While Spanish 21 isn’t as popular in brick-and-mortar casinos as it once was, the game still has a large and devoted following online! And when you realize that the game only disappeared from casino floors because players were simply winning too much money, you will want to find a Spanish 21 game and get in on the action!
In this article, we are going to highlight Spanish 21 strategies that you need to know and use to make money while playing Spanish 21. Knowing proper Spanish 21 strategy is the key to beating the house and here we are going to provide you with TheSportsGeek’s top-5 Spanish 21 strategies that you need to know.
Before we get too deep into discussing Spanish 21 strategy, let’s kick things off by first highlighting some of the player-friendly Spanish 21 rules. Let’s get started!
Spanish 21 Rules
Why is Spanish 21 so much better than a traditional blackjack game? Because the casino gives players all kinds of options that you just won’t see at a standard BJ game. Here we will check in on some of the more impactful Spanish 21 rules.
Doubling Down Options
One of the biggest advantages that players have while playing Spanish 21 are the liberal rules surrounding doubling down. On a standard BJ game, you can usually only double down on only your first 2 cards. And on many lower limit tables, you can only double down if your first 2 cards add up to a 10 or 11.
When playing Spanish 21, players can double down at any time, no matter what cards they may have in their hand. You can double on your first 2 cards if they don’t add up to 10 or 11 and you can even double after a double if you so choose.
Doubling down is a powerful play, as you get the opportunity to add to your bet after you see a lot of the hand play out and most players don’t take advantage of it nearly enough. At Spanish 21, you can even double after a split, which is a really powerful tool in certain situations.
The Ability To Surrender At Any Time
It isn’t very fun to have to surrender a hand when you are playing blackjack, as nobody likes a quitter, but the math says that there are times where getting half of your bet back on a surrender is clearly the higher value play.
We are going to talk in a bit about how you need to be very aggressive on how often you double down and being able to surrender if you don’t get the card you are hoping for builds in some insurance to all of the doubling that you are going to be doing when playing Spanish 21. If the math isn’t right and you are dealt a loser, being able to punt and get a partial refund is an attractive option.
Bonus Payouts For Bigger Hands
For casual players, what attracts them the most to the game is all of the extra payouts that you are going to get. When you are playing blackjack, you only win what you bet, with the exception of a blackjack, which pays out either 3/2 or 6/5.
At Spanish 21, there are several ways to earn odds-based payouts that players love! Let’s take a look at those potential payouts below.
- 5 Card 21 pays out 3/2
- 6 Card 21 pays out 2-1
- 7 Card 21 pays out 3-1
- 3 card 21 with all suited 7s pays out a whopping $1,00 bonus!
As you can see, when you are playing Spanish 21, you get rewarded for all of your 21s, not just your blackjacks. Those jumbo payouts add a lot of excitement to the game as players love to hit it big and win juicy payouts.
On top of these 21 bonuses, if you are dealt a blackjack, or hit to 21, instead of waiting to see what happens to the dealer’s hand, you will get paid out immediately. No more settling for an even money payout on your blackjack if the dealer has an ace showing, and no more painful pushes when the dealer hits their hand to 21 as well. At Spanish 21, if you’ve got the good, you get paid right away.
You Can Split Up To 4 Times
Is there anything more frustrating than getting dealt a pair of aces only to split them and draw another ace? If you are playing blackjack, your promising potential double 21 is now just a 12 that you can’t do anything with besides pray that the dealer busts.
This is a great rule as if splitting the first time was the correct play, splitting it again will also be the right Spanish 21 strategy. That added flexibility allows players to play up to 4 hands and win a boatload of cash if things break their way.
All Of The 10s Are Missing
As you are reading through this list of rules, you may be wondering to yourself, how can Spanish 21 offer so many player-friendly rules without the casino losing money? Well, the casino makes up for all of these awesome rule changes by taking all of the 10s out of the deck.
Having fewer big cards in the deck means that both the players and the dealer will bust less often. With the dealer getting to act last and busting less often, they are going to make more hands, which means they will beat the players more often. Even with this deck change, if played properly, Spanish 21 can be a very profitable game for players in the know.
Spanish 21 Strategies
Now that we have you up to speed on all of the fun rule changes that you are going to encounter at a Spanish 21 table, we are going to get to the good stuff! Check out TheSportsGeek’s top-5 Spanish 21 strategies below! If you are looking for strategies to win in Spanish 21, look no further as we here at TheSportsGeek have got you covered!
Be Aggressive Doubling Down
Spanish 21 favors the bold as you need to be very aggressive when it comes to doubling down. Being able to double multiple times during the hand is a massive advantage and in order to take advantage of it, you need to find creative ways to double your bet.
But the proper Spanish 21 strategy would be to double your hand yet again, this time to 4 total bets, as your 11 plays well against the dealer’s bust card. Other spots that you are going to want to double where you might not normally, would be situations where you have a soft hand and the dealer has a bust card showing.
There are lots of spots where you are going to want to double when playing Spanish 21, so many that we couldn’t ever go into all of them individually. Just always keep doubling down top of mind and if there is a spot that you are in where you think that a double might make sense, lean towards doubling down too often, rather than not enough.
Don’t Be Afraid To Surrender
This next tip goes hand in hand with the last tip about being aggressive on your double downs. If you are a skilled blackjack player, you know that surrendering is just part of the game. We would all rather stand pat and let the dealer bust, but the fact of the matter is that sometimes you are dealt a loser and you need a way out. That way out is surrendering.
It is harder for the dealer to bust at Spanish 21 with the missing 10s from the deck, so that dream of the dealer busting to save your bad hand isn’t much more than a pipe dream.
Throw in that you can surrender at any time, even after you double down, or hit to a bad hand, and you can start to see why surrendering needs to be a staple in your Spanish 21 strategy book. We want you to be ultra aggressive on those double downs and surrendering if things don’t go the way that you hoped is a great backup plan, that will allow you to be aggressive, without getting hammered if you are running unlucky.
Keep On Hitting
We have talked quite a bit about the fact that there are no 10s in the deck on a Spanish 21 game. With fewer 10s, you are going to bust your hands less often, which means that you need to hit in more spots than you would if you were playing blackjack.
Hitting after you split isn’t even allowed at blackjack and you have to take advantage of the ability to hit after a split when playing Spanish 21. Did you get dealt a pair of aces and split them and end up with a soft 14? Great, hit that again, and improve your hand.
You can even take this tip and combine it with some of our previous tips, as you can keep hitting and if you find yourself in a good double down situation, be aggressive with it and double your bet. Hit, hit, and hit some more when playing Spanish 21!
Stay Away From Taking Insurance
Insurance is never a very good bet. You are basically betting against yourself and hoping to lose. That never makes too much sense, no matter which variation of 21 you are playing.
But once again, that lack of 10s in the deck changes your Spanish 21 strategies, as insurance goes from a bad bet on a blackjack table to a laughably awful bet when playing Spanish 21.
You are only offered insurance if the dealer has an ace as their up card. You only win your insurance bet if the dealer has a blackjack, which means they need a face card in the hole to complete the hand. In a standard deck of cards, any king, queen, jack, or 10 would complete the blackjack, making your insurance bet a winner.
But at Spanish 21, with those 10 taken out of the deck, it reduces the number of cards worth 10 by 25%. You would think that a significant change in odds like that would change the payout of an insurance bet, but that just isn’t the case as insurance pays the same 2-1 at Spanish 21 as it does t blackjack. I am always going to tell you to stay away from taking insurance, but at Spanish 21, an insurance bet is downright silly.
Use A Basic Strategy Guide
I have thrown a lot at you already today. Spanish 21 is fundamentally different from blackjack, and you have to make sure that you are aware of all of the little nuances of the game and how to best exploit them.
These basic strategy cards will tell you what to do in just about every situation you can find yourself in while playing Spanish 21. Not sure if you should hit or stand? Check your strategy card. Should you double down? Check your strategy card.
Do you want to take insurance? Check your… Ha! That was a trick question as you already know not to ever take insurance. But you get the point here, as that basic strategy card is going to help guide your decisions and ensure that you are playing the game well. There really isn’t any compelling reason to not use a basic strategy guide to help formulate the most effective Spanish 21 strategy so get one and use it today!
Conclusion
Are you ready to put all of these new Spanish 21 strategy tips into play? Then make sure that you swing by TheSportsGeek’s online casino’s page, where we highlight all of the top online casinos and bring you exclusive offers. Thanks for reading and good luck playing Spanish 21 online!
