Spanish 21 and Double Attack Blackjack

Has anyone found a workable count for Spanish 21? I have only found one book on the topic, Armada Strategies for Spanish 21, but it only describes proper basic strategy.

Also, I saw a new game called Double Attack Blackjack that seemed to have some possibilities for counting. Anybody heard of this game? Is there a basic strategy, and is it countable?

I know both these games were designed to overcome the APs advantage in blackjack, but that still doesn't mean they are unbeatable.

I gave up on the idea of trying to play Spanish with an advantage for two reasons. First, my pet games are single and double-decks. Second, I don't think you can get a large enough advantage in Spanish that makes it worthwhile, although I did go that route for a time. Can't comment about the other game you mentioned. Haven't seen it anywhere yet.

There are lots of variations on 21 scattered around. Most are of the "side bet" variety. IE there is a 21/3-card poker variant where you bet on 21 normally, but you take the dealer's up-card as your 3rd card to form a 3-card poker hand. If you've played 3-card poker it is kind of like the "pairs-plus" bet by itself. In the world of money, there are sources and there are sinks. These side-bets are sinks. :) (electronic term mis-used of course).

For my money the casinos could leave BJ alone, and go screw around with the other games they have or are contemplating.

I don't know why I just remembered this, but some BJ book I read a few years ago, there was a funny story about a counter sitting at a table, where a few ploppies were playing. A woman was sitting to the right of the counter and was dealt a 20. The counter played next, and the person at 3rd base stood on something like an 8. The dealer drew a card that gave him a 21. The woman with the 20 threw her cards down, yelled at 3rd base, and stormed off. Dealer asked "what was her hand?" Without thinking the counter said "-2".

:)

No idea what the book was however, but I always liked that story.

This is why I asked the question. You mention 21+3. I devised a workable count to beat 21+3. The only problem is the $50 bet limit makes it not worth implementing. (I posted this count on another website. . . cc)

I am sure that in their attempts to create the unbeatable game the casinos are putting out a lot of games with holes you can drive a Brinks truck through. I am as lazy as anyone else, so I would prefer to read someone else's work than to do the analysis and simulations myself.

I am sure that double attack blackjack can be beat. There are just too many choices for the bettor to make. But I don't have the programming skills to analyze that one.

Anybody done this work?

How exactly are you going to beat this with counting? IE even if the count is beyond way positive, that only means lots of 10-J-Q-K-A cards are left. You have to get at _least_ a pair, or you flush that side-bet down the drain.

It would seem that if you could count to beat the side-bet, you could count to beat the real game as you can just play the pairs-plus bet and beat away on it?

21+3 can become a very advantageous bet when the suits are out of balance. It should be obvious that if the deck was all one suit, the EV would be +900%. There are a few ways of doing this, but none are entirely comprehensive. The easiest to implement is to pick any two suits and offset them against each other.

21+3 offers some amazingly favorable bets (EV 10+%), but the $50 limit makes it unprofitable to implement.

I've only seen this on 6d shoes, to the best of my memory. I did not play the game at all, as it was too slow with all the arguments about "I got a straight" and "I'm sorry sir but a K-A-2 is _not_ a straight..." That looked hopeless.

But with 6d, will the suits become unbalanced enough to predict flushes?

Here is a copy of my final post from the other message board. As I recall, I also calculated a count that did not need to be trued up, kind of a KO count. But all of this is mute with the $50 limit. Also poor penetration truly hurts as most of the best situations occur deepest in the deck. Some as high as 30+%. Here is the post:

I keep working this problem.

My first count for the 21+3 side count required 6 counts, or catching only 1/6th of the profitable opportunites. This count is better. It requires 4 counts, or catches 1/4th of the profit.

The 21+3 side bet is profitable when the suits in the deck are out of balance. It should be obvious that if the deck consisted entirely of a single suit, the player would win with 100% certainty as any three card combination is a guaranteed flush. Imagine, a 900% expected return. SWEET

Here are the mechanics. Pick a suit. I recommend watching the first round and picking the suit that has the fewest cards dealt. Count each card of that suit as a -1. And count every four cards dealt (regardless of suit) as a +1. The best opportunities occur when the deck is heavy in a suit, this is why I recommend picking the suit with the fewest cards dealt on the first round.

Divide your running count by the remaining decks to get your true count. If your true count is -5 or less, or +4 or greater, take the 21+3 side bet.

With a four counter team, each member could count an assigned suit. This would find every "findable" profitable opportunity. But even a lone counter can track a single suit as a side count. The opportunities this count finds are much more profitable than any additional information an ace side count provides. Also, this count is a great cover. Imagine dropping a purple chip on what the pit boss thinks of as a sucker's bet. You may have a 10%+ advantage, but he will never bother you again.

Here are the counts, frequencies, and player advantages assuming penetration to the 52nd card:

Count____________Freq_____________Advantage
+4_______________2.47%____________1.26%
+5_______________0.90%____________5.13%
+6_______________0.34%____________9.19%
+7_______________0.13%___________14.13%
-5_______________2.23%____________1.82%
-6_______________0.76%____________4.87%
-7_______________0.24%____________8.44%
All Profitable counts
_________________4.06%____________3.65%

OK. Assuming your math works out, the idea seems reasonable. However, that is usually on a "ploppy table" (at least the couple of times I have seen the game offered). I didn't pay much attention to the game when I first saw it earlier this year, so I don't remember the table min/max for BJ or for the side bet. When I saw it, it was also a shoe game, 6d I believe (but am not certain). Also the table was stuffed, and for the few minutes I watched it seemed to go pretty slow even for a full table, with the extra bet resolution step.