Microgaming offers Spanish Blackjack at its online casinos. This game is different from the blackjack variants that derive from land casinos. It offers higher payouts and it requires a more aggressive strategy. Therefore it has created its own special following. This online blackjack variant is so named because it is played with eight Spanish decks. A Spanish deck does not have tens and therefore contains only 48 cards. The removal of ten value cards gives the dealer and advantage. Therefore to make Spanish Blackjack viable Microgaming has made some rules beneficial for the players and also included bonus payouts.
In Microgaming Spanish Blackjack the dealer stands on soft 17. Therefore he is unable to take the advantage of using the ace with a value of one point. Players can double after a split. Players can hit and double after splitting aces. Players can double on any number of cards. Players can re-split aces. Players can also surrender late and even surrender after doubling down. There are some special win conditions in favor of the player. Ties at hand value of 21 and blackjack are decided in favor of the player.
Apart from the usual 3 to 2 payout for blackjack and the even money payout for the regular win, Microgaming Spanish Blackjack has other bonus payouts. A five-card 21 pays 3 to 2, a six-card 21 pays 2 to 1 and a seven or more card 21 pays 3 to 1. A 6-7-8 combination or a 7-7-7 combination of mixed suits pays 3 to 2, of the same suit pays 2 to 1 and of spades pays 3 to 1. A suited 7-7-7 when the dealer has a seven face up pays at 50 to 1.
The game begins with the player placing the ante wager. The cards are dealt as in normal online blackjack variants. If the player does not have a blackjack then the dealer checks for blackjack on a ten value card or an ace. If he has blackjack the player loses. Otherwise the player plays out his hand till he stands or busts and the dealers hand is automatically played out. The payouts are made as required.
Microgaming Spanish Blackjack offers about 99.5% average return to the player, but to achieve that an aggressive strategy needs to be employed. Attractive bonus payouts are offered in this blackjack variant but to try and get them the player will have to take additional risks. For example, if there is a chance of getting the 3 to 1 payout for the seven-card 21 the player will have to risk busting but hit with a high hand value. The optimum strategy for Spanish Blackjack has been generated using computer simulation and is too complicated to memorize. Therefore players at online casinos are advised to use the strategy card. The strategy card for Microgaming Spanish Blackjack is like that for the normal blackjack variants. The columns display the values of the dealer face up card. The rows display the player’s hand values and are divided into three sections. The first section describes the hard totals, the second section describes the soft totals and the third section describes the optimum strategy for pairs.
