Spanish 21 vs Blackjack: Which Game Offers Better Odds?

Spanish 21 is an inviting game to look at – and comparing it to blackjack is a fun comparison to make. 

Today, we’re going to do a deep dive into whether you should be playing Spanish 21 instead of regular Blackjack.

The first thing to know is that Spanish 21 has nothing to do with Spain or one of the Latin American countries. The game was introduced in the USA in the mid-1990s, and is owned by Masque Publishing, based in Colorado. For more info on what is Spanish 21, you can watch our video here:

With it’s standard rules, it has a House Advantage of approximately 0.40%, which makes it a very player-friendly game.

Spanish 21 is a version of Blackjack played from a 6-deck or 8-deck shoe.

The shoe is set up with all the 10s removed – which of course reduces the chance of getting a blackjack – and changes the House Advantage in favor of the casino by about 2%.

The casinos know that an HA of 2%+ is unsurmountable for the players and in order to even things up, most casinos have a very liberal set of other rules to compensate for the 10s being removed.

And btw – it’s just the 10s that are removed, all the face cards are still in use.

Here are the House Advantage percentages once those liberal rules are in place.

Please note that S17 means the dealer will stand on a Soft 17, and H17 means the dealer will hit a Soft 17.

Rules	Number of Decks	House Edge
s17	6	0.37%
s17	8	0.38%
h17	6	0.78%
h17	8	0.79%

The answer as to which game you should be playing may surprise you! 

Once you have finished reading this article, you will know the similarities and differences between Spanish 21 and Blackjack, how the House Edge is different depending on the rules in place, what payouts are generally available, what bonuses are usually in place and my recommendation as to which game you may want to play.

Similarities between Spanish 21 and Blackjack

Both games are dealt from a shoe, using either 6 or 8 decks.  Regular blackjack can also feature 4 decks, or one or two decks dealt from the hand.

The object of the game is to get as close to 21 as you can without going over.

The dealer usually stands on a Soft 17 in Spanish 21 (S17), whereas in regular blackjack the dealer may hit or stand on a Soft 17.

While some casinos will have the dealer hitting a Soft 17 (H17), that changes the House Advantage significantly in favor of the casino, so it’s quite unusual to see the dealer hitting a Soft 17 on a Spanish 21 game because removing all the 10s has already bumped up the HA in the casino’s favor.

Differences between Spanish 21 and Blackjack

• Spanish 21 is dealt using a 48-card deck.  All the 10s have been removed, with the face cards all being in use.
• If the player and dealer both get a blackjack with their first two cards, it is not a push, the player always wins and is paid 3 to 2.
• In Spanish 21, the player has the option to ‘Late Surrender’.  Some regular blackjack games do offer this, but probably less than half of them. In Spanish 21, Late Surrender is a standard rule.
• The Spanish 21 rules regarding doubling down are much more relaxed than standard blackjack. Not only can you double down on any two-card hand, but you can double down even after you hit or split, too!
• The player, having doubled down, can do a ‘double down rescue’, also called ‘double down surrender’.  If their double down card doesn’t help their hand, they can give up their original bet, but ‘rescue’ their double down bet.

Bonus Hand	Payout
Five-card 21	3-2
Six-card 21	2-1
Severn-or-more card 21	3-1
6-7-8 and 7-7-7 (mixed suits)	3-2
7-7-7 same suit	2-1
7-7-7 in spades	3-1
Player bets less than $25 and has suited 7-7-7 againt any suited dealer's 7 upcard	$1,000 Super Bonus
Same as above except if a player bets $25 or more	$5,000 Super Bonus plus all other players get a $50 "envy" bonus payout

The Super Bonus is likely to hit once in more than 650,000 hands on a 6-deck shoe, and once in more than half a million hands on an 8-deck shoe.  The bet amount does have a small effect on the House Edge, but generally as the bet increases, the benefit to the players goes down.

There are some differences of opinion about whether the bonuses should be paid after a split, and most casinos do not pay them after a split.  The net effect of that is so small as to be not significant at all.

There is an online version of the Spanish 21 game offered by Betsoft under the name of Pirate 21. 

It is also offered at a casino in Austria as Blackjack Exchange and the S’KLallam Tribe in Washington State run the game at their Seven Cedars Casino under the name of Bahama Bonus Blackjack.

The game is called Australian Pontoon in Australia and Malaysia.

Math the Dealer Side Bet

You will often find that the casino has included this side bet when they put Spanish 21 on their casino floor.  This side bet is a simple one to understand. 

It wins if either of the player’s first two cards match the dealer’s up card.

It pays more if the suit and rank both match.

It goes without saying that like all side bets, the Match the Dealer side bet on the Spanish 21 game is there to increase the table’s win, and the VP of Table Games’ bonus at the end of the year.

It’s not a good thing for the players, but it is if you’re the VP of Table Games.

So don’t bet it.  No, really, don’t bet it.

The Match the Dealer Pay Table

The Hand	The Payout
Two suited matches	22 to 1
One suited, and one non-suited match	15 to 1
One suited match	11 to 1
Two non-suited matches	8 to 1
One non-suitedd match	4 to 1

The House Advantage on this bet is 4.06% - almost exactly 10x the House Advantage on the main game.

Listed below are the payout amounts for the bonus bets.  This is a very liberal list of the bets that make the game more even, and as you can see, there are many bonus hands that pay out up to 3 to 1 if  you hit one.

And of course, the $1,000 and $5,000 payouts are very generous – even if those hands only show up once in every half a million or more hands.

Payout Differences

In regular blackjack, the only payout that is not even money is the payout for blackjack, which may be 3 to 2, but these days is more likely to be worse at 6 to 5.

The Bonus Hands on Spanish 21 pay up to 3 to 1, as listed in this table below:

The Hand	How Much It Pays
7-7-7 Suited in Spades	3 to 1
7-7-7 Suited	2 to 1
7-7-7 Mixed	3 to 2
5-card 21	3 to 2
6-card 21	2 to 1
7-or-more card 21	3 to 1
6-7-8 Suited in Spades	3 to 1
6-7-8 Suited	2 to 1
6-7-8 Mixed	3 to 2
7-7-7 Suited + Dealer 7 any suit, up to $24	$1,000
7-7-7 Suited + Dealer 7 any suit, $25 and up	$5,000

Blackjack on Spanish 21 always pays 3 to 2. None of that 6 to 5 nonsense.

House edge differences

Generally, the House Edge is lower in Spanish 21

Try to find a game where the dealer stands on a Soft 17 (S17).  Many casinos will have the dealer hit a Soft 17 (H17), because it takes the House Advantage up to 0.76% from 0.40%.

Changes to the rules change the House Advantage, and sometimes quite significantly. Take a look at the table below to see how some changes to the rules affect the House Advantage:

Rules	Number of Decks	House Edge
H17	6	0.78%
	8	0.80%
S17	6	0.37%
	8	0.38%
H17 with redoubling	6	0.42%
	8	0.45%

Rule Changes	Changes in House Edge
No surrender (H17)	0.018%
No surrencer (S17)	0.006%
No draws on split Aces (H17 or S17)	-.28%
No draws on Split Aces (H17 with redoubling)	0.29%
Natural after split pays 3:2	-0.16%

Spanish 21 Basic Strategy Charts

These Basic Strategy charts are included so you can make the best decisions when playing Spanish 21. 

And yes, they are more complex than a regular blackjack Basic Strategy chart, but they create more opportunities for the knowledgeable player.

Spanish 21 Basic Strategy Chart 1 - H17

Spanish 21 Basic Strategy Chart 2 - S17

Spanish 21 Basic Strategy Chart 3 - H17, Double Down, Player Has Not Doubled

Spanish 21 Basic Strategy Chart 4 - H17, Double Double Down, Player Has Doubled

Which game is better for the players, Spanish 21 or Blackjack?

Spanish 21 Basic Strategy is different to regular BJ Basic Strategy, and more complicated to learn. 

Having said that, Spanish 21 can offer a great opportunity to win because of the more liberal rules the casinos have to add to compensate for the 10s being taken out of play.

One thing to be aware of is that most casino staff think that Spanish 21 is a retail variant of regular Blackjack, and not to be taken too seriously. 

What they don’t realize is that an advantage player can exploit the game and make some real headway into the plus column by playing solid Spanish 21 Basic Strategy and buying and using the card counting information contained in Katarina Walker’s excellent book, ‘The Pro’s Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon’. 

It really is the gold standard book for how to count cards in Spanish 21.

Expert’s Advice

•  A blackjack always pays 3 to 2 on Spanish 21, and you always win if you get one.  If you have blackjack and the dealer has one, too, you don’t push, you win.
•  On regular blackjack, it’s recommended that you never take Insurance.  On Spanish 21, taking Insurance is an absolute no-no.  Insurance is a bet that the dealer has a blackjack, and because all the 10s have been removed, you’re even less likely to be looking at a dealer’s blackjack.
•  An Ace in Spanish 21 is even more of a friend than on regular blackjack because all the 10s have been removed.   On a regular blackjack game, you win 52% of your hands if your first card is an Ace.   Because one in every 12 cards is now an Ace, vs one in every 13 cards on a regular blackjack game, if your first card is an Ace, you win an even higher percentage of hands.
• In Spanish 21, be aware if you see a lot of high cards coming out.  If the shoe has more low cards than high cards remaining, unlike in regular blackjack this is a good thing.  Why?  Because those small cards still in the shoe will make it easier to make the 4, 5, and 6-card bonus hands that pay up to 3 to 1 if you hit one.
• Those bonus hands account for a lot of your opportunities to win when playing Spanish 21.  So don’t be bashful about splitting low pairs and try to make one of the multi-card bonus hands that pay 3 to 2, 2 to 1 or even 3 to 1.
• You can draw more than one card if you split Aces on Spanish 21, and don’t forget that you can then double down, too.
• And lastly, look for a Spanish 21 game where the dealer stands on a Soft 17 (S17).  This is a good thing for the players, because hitting a Soft 17 (H17) increases the House Advantage from 0.40% to 0.76% - almost double.

Conclusion

I wrote an in-depth article about Spanish 21 that is published here on Chipy.com in the Academy. It explores in great depth how to play the game and the advantages it offers you.

Here are a couple of quotes from that original article:

• "The reality is this game offers lots of opportunities to a serious player that regular blackjack does not, and it may be more countable and exploitable for the advantage player."
• "The casual players who play Spanish 21 prefer it to regular blackjack because it offers something different and multiple bonus payouts. For advantage players it offers a low 0.40% HA and using a modified standard Hi-Lo count makes for a game that they can attack and possibly do very well.  In addition to that, the liberal rules and generous bonus payouts, as well as the casino personnel not thinking the game is susceptible to advantage play make it a very attractive game for them."

So, if you’re willing to spend a little time learning the more complex Basic Strategy and then learn how to count the game from Katrina Walker’s detailed book, I think Spanish 21 gives an advantage player the opportunity to win that simply doesn’t exist on a regular blackjack game.

And as always, good luck.