The Spanish game of Blackjack, known as Spanish 21 or simply Spanish Blackjack, is a popular variation of the game with rules that favor the player and offer a chance to get up to 50:1 payouts without placing additional side bets.
This entertaining variation of blackjack offers the opportunity to get massive payouts on hands that total 21, do things like Hitting or Doubling after splitting Aces plus a very unique option called “Double-Down Rescue”.
The Rules of Spanish Blackjack
The most evident characteristic of Spanish Blackjack is that it’s played using a Spanish deck, which is a standard deck of 52 cards where all 10-value cards have been removed (10, J, Q, K). So effectively you’re playing with decks of 48 cards, not 52.
By removing these cards from the deck (10s), online casinos swing the odds back in their favor when they offer a game using fewer cards. This creates a negative expectation wager when the true count is low, essentially meaning you should expect a loss when you wager.
By removing low value cards from the deck, the casino accepts a higher percentage of high cards being dealt. High cards are cards like King, Ace and Ace. Since the deck is Jupe (minus one) it means that as the number of cards continuously reduces, the value of the cards increases.
The important rule in Spanish 21 is that you only get the opportunity to double down on nine or ten hands. This offers the player a greater chance of beating the dealer by either going over 21 or busting, depending on the house rules typically applicable.
Spanish 21 sounds like a great game apart from the unique Spanish rules, which makes it a great game to play online. You won’t find many online casinos offering this game anymore though, particularly online in the US.
The reason why this game has become so popular is the opportunity to get massive payouts on hands that total 21. If you are sitting on either a 11 or an 12 hand, you have a good chance of beating the dealer to 21. You can also win if you utilize the Double Down option as well.
The two ways to win at Spanish 21 are to either get a ‘soft’ 21 or a ‘hard’ 21. A soft 21 is where the dealer fails to get a face card for a third card and has therefore a low to high card. On the other hand, a hard 21 is where the dealer consecutively has cards that are all lower than a 10, and so has a very low to high card.
You can request for more than one card to be dealt to you; however, you’ll only receive one additional card for each card you desire. You can request for as many cards as you’d like, but if you receive more than two, you won’t be able to request anymore.
If your first two cards are exactly the same, you can ask for another card. The odds of this happening are extremely low, therefore you can request for a double down or a split.
The specifics of 21st Century Casino Games Online
The basic game of blackjack changes slightly in online casinos with the introduction of side bets. These side bets typically have higher payouts against the house than it does in a live casino. Given that the house has a demographic of millions of players, I don’t think that online casinos are particularly mindful of the psychology or ‘edge’ that they offer to their customers.
What I do find interesting, is that online casinos seem to be much more aware of customer psychology than the typical live casino is (hence the reason why you often see people screaming in frustration).
I think that this is down to the fact that the average player profile is much closer to the average player profile than other forms of gambling. You can spend a lot of time playing blackjack and not end up close to the psychologically balanced state required for Casino gambling, whereas in Poker you can spend time playing one strategy, and not really understand the counter strategies, and yet when it comes to Blackjack you can be assured that 90% of people will play the game in an undisciplined manner (failure to follow basic strategy).
side bets- this is a strategy that can be employed to lower the house edge in blackjack, and increase the odds of winning slightly in your favour
Poker88 -no newsreel type entertainment, but also a fun game to play
Sic Bo -sighs the Sic Bo ban is finally here after a delay of 4 years. The game plays out like bingo and if you survive long enough to bingo, you win the big prize.