Learning Spanish 21 basic strategy

[LFN]

I have a question for those of you who are familiar with looking at the psychological aspect of a counter. I haven’t seen much on this forum addressing memorization techniques for basic strategy and deviations from basic strategy based on count. How do those of you who memorize deviations from basic strategy organize them in your head? For those of you who play Spanish 21, how were you able to memorize all the situations which you are supposed to hit based on the amount of cards in your hand?

I would like to add an explanation to why I am asking these questions. Most people find it fairly easy to memorize a blackjack basic strategy chart. I too, found that with minimal effort, I was able to memorize the entire chart in a few days. However, once I was comfortable with my counting method, I started trying to memorize the illustrious 18. For some reason, it was much more difficult for me to learn these 18 scenarios than it was for me to learn the entire basic strategy chart. I had to play thousands of hands on an app called “Blackjack Trainer” before I had the illustrious 18 (plus a couple more deviations they throw in) completely perfect. Fast forward to now, I have the Spanish 21 basic strategy chart memorized for hit/stand/split/double/surrender. However, I am struggling greatly with memorizing when to hit on hands with 3/4/5/6 cards, and I don’t want to play hundreds of thousands of hands on CV in order to memorize a simple basic strategy chart.

What I’m hoping to get out of this thread is discussion on how you all organize these ideas in your head. When I close my eyes visualize basic strategy, I see the red,yellow,green,blue,white zones correlating with hit/stand/split/double/surrender. When I first started playing after I memorized the chart I would look at my hand and the dealer’s up card, go to the zone in my head, and perform an action based on the color. It’s similar (but on a much smaller scale) to what Tarzan mentioned in his thread on Tarzan count. He sees colors for certain playing decisions for every zone. I think I’m getting hung up on the fact that playing deviations and Spanish 21 hit scenarios do not cover large zones on the chart. They are scattered in non-intuitive ways. I understand that once these strategies have been learned and practiced, they become second nature. I have been able to get to this point in blackjack with the illustrious 18 and basic strategy. However, I would like to get to this point in Spanish 21.

I’ve read Katarina’s book, and she says to learn hit/stand/split/double/surrender and then learn 3/4/5/6 card scenarios in pieces (ie. learn all D3’s first). I agree, and this is the strategy that I’ve been using. The unfortunate thing about this strategy is that I start to forget scenarios I’ve already learned. Another annoyance is that it’s difficult to practice on my phone like I was able to with blackjack because I haven’t been able to find an app that allows redoubling in Spanish 21. In general, I can take the slow and steady approach to learn. However, I’m always looking for ways to improve my memorization abilities.

I’d like to gain some insight as to how you all go about learning deviations and different game strategies.

[Three]

However, I am struggling greatly with memorizing when to hit on hands with 3/4/5/6 cards, and I don’t want to play hundreds of thousands of hands on CV in order to memorize a simple basic strategy chart.

Divide BS into double and hit/stand decisions.

Hit S17 version:
Each bonus type decision can be defined by one hand as a top decision hand. Player hand and the dealer up-card that is the worst hand you follow that action. from best to worst player 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; dealer 2, 3, 4, 6, 5. Note that 5 is the worst card for the dealer in the S17 version.
Hit all 6 card stiff hands 16v4 or less.
Hit all 5 card stiff hands 15v3 or less.
Hit all 4 card stiff hands 15v2 or less except 14v5.
Hit all unsuited 678 bonus draws 15v3 or less.
Hit all spaded 678 bonus draws 15v6 or less.
No 3 card BS changes.
17v8, 9 or T: Hit if 6 cards or more
17vA hit any bonus draw.

Hard doubles:
These have some you just have to memorize the set.
3 card draw: Hit 10v8, 11v(T or A the ones not represented by numbers on the card J,Q,K,A)
4 card bonus draw: Hit 11v(2, and non stiff), 10v (non stiff), 9v(anything)
5+ card bonus draw: Hit (11 and 9)v(anything), 10v(2, 3 and non stiff)

Soft doubles:
Once you have BS down the multi-card strategy is best learned by geometry. A diagonal line across the geometric shape are all D4. above that line D3 and below D5. So...
Hit all 5+ card soft doubles
Hit 4 card bonus draws soft 18v4, soft 17v(4 or 5) and soft 16v6
3 card hand hit 17v4

Soft stands:
All are non doubling soft 18 totals 8 or less.
Soft 18v7 which you are sitting pretty if the dealer has a made 2 card hand you hit 6 or more cards
The rest are hits at 4+ cards.
Hit 4+ card soft 18v(2, 3 or 8)

[stopgambling]

Practice makes perfect.Know yourself , everybody learns differently .You can asked how other learn and lean from them. Work hard and work smartly,eventually a light will turn on.

[Blitzkrieg]

Play the game at hitorsplit.com LFN. It's too bad that you cannot tweak the game to play it where most/every hand gets hit out to the maximum superscript within 6D capabilities.

[ZenMaster_Flash]

LFN,

Katrina walker's book is a sound introduction to Spanish21.
Unfortunately, it has limitations, including a dreadfully weak
Card Counting system. Contact me.

This is for you: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uosc2wigjp...207.0.ipa?dl=0