How to play Spanish 21

Spanish 21 plays like blackjack until it does not. The deck is different, the payouts are different, and two of the decisions have no blackjack equivalent at all.

Short answer

You are dealt two cards and try to beat the dealer without going over 21, exactly as in blackjack. The differences are that the deck has no tens, a player 21 always wins, player blackjack always beats dealer blackjack and pays 3:2, you may double on any number of cards, you may take back the doubled portion of a bet after doubling (rescue), and certain 21s pay bonuses. Learn the chart before you sit down.

The Spanish deck

A Spanish deck is a standard 52-card deck with the four tens removed, leaving 48 cards. The jacks, queens and kings remain, so there are still 12 ten-valued cards per deck instead of 16. Casinos deal Spanish 21 from six or eight of these decks. Every number on this site is computed for the six-deck game, which is 288 cards.

Removing tens is what makes the game different. It lowers your chance of a two-card 21, weakens every double, and makes the dealer bust less often. All of the player-friendly rules below exist to compensate.

The hand

You place your bet. Optional side bets, such as Match the Dealer, are placed at the same time.
You get two cards face up. The dealer gets one up and one down.
If the dealer shows an ace or a ten-valued card, the dealer peeks for blackjack. If the dealer has it, the hand ends immediately, unless you also have 21, in which case you win.
You act: hit, stand, double, split, surrender, and after doubling, rescue.
The dealer plays out. The dealer hits until reaching 17 or more. Whether the dealer hits soft 17 is posted at the table and is worth about 0.40 percentage points, so read the felt.
Hands are compared. Any player 21 wins outright, and bonus 21s pay extra.

The rules that only exist here

Player 21 always wins

If you make 21, you win immediately. The dealer never ties you at 21, and a dealer blackjack does not beat your blackjack. This rule alone is worth about 0.32 percentage points of house edge.

Doubling on any number of cards

You may double on any total, with any number of cards. Doubling a three-card 11 is a normal play here. This freedom is worth about 0.17 percentage points.

Double-down rescue

After doubling, and before the dealer plays, you may surrender the hand and take back the doubled portion of the bet, losing only your original wager. This is the single most misunderstood rule in the game. It is worth about 0.15 percentage points, and it is only correct on specific totals. See the chart.

Bonus 21s

Reaching 21 with five cards, six cards, seven or more cards, or with a 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 combination, pays a bonus above the normal even-money win. Bonuses are void after doubling or splitting. Full pay table on the bonuses page.

Late surrender

You may give up half your bet after the dealer checks for blackjack. Under the correct chart this is almost never the right play. In a six-deck game where the dealer stands on soft 17 it is never correct at all, and when the dealer hits soft 17 it is correct on exactly one hand.

Splitting

You may split up to four hands, double after splitting, and both draw to and double split aces. Bonus 21s do not pay on a split hand. That last point matters more than it looks: it is one of the reasons that splitting a pair of suited sevens against a dealer 7 is a mistake.

Common questions

Are the jacks, queens and kings still in the deck?

Yes. Only the four cards ranked ten are removed. Each deck still has 12 ten-valued cards.

Does player blackjack still pay 3:2?

In the standard game, yes, and it also beats a dealer blackjack instead of pushing. Some tables pay 6:5 on blackjack. That is a large hidden cost and turns a fair Spanish 21 game into a bad one. [TODO: compute the exact cost of a 6:5 Spanish 21 blackjack payout and publish it here.]

What happens if I make 21 with six cards after doubling?

You win the doubled bet, but you do not get the six-card bonus. Bonuses are void once you double or split.