I'm sure many of you have read Bill Zender's most recent (April 2009) Casino-ology newsletter, which was linked to in last week's BJ21.com free weekly newsletter. If you are reading this, I am correct in my estimate that you will be browsing the advantage player internet forums, looking for any tech on this latest threat to your bottom line.
You may well be concerned.
Please, don't be.
Katarina Walker's book may be newly published, but anyone who has ever been curious about Spanish 21 had long since done that much work � and plenty more �on their own. APs have always been among the everyday players at your Spanish 21 games. You only have yet to notice up until now for a number of reasons:
The most important of these is because we hardly leave behind a footprint.
Primarily, this is because the "Match The Dealer" bet (which is, incidentally, entirely unbeatable by any count system) gets immense action; I've seen no stats, but from my own experience at the game, I'd say it gets more action than the main wager. For every four card counters squeaking out that 0.78% edge that Bill Zender mentions, it only takes one player betting substantial money on the Match The Dealer bet to pay that off with plenty of change to spare.
The other reason would be due to the complexity of the game of Spanish 21 compared to regular blackjack. Blackjack is just substantially more beatable than Spanish 21. With Spanish 21, the basic strategy is harder to master, the count system is more difficult to master, the limits tend to be lower and the game is far less prevalent. Most any counter playing for all but the most trivial stakes will simply not be bothered.
I'm not asking you to change your casinos' policies on advantage player tolerance. All I'm asking is that you realize that Spanish 21 is not blackjack. It makes you substantially more money, it's substantially tougher to beat, and there are substantially less advantage players who are willing to put in any effort to play the game.
Thank you for your time,
SP21 Self Taught.
