Spanish Blackjack

Aside from its tumultuous relationship with the United States, Microgaming is a casino software of the world. No other gaming platform offers so many different games, and versions of games, that represent all of the curved corners of our planet.

Spanish 21 is on Microgaming’s blackjack list, and I, for one, am glad it made the cut.

You won’t find a natural 10 card in Spanish 21-they’ve been removed from all 8 decks. You’ll probably be concerned, as I was, at this fact, because the fewer the number of 10-value cards, the lower the chances are for a blackjack.

I would have passed the game by, seeing it as a sneaky ruse by the casino to stack odds absolutely in their favor, except that I happened to read the rules as I prepared for this review. And I was pleasantly surprised.

Most of Microgaming blackjack rules apply. Here’s what trading in all those natural tens gets you:

• Ties of “21” go to the player. They do not push.
• If “21” is achieved with 5 cards, the payout is 3 to 2.
• If “21” is achieved with 6 cards, the payout is 2 to 1.
• If you can miraculously achieve “21” with 7 or more cards, your payout is 3 to 1.
• If your hand is a 6-7-8 or a 7-7-7 combo in a varied suit, the payout is 3 to 2.
• If you can do the above in the same suit, the payout is doubled; all in spades, tripled.

To really sweeten the pot, Microgaming offers a Super Bonus of $1000 (if the original wager was $24 or less) or $5000 (if the original wager was $25 or more) if you can land a same-suited 7-7-7 combo AND the dealer shows at least one seven.

This standard Spanish Blackjack table features chip sizes from 1 to 25 and has a maximum bet of 500 credits.

As far as the other rules go, splitting is allowed and doubling can occur on split hands.

Surrender is available for those that want to back out of half their bet after seeing their initial cards (but prior to acting on them).

You can even surrender a hand that’s been doubled at anytime, as long as you do it before busting.

Spanish Blackjack is also available in a multi-hand format at the following recommended casinos.