Blackjack Card Counting Spanish 21

Spanish 21 made its first appearance in North America in 1990s – decades after counters had begun to roam the casino land of Nevada to pan gold at blackjack tables. Casinos were alarmed. To make the newly proposed Spanish 21 more appealing to its casino customers, the designer of Spanish 21 must have had in mind to defeat card counters with the new game.

Well, well, the designer wasn't 100% successful, but had had succeeded in putting most of the traditional card-counting systems useless at least. Among the 59 card-counting systems listed in Encyclopedia of Blackjack, it appears only two systems – AceMT and Hi-Lo – can also be used to card-count Spanish 21.

A survey of the printed books also shows that there may be only two or three card counting systems that came with a well-defined method for counting Spanish 21. They are shown below:

 

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If you are looking to learn card-counting blackjack, you may find hundreds of candidate books to read. Identifying the book that is worth your time could be the biggest problem. But if you are looking to learn card count Spanish 21, you are in luck, because there are only two printed books available today, and both books are excellent and have enjoyed rave reviews by many since their publications.

If you google "Spanish 21 card counting books image", the following image may show up.



As you may see, one is by Moraine Mono, and the other by Katrina Walker. A lot can be said about the two books. But in essence, the one by Moraine is on AceMT and the other by Katrina is on Hi-Lo for counting Spanish 21.

 

On Katrina’s Counting Spanish 21 with Hi-Lo

Katrina Walker’s book was published in 2008. The book contains such a wealth of information. Amazon shows that the book has 18 reviews, and received a 4.3 (out of 5-star) average rating from reviewers.

Moraine read the book several times, and believes that the book is well-worth any Spanish 21 card-counter’s reading even if the counter does not like the book’s counting method – Hi-Lo – for counting Spanish 21.

If anyone wants to criticize Katrina’s book, the criticisms shall not be directed to Katrina’s presentations. Katrina's writing is impeccable by any standards. Rather, the criticisms shall be directed more towards Katrina’s use of Hi-Lo for counting Spanish 21.

Hi-Lo was developed for card counting blackjack. Using Hi-Lo for Spanish 21 was a force-fit. Katrina herself seemed to have realized that Hi-Lo might not be the most suitable system for counting Spanish 21. Katrina wrote in the book’s Introduction section: “The Hi-Lo count is the system of choice for most Blackjack advantage players, and for that reason, it is the system I chose for this book.”

 

On Moraine Mono’s Counting Spanish 21 with AceMT and “AceMT plus Halves”

Moraine Mono’s book was published in February 2021. Moraine must be a bit more discreet here. Moraine shouldn't freely heap praise on his own book like he did on Katrina Walker’s book. But the following are in the record:

As of today, Amazon has received four reviews, and all four reviewers gave Moraine’s book a 5-star (out of the best-possible-5-star) rating. Also, the Encyclopedia of Blackjack has the following about Moraine’s book: “The book does an excellent job of explaining many of the typical card counting concepts and is worth reading for that value alone.”

For Spanish 21, Moraine’s book concentrates mainly on applying AceMT to Spanish 21. The book also presents a possible system named “AceMT plus Halves”. Moraine noted that "AceMT plus Halves" may out-perform AceMT for counting Spanish 21 since the "Halves" system also counts each of the cards 8 and 9 as one-half of a high card Ace or Ten. Moraine did not recommend “AceMT plus Halves”, however, since the “Halves" system is Level 2 system and is not as easy as AceMT in actual use.

 

Hi-Lo is a "balanced" system when used to count blackjack. Its running count starts with 0 and ends with 0 for any number of decks in blackjack. But when Hi-Lo is used to count Spanish 21, it becomes an "unbalanced" system. (The running count starts with -24 for 6-deck and -32 for 8-deck Spanish 21.) Using Hi-Lo to count Spanish 21 is more cumbersome than using Hi-Lo to count blackjack right then and there already. The "balanced" to "unbalanced" transition, however, is not the Hi-Lo's biggest fault though.

In Spanish 21, cards 8 and 9 are pretty favorable to players. Removing one 8 or 9 card from the Spanish deck is almost the same as removing ONE-HALF of a face card J, Q or K. The combined "Effect of Removal" for removing all three middle cards 7 , 8 and 9 in Spanish 21 is not an negligible amount, such was the case in blackjack. Rather, the combined effect of removing all three cards 7, 8 and 9 is closer to -1.

The bottom line: Using Hi-Lo to count Spanish 21 is inaccurate in addition to being cumbersome.

 

Using AceMT to count Spanish 21 is just as strait forward as using AceMT to count blackjack as long as the user remembers that a Spanish 21 deck has only 16 high cards, not 20 (as that is the case for blackjack). Since Spanish 21 is normally played with 6 or 8 decks, a 6-deck shoe will have 96 high cards, and an 8-deck shoe 128 high cards.

When computing the AceMT true count in Spanish 21, this formula may be used:

AceMT True Count = (Number of Decks in the Discard Tray x 16 - Number of High Cards Exposed) / Number of Decks in the Remaining Shoe

Example: Say in an 8-deck Spanish 21 game, a player finds that after three decks have been played, only 38 high cards were exposed. What is the AceMT True Count of the cards in the remaining shoe?

Answer: AceMT True Count = (3 x 16 - 38)/(8-3) = (48 -38)/5 = 10 / 5 = 2

 

Spanish 21 Favors Counters Where It Counts Most

At high AceMT counts, there are plenty of aces and monkeys in the shoe. The chance of your getting the blackjack while the dealer also getting blackjack is high. If it is in Spanish 21, your go-for-broke bet is paid 3-to-2, but if it is regular blackjack, you are paid a HUGE ZERO. Mamma Mia!

 

Hit The Book: The Only Way to Learn Card Counting Spanish 21
The other day, someone asked me how to get started with card counting Spanish 21, I said: "Use the old fashion way, hit the book."
Here I want to add: "Forget about boot camps or computer programs -- They don't worth a dime for counting Spanish 21."

 

QUESTION: What books?

ANSWER: Moraine just searched the internet and found only two printed books -- one on using Hi-Lo by Katrina Walker, the other on using AceMT by Moraine Mono -- THAT'S ME, Hah.

You must read at least one book, but preferably both in order to decide which counting method you may like when playing Spanish 21. Both contain COMPLETELY NEW INFORMATION THAT YOU COULDN'T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE, not the the recycled information that you may expect in many blackjack books on the market nowadays.

 

True Cost Comparison: Becoming A Card Counting Pro IN Spanish 21 Versus Becoming A Card counting Pro IN Blackjack:

Card counting pros talk about "Bankroll" a lot, but seldom talked about the "STUDENT LOAN" needed before becoming a professional card counter. Money is money, either you label it as Pre-pro Educational Expenses or as Bankroll. They all come out of the same pot of seed money available to you before becoming a pro.

If you want to become a Spanish 21 card counting pro, you may only find two printed books to read -- one on Hi-Lo and the other on AceMT -- for a total cost of less than $100. Even if you want to spend more, you may not find any additional educational venues.

But if you want to become a blackjack card counting pro, you may face quite a few thorny choices. Among hundreds of blackjack books that you may find on the net, there may be 4 or 5 recommended "must-read books" for a total cost of $250. There may be some recommended computer simulation programs that may help determine your personal EV and your Risk of Ruin, etc., once you embark on a pro career. In addition, there may be numerous prep-schools/academies/boot-camps waiting for you to enroll. If you lavish yourself with everything recommended, your pre-pro educational expenses could easily exceed $5,000.

Question: With the same amount of Seed Money Budget, say $10,000, you have, what will be the Career Risk of Ruin comparison between:

Spending $100 on pre-pro education with $9,900 left for bankrolling a Spanish 21 card counting career
Versus
Spending $5,000 on pre-pro education with $5,000 left for bankrolling a blackjack card counting career?

Answer: What's the B_ _ _S_ _ _ that Moraine is talking about? Sorry, the rest is unfit to print.