A question of Spanish 21?

LordDante

Active Member
#1
Where can i find a BS chart for Spanish 21.

A second question, does the same counting systems as normal blackjack work for spanish 21 if not, what do i use?


thank you (im new to blackjack)
 

callipygian

Well-Known Member
#4
shadroch said:
so using a count like hi-lo becomes an unbalanced count,while traditionally unbalanced counts become balanced instead.
Most unbalanced counts I can think of are unbalanced in the low card heavy direction. Removing the pip 10's should make Red 7 and KO more unbalanced, not less unbalanced. As a matter of fact, removing the pip 10's should put the pivots for both Red 7 and KO well out of the useful range (+6 and +8, respectively). Hi-Lo becomes an unbalanced system with a +4 pivot.

Am I missing something?
 

21forme

Well-Known Member
#6
Using KO would be a big mistake because the EOR of 7 is almost zero in Sp21. There are both balanced and unbalanced counts for Sp21. If you want to learn one that's published, buy the book (go to lulu.com and do a search on Walker.)
 

DonR

Well-Known Member
#8
Just recently I played Spanish a few times, pretty much because I couldn't find a seat at a cheaper BJ table, and there always seems to be more available seats at Spanish 21. Didn't do too bad, I followed BS from wizardofodds.com site, and over all broke even, or so.

I am thinking of notching it up and adding some of the counting techniques into it. I have learned, from messages here, about Katarina Walker's book and that seems to be a good investment. In the meantime, just to get a basic idea of what to expect if I go this way, a few basic questions for those of you who play this game more often:

- would one of the counting systems still be hi-lo?
- if so, do you make it a balanced system by counting 2's as a neutral card (zero)?
- in an 8D game, assuming you are using hi-lo, do you start counting from -32 (TC of -4)?
- if so, what would typically be the breaking point in TC, when the player starts having the edge. TC of -3, or higher?
 

FLASH1296

Well-Known Member
#9
Span 21 B.S.

Without Card Counting Span 21 is not a good game,
so do NOT play it using only Basic Strategy.
You will lose money at an accelerated rate.


To (partially) answer your questions:

Using Hi-Lo (in the standard fasion) with an incorrect B.S. will (virtually) assure you of you of hefty losses.

Hi-Lo is not appropriate for Span. 21 without a significant bet-sizing adjustment.

Obviously that is because the "Spanish Deck" is devoid of 'tens'.

That means that the Running Count is (Hi-Lo) -4 times the number of decks in the shoe. The True count "off the top" is -4.

Katarina Walker's brilliant book teaches all the adjustments required.

Buy the book.
 
#10
DonR said:
Just recently I played Spanish a few times, pretty much because I couldn't find a seat at a cheaper BJ table, and there always seems to be more available seats at Spanish 21. Didn't do too bad, I followed BS from wizardofodds.com site, and over all broke even, or so.

I am thinking of notching it up and adding some of the counting techniques into it. I have learned, from messages here, about Katarina Walker's book and that seems to be a good investment. In the meantime, just to get a basic idea of what to expect if I go this way, a few basic questions for those of you who play this game more often:

- would one of the counting systems still be hi-lo?
- if so, do you make it a balanced system by counting 2's as a neutral card (zero)?
- in an 8D game, assuming you are using hi-lo, do you start counting from -32 (TC of -4)?
- if so, what would typically be the breaking point in TC, when the player starts having the edge. TC of -3, or higher?
Buy the book
 

DonR

Well-Known Member
#11
FLASH1296 said:
Without Card Counting Span 21 is not a good game,
so do NOT play it using only Basic Strategy.
You will lose money at an accelerated rate.


To (partially) answer your questions:

Using Hi-Lo (in the standard fasion) with an incorrect B.S. will (virtually) assure you of you of hefty losses.

Hi-Lo is not appropriate for Span. 21 without a significant bet-sizing adjustment.

Obviously that is because the "Spanish Deck" is devoid of 'tens'.

That means that the Running Count is (Hi-Lo) -4 times the number of decks in the shoe. The True count "off the top" is -4.

Katarina Walker's brilliant book teaches all the adjustments required.

Buy the book.
I'll buy the book for sure; it should come in handy, sooner or later, and based on what everybody here says, it seems to be the most valuable source in the market these days. I'm just trying to get a feel of how similar counting in Spanish 21 (including all the adjustments, obviously) is to what I'm still trying to master in regular BJ. Hi-lo is the only system I've ever tried, and I'd like to stick to it, if possible of course. Wouldn't really like too much confusion, that a new and possibly significantly different system of counting and BS variations can bring, at least not until I get even more comfortable with regular BJ counting.

I guess when I buy the book, I'll get my answers of how soon I really want to jump into it.

So FLASH1296, you were very clear on the recommendation of NOT to play with BS only. As I said, I only played it a few times so far, and only when I could not play regular BJ, for whatever reason. I guess I'll stay away until I get into counting. Thanks!
 

Kasi

Well-Known Member
#12
DonR said:
- would one of the counting systems still be hi-lo?
- if so, do you make it a balanced system by counting 2's as a neutral card (zero)?
- in an 8D game, assuming you are using hi-lo, do you start counting from -32 (TC of -4)?
- if so, what would typically be the breaking point in TC, when the player starts having the edge. TC of -3, or higher?
Katrina uses Hi-lo starting at -32 RC like you say (for 8 D AC game).

Yes, you have an edge at TC -3 (in AC game). Not an H17 game. Edge kicks in at TC -2 there. Her TC's are rounded.

For a BS player, it's a better game to play than BJ, once again, in Atlantic City anyway.
 
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