Spanish 21 vs. Traditional Blackjack

[biggg]

I simmed the avg player at this and came up with them losing 1.5-2% in addition to the match side bet. The casinos make a ton on this game.

[Blitzkrieg]

In my experience, most of the ploppies play as if they were playing blackjack, which is not to say that they play blackjack basic strategy, but that they play their normal plopified version of the basic strategy for normal blackjack. They do recognize that they can double on more than 2 cards and they do this using the same rules that they would use for 2 card hands. They also recognise that they can surrender after doubling, but they seem to do so randomly and much too often.

Other commonly misplayed hands:

• Most double on far too many soft hands, even by blackjack standards
• Most will double 9 vs 3 and 4 and 10 vs 9, but will not double 11 vs A
• Most do not hit all hard 12 and all hard 13
• Most do not hit 14 vs 2 and 3
• Almost no-one surrenders 17 vs A, but they will surrender many stiffs vs a variety of dealer up cards
• As with blackjack, most do not hit soft 18 vs 9, 10 and Ace.
• Most will split 6,6 vs 2 and 3

There are no really difficult departures to memorize. The main 2 card departures are only a few and are easily spotted on a color-coded strategy chart. The multi-card departures are learned in a way similar to learning counting indices. Having said that, very few players seem to change strategy for potential bonus hands when they should, except for 7,7 which many hit when they should split. In particular, most will double multi-card 10 and 11 when they should hit.

Misplaying potential bonus hands doesn't hurt them very much, as they are relatively rare. The other errors are much more serious.

The multi-card departures are a bit difficult to learn if this is what you meant... Like a 3 card 17 vs. a dealer A. It's hands like that which are slightly confusing.

[Gronbog]

Yeah, that's what I meant, but I didn't find them difficult. As I said, I approached it the same as learning blackjack indices. Where it gets difficult is learning indices for the multi-card departures. That's like learning indices for indices, although some systems simplify this by using offsets to the normal indices.

[Blitzkrieg]

Yeah, that's what I meant, but I didn't find them difficult. As I said, I approached it the same as learning blackjack indices. Where it gets difficult is learning indices for the multi-card departures. That's like learning indices for indices, although some systems simplify this by using offsets to the normal indices.

I thought that is what you meant. I don't quite understand the entire chart at the hitorsplit website for SP21. Some of the symbols and the numbers on some of the strategy plays are confusing and they are not listed in the legend or either I'm missing something. I like the strategy trainer there for the Spanish21 but I wish the strategy trainer would cycle the player through the most challenging hands that are commonly misplayed vs. obvious or pat hands where the correct decision would be either to hit, split, double, etc. I like this variation of BJ because I think it is challenging.

[Three]

Rescue is the biggest one that the ploppy screws up. If you aren't going to rescue you should hardly ever double. You hardly ever see people that even come close to a grasp of BS. If you want to learn this game the first and hardest lesson is it is not BJ. Forget everything you learned about BJ because it will only mess you up.

All the complicated stuff they mess up, like splits. They will split hands you shouldn't split and then not double down when they get a great card that calls for a double down.

They are oblivious to bonus draws. They screw up the edge under BJ strategy by taking out the T's but they give it back to you in bonuses. If you don't know how to play for the bonuses correctly you aren't getting the edge back that left when they took out the 10's. They treat every 13, 14 and 15 the same and treat every total the same no matter how many cards you have. They screw up the soft hand strategies.

You don't double as many soft hands because they are likely to become multicard bonus hands if you miss making a hand counting the A as 11. The ace is very valuable to getting multicard bonuses.

They treat every double opportunity the same regardless of the number of cards. Most never even recognize there is a bonus draw situation to start with.

Then you need to hit like crazy because the dealer isn't going to bust much. I think the most common 2 card totals are 14, 15 and 16. That means if the dealer has a 5 or 6 up and flips the hole card and takes a hit, not only is he likely to make a hand, but make a strong hand. The main factor for hitting is how likely you are to bust not the dealers bust chances. There is no bust upcard for the dealer in Spanish 21. You are supposed to hit all your 12's and 13's no matter what the dealer has but you rarely see such a simple BS employed at the table.

Then you get surrender. there is one BS surrender in Spanish 21, 17vA. Nobody bats an eye if you surrender any other stiff but watch what happens when you surrender 17vA on one hand and hit 16vA on the other. Everyone thinks you are crazy. 17vA is the worst 2 card matchup in Spanish 21. You should surrender but if you can't you should hit. You never see the plops do either. There really isn't a big difference between any of the decisions but standing is the worst.

Basically most players screw up every aspect of BS.

[Blitzkrieg]

The rescue aspect is something I haven't learned yet. What are some of the typical bonus draws that are commonly seen in U.S. casinos?

[MidwestTom]

Tthree, check your email.

[Gronbog]

The rescue aspect is something I haven't learned yet. What are some of the typical bonus draws that are commonly seen in U.S. casinos?

http://wizardofodds.com/games/spanish-21/

[Three]

You will see bonus draws like 8,6 and 7,6 and 8,7 and 7,7 drawing for 21 (unsuited pays 3:2, suited pays 2:1 and spaded pays 3:1), and the multi-card bonus draws like 4 cards drawing for the 5 card 21 bonus (pays 3:2), 5 cards drawing for the 6 card 21 bonus (pays 2:1) and 6 or more cards drawing for the 7 or more card 21 card bonus (pays 3:1). You must first recognize you are in a bonus draw situation to adjust your strategy to play for it. Of course there's the Super Bonus draw of 2 suited 7's against a dealer 7. If you end up with 3 suited 7's against the dealer's 7 upcard you win $1000 for a bet less than $25 or $5,000 for a bet of $25 or more.

[Blitzkrieg]

I'll make sure to check out what the wizard of odds site says about Spanish 21. Those are a lot of bonus draws in the game, it would be nice to hit a few if I ever play the game in the casino.