If you're a fan of blackjack games, then chances are that you have seen or tried Spanish 21. This is a game that offers chances for an exciting experience with good payouts as long as you know the right strategies. The strategies in this game are much more complicated than almost any other form of blackjack, so it's really important that you don't just jump into it without knowing what you're getting yourself into. Here we want to provide you with the basic approach needed for Spanish 21 and the changes that you will need to make from your normal blackjack strategy to compensate for the rule changes.

The basic way this game works is that all of the tens are taken out to create what's known as the 48-card Spanish deck. This creates a big disadvantage for the player, and so there are several rules added that give the player back a lot of value with correct play. You are allowed to surrender late, you can double after splitting, and you are allowed to re-split aces. Also, you'll always win with 21, and you'll always win if you have a blackjack against a dealer blackjack. One other important change to note is that you can double with any number of cards, and you can surrender after doubling as well.

There are a few areas where the basic strategies change in a major way. First off, with hard hands, you're going to hit more often with weak totals against weak dealer cards. You'll always hit a hard 12, and you'll hit a hard 13 unless you're up against a six. Moreover, you'll need to hit hard totals of 14 when you are facing a dealer with a two or three which is atypical in blackjack games. In essence, you can double profitably less often because of the lower concentration of tens in the deck.

With soft hands, you're going to follow the same pattern of doubling less aggressively than usual. You'll never double with a soft hand that's 14 or lower, and you'll only double with a 15 if you're up against a six. You can double against a five or six when you have a total of 16. With soft totals of 17 or 18, you'll double against fours, fives and sixes. Just remember you're getting a good bit of value out of your doubles, but you have to double less often.