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Spanish 21 is played with a standard shoe...except the tens are taken out of the deck. The Jacks, Queens, and Kings are still there, but the tens are gone.

In order to make that work, if you have 21, you get paid, right then. If you have  blackjack, you get paid, right then, whether or not the dealer has blackjack also.

Before the hand is dealt, the players must make their bets. The table minimum and maximum are posted somewhere so you can see how much you need to bet. In most Casinos, Spanish 21 has a side bet called Match the Dealer. If the game is $10 minimum, you can usually play the Match the Dealer bet for $1 up to either $25 or $100.
Spanish 21 is usually played with either an eight deck or a six deck shoe, which will be sitting on the Dealer’s left. He will pull cards from the shoe and give them clockwise around the table twice which will give each player a hand.

When each player has received his two cards, the dealer start by paying the Match the Dealer bets around the table. In a six deck game the Match the Dealer bet pays 4:1 for each non-suited match and 9:1 for each suited match. A single match of one of your cards and the dealer’s up card gets paid, and a double match each of your cards gets paid. If you make the bet and have one suited and one non-suited match, you win 4+9 or 13:1. In an eight deck game the match pays 3:1 for non-suited and 12:1 for suited. One of each would pay 15:1 and two of either would double the 3 into 6 and double the 12 to 24. For instance, if you have 4Clubs and 4Hearts, and the dealer has 4Hearts, you would be paid 3:1 for the Club match and 12:1 for the Heart match, but if you had 4H and 4H, you get 24:1 for the double suited match. As you can imagine, this is a very popular side bet.
After the dealer completes payout on the Match the Dealer bets he pays anyone that has blackjack, and that wins 3:2. Then he checks his own hand. If the dealer has an Ace up, he offers Insurance to all players, including any player that has already been paid if they have a blackjack. Insurance is a side bet that allows you to bet that he really does have blackjack. This lets you protect a good hand or recover from a really bad hand. You can bet up to half of the amount of your original bet on Insurance. He checks his hole card to see if there is a blackjack there, and if so, he pays all players that have taken the insurance bet 2:1, but picks up all wagers on the board. However, if he doesn’t have the blackjack, you lose the Insurance bet.
Now the play of the hand begins. Starting on his left the dealer will give each player the chance to act on his/her hand in whatever fashion he/she chooses. First there is the option for Late Surrender. That means that the dealer has checked for blackjack already (hence Late). As the player you can now split, hit, double, or stand. This is where the Basic Strategy in the charts and the above text come into play. Use the chart. until you know what it tells you to do. If you aren’t sure, use the chart.
I strongly suggest you play a few hands at home before you come to a Casino. It make your experience better. If you try to play the game with friends, when you come back from the Casino, you’ll have great stories to share.

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Spanish 21

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