The real money online casino world depends on bonuses to attract and retain players. With no physical location and no way to see the player face to face, a casino must find a Blackjack 21+3 Rules compelling reason for you to make a deposit to try out their games, Blackjack 21+3 Rules and the most common way to do so is to give you a significant match play bonus to go along with your deposit. Dealers in 21+3 blackjack are bound by the same rules found in standard variations of the game. The dealer must stand pat on any total of 17, hard or soft, and must take a hit on any total of 16 or below until his/her hand equals 17 or more.
The 21+3 side bet is optional, and its size does not need to be the same as the main bet. In order to play the side-bet, you need to participate in the main hand.
Placing a bet in the 21+3 square is all you need to do to participate. As soon as the deal is made, and before any player takes any actions the 2 player cards and the dealer’s up-card (or only card in European Blackjack) are compared to the pay table.
There are several variations of 21+3 payouts, the most simple pays from a ‘flush +pair’ and up, with 9-to-1 payouts in each case. When pairs are also included, this is hit more often, so the prizes are lowered to reflect this. There are 3-to-1 for all hands (pair, flush, straight, trips and straight flush) or there are staggered pay tables.
When the prizes are staggered, a straight flush or better can win significant money. Here is an example:
Keep in mind that depending on the pay table, the house edge can get as high as 13% for this side bet. You can find examples of games (depending on the number of decks in use) where this is around 2.78% instead.
It goes without saying that knowing the correct basic strategy of the base game is a prerequisite here. Without this you are just handing money to the house.
Your main ‘strategy’ decision over the long run with the 21+3 side-bet is whether to play or not. The house edge is bigger than in most base games. If you know this, then you get to decide whether the added interest and entertainment (and chance of a windfall win) are worth it to you. If the extra engagement from the 21+3 bet works for you – then you can simply add a little to your bankroll to cover this.
Card counters can beat this game by memorizing the suits as they are dealt. It is possible on some deals to find one suit over-represented as the shoe gets smaller – turning the edge positive for players. The expected hourly rate for this is very low compared to other forms of counting. Online the deck is shuffled after each hand, making card counting impossible.
Adding a poker style hand to blackjack makes for an interesting variation – though I do wonder whether ‘purists’ in either discipline would approve! Depending on which of the pay tables you use there is the chance of a 9-to-1 or even bigger windfall. That elusive suited 3-of-a-kind (paying 100-to-1) would certainly be memorable.
Whether you participate depends on your attitude towards side-bets in general. Some players like these bets, and are happy to pay the extra house-edge for the chance of the occasional big win. Others scorn these bets as long-term losers.
Spanish 21 is a variation of blackjack, that in some cases is the best bet in the casino. In locations where the dealer stands on a soft 17, or redoubling is allowed, Spanish 21 may be a better bet than blackjack, depending on the specific blackjack rules. If you are looking for a change of pace from traditional blackjack but insist on a game with a low house edge, then you may find new excitement in Spanish 21.
In Australia and Malaysia, Spanish 21 is called Pontoon. There are some rule changes in Australia, which merit a separate page. For all the details please visit my page on Australian Pontoon. To make matters more confusing, there is another similar game, but different enough to warrant a separate page, called Player's Edge 21.
Following is a list of known aliases of the game:
Spanish 21 uses six or eight Spanish decks, each deck consisting of 48 cards — the regular 52 cards less the four tens. Any card counter can tell you that removing any 10-point card from the cards moves the odds in favor of the dealer. To make up for this, Spanish 21 gives the player a host of bonuses and favorable rules. There are lots of Spanish 21 games all over the country, so rules will vary somewhat from place to place, but the usual rules in the player's favor are:
Variable Rules
Following is my Spanish 21 basic strategy when the dealer hits a soft 17.
Next is the Spanish 21 basic strategy when the dealer stands on a soft 17.
Note: If drawing to split aces is not allowed, and the dealer stands on soft 17 (as is the case at the Mohegan Sun), then hit A,A vs A.
The next table if for when the dealer hits a soft 17, redoubling is allowed, and the player has not already doubled.
The next table if for when the dealer hits a soft 17, redoubling is allowed, and the player has already doubled, which limits his options to stand, surrender, and double again.
Many readers have expressed doubt about my advice to hit 17 against an ace with 3 or more cards. However, I stand by what I said. The player will save about 2.8% of the initial wager by hitting as opposed to standing. The dealers will advise against this play and the other players may curse the day you were born, but trust me, the odds favor hitting.
Following is the house edge under various common rules, before considering the Super Bonus.The probability of hitting the Super Bonus is 1 in 668,382, with six decks, and 1 in 549,188 with eight decks. The reduction in the house edge depends on the bet amount, and to a lesser extent, the number of players. With no other players, and bets of exactly $5 or $25, the Super Bonus lowers the house edge by 0.030% in a six-deck game, and 0.036% in an eight-deck game. At a bet of exactly $5, the Envy Bonus lowers the house edge by an additional 0.0015% in a six-deck game, and 0.0018% in an eight-deck game, per additional player.
For bet amounts other than those indicated above, the benefit of the Super Bonus will go down as the bet amount goes up.
No Draw to Split Aces: At the Mohegan Sun drawing to split aces is NOT allowed. The effect of this rule is to increase the house edge by 0.29%.
Ace and 10 after splitting aces pays 3 to 2: I have an unconfirmed report that at at one time the Meskaki casino in central Iowa paid 3 to 2 on an ace and 10 after splitting aces. I have another unconfirmed report that as of Aug. 2010 they removed the Spanish 21 table completely. According to my calculations this lowers the house edge by 0.16%. Otherwise they hit a soft 17 and no redoubling, for an overall house edge of 0.60%.
Doubling only allowed on first two cards: I had a false report that a casino in Malaysia didn't allow doubling on any number of cards. If such a rule did exist, it would increase the house edge by 0.16%.
Match the Dealer is a side bet found in both blackjack and Spanish 21. The player wins for each of his initial two cards that match the dealer's up card. Matches in rank only pay less than a match in rank and suit. The following tables show the various pay tables that I am aware of for Spanish 21.
Event | Combinations | Probability | Pays | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Two suited matches | 10 | 0.000244 | 18 | 0.004386 |
One hard and one each match | 90 | 0.002193 | 13 | 0.028508 |
Two non-suited matches | 153 | 0.003728 | 8 | 0.029824 |
One suited match | 1320 | 0.032163 | 9 | 0.289467 |
One non-suited match | 4752 | 0.115787 | 4 | 0.463147 |
No matches | 34716 | 0.845886 | -1 | -0.845886 |
Total | 41041 | 1 | 0 | -0.030555 |
Event | Combinations | Probability | Pays | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Two suited matches | 21 | 0.000287 | 24 | 0.00689 |
One hard and one each match | 168 | 0.002297 | 15 | 0.034448 |
Two non-suited matches | 276 | 0.003773 | 6 | 0.022637 |
One suited match | 2464 | 0.033683 | 12 | 0.404194 |
One non-suited match | 8448 | 0.115484 | 3 | 0.346452 |
No matches | 61776 | 0.844477 | -1 | -0.844477 |
Total | 73153 | 1 | 0 | -0.029855 |
The Casino Bregenz in Austria offers Spanish 21 but calls it Blackjack Exchange. They tack on a side bet called the C4, which is analyzed below. The table is based on six decks and assumes that if the player qualifies for more than one win, he only gets the higher win. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 14.48%.
Event | Combinations | Probability | Pays | Return |
---|---|---|---|---|
Four of a kind | 500 | 138,138 | 0.000337 | 0.168467 |
Straight | 20 | 3,649,536 | 0.008902 | 0.178032 |
Flush | 12 | 5,647,896 | 0.013776 | 0.165310 |
Two pair | 10 | 5,941,728 | 0.014492 | 0.144925 |
Three of a kind | 8 | 7,330,752 | 0.017880 | 0.143044 |
All other | -1 | 387,278,420 | 0.944613 | -0.944613 |
Total | 409,986,470 | 1.000000 | -0.144836 |
Following is the house edge of the C4 for other numbers of decks.
I would like to give a huge thanks to Katarina Walker for correcting some minor strategy errors in this page. She is the author of The Pro's Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon.
German translation of this page.