the only ones who I would consider paying attention to...Thanks for your offer of advice though, it was nice of you to take the time to write down your opinion.

is because the rules that help negate the removal of tens for a BS player are not as beneficial for a counter. What i mean if you get a spanish 21 with good rules and you know the spanish 21 basic strategy the edge you give to the casino is comparable to what a BS player gives up in a regular blackjack game. The rub is the higher the count gets the less benefical the special rules becomes(the bonuses for the rare hands);in regular blackjack we approximate a .5 percent in increase in edge for every true count of +1 this is not the case in spanish 21. The times you have an edge are much much rarer requiring a very high spread or wonging into positive only. i dont know the spread needed but i would guess that if a regular BJ shoe play all apprach takes a somewhere between sa 12to 1 and 15 to 1 spread then i would intuuitively guess taht spanish 21 would need AT LEAST a 50 to 1 with wonging out whenever the TC got to -2since it starts at a TC of -1.But i think that the spread may have to be as high as 100 to 1 and this would probably raise flags. You might be able to do this with the small counter/big player approach but your risk of ruin would skyrocket no matter what approach you used. Almost anyone would be better suited counting reg. blackjack over spanish 21. Oh by the way if you ever find a double exposure with liberal rules it works just the opposite every +1 in TC is worth .7 percent in edge.This is just some basic info from someone whos read some books but if there are any glaring mistakes im sure one of our reident experts will correct it.

Thanks for all responses.

I wasn't trying to get you to change anything. Just to
give you a look at S-21 through a different window.
The example I mentioned breaks down this way- There are 288
cards in the six deck shoe. You start the shoe 72 small
cards away from a rich designation. Where is the cut card?
It could happen, but the chances are slim and none. We all
know that Slim DIED.

Attacking Spanish 21 is not conducive to simple analysis and requires computer training which I do not have...Where I have access to the game, they are using 8 decks and the best approach that I can see is to use Hi Lo and start your count at -32 [4 tens missing X 8]...This will tell you where to hit against the dealer's bust cards as suggested in one of the messages...Hitting against bust cards even up as high as 14 would be required.

There are numerous other details that would have to be determined before I would try to beat this game...All of the dealer's up cards would have different busting percentages...The rule that allows you to surrender half of a bad double down bet is dependent upon these new and different busting percentages.

In the regular game of blackjack, you would surrender any double down below 17 against the dealer's 8, 9, Face or Ace...All of these cards bust less than 25% which is the cut off point for surrendering half of your bet...Until such time as I see computer analysis that shows that an edge can be achieved for a card counter, I will remain a spectator at this game.

Rude (child of unmarried mother and father)!