SPANISH 21
A Sombrero Full of of Fun
Reporting big news about Blackjack is a rare occurrence, but we are happy to be reporting really big news in the making.

Over the past 10 years, the constant decline in the popularity of Blackjack (a.k.a. 21) has elicited many explanations from casino analysts. The intimidation factor, the dissolution of the military, the technical evolution of slots and video poker and the public's diminishing capability to absorb the available reading material have been advanced to explain the attrition in Blackjack players in proportion to other casino games.

But suddenly, that decline gives promise of being reversed very quickly and all the theories have been shown to be fallacious. With the introduction of a new version, called Spanish 21, the crowds are returning.

What is there so attractive about Spanish 21 that accounts for its instant popularity?

Just the one thing that regular BJ came up short on.....it's much more fun to play. It also happens to give the players a better chance of winning, but they won't appreciate that until they can learn how to play the new version better.

Spanish 21 gives the player more privileges, more options and more ways to win bonus hands plus a free jackpot award. This all spells more fun at the tables.

The Spanish designation stems from the 48-card deck which has no ten-spots and is widely recognized in native games in the Phillipines. Aside from missing these ten-spots, virtually all the rules of regular BJ apply with these very liberal modifications:

• Players BJ's are winners over Dealer BJ's and pay 3-2.
• Player 21's are instant winners and paid immediately. (Dealer first checks for BJ's)
• Player may Double Down on any number of cards.
• Player may surrender a (non-busted) Doubled Hand, keeping initial Bet.
• Player may resplit pairs up to 4 times, including Aces.
• Double Down after Splitting is permitted.
• Bonus 21 Payoffs:
  • 5 Card 21 , 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 mixed suits Pays 3-2
  • 6 Card 21 , 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 same suit Pays 2-1
  • 7 Card 21 , 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 in spades Pays 3-1

To top it all off, there is a Jackpot offered to a Player who gets three suited 7's when the Dealer is showing any 7. This bonus is $1,000 for a $5.00 Player and scales up to a maximum of $5,000 for a green chip Player.

Continuing in the theme of more fun for all, every player at the table also gets a $50 "envy" mini-jackpot. Thus, Spanish BJ is not the eternal grind game like its predecessor, which offered little chance for a player suffering a cold streak to get it all back in a hurry.

Obviously, these bonuses dictate that Spanish 21 be dealt from a multi-deck shoe and the standard has been six decks. Despite this "really big shoe" and despite the stripping of tens, the goodies listed above give the expert player a return of about 99.2% which is essentially on a par with a regular BJ game using two-decks.

If there is anything about this game that players won't like, it isn't apparent to this point, but as we all know, everything in this world has polarity.

There is a bit of a dark side in that the Basic Strategy for the old Blackjack simply is useless in Spanish BJ, so it will be necessary to learn a new Basic Strategy in order to attain the intrinsic payback. Since many brand-new players will now be drawn to Spanish BJ, they can start fresh and probably will never attempt to play the old version.

The complete strategy is available in a booklet for $4.95
A 4-color strategy card to take to the table is available for $3.95.

Compu-Flyers Product Catalog

---