Understanding a Blackjack Surrender is a great move when it is used in the right situation. Unfortunately, many Blackjack players often either ignore this option completely, or they surrender when they shouldn’t. When a player knows and uses the optimal surrender strategy, it helps to reduce the house edge for the casual Blackjack player and increases the profitability for the card counters.
Let us take a closer look a few principles such as the “who, what, where, when and why” with regard to the surrender in blackjack and to see how this valuable player option might help the player at the blackjack table.
Who:
Who uses the surrender option?
The fearful player - the one that throws in the towel?
The superstitious player that wants to change the flow of the cards?
No its the smart blackjack player who takes advantage of any great surrendering opportunities.
There are some situations, when the expected value of the hand shows a loss of over 50% of your bet. If that is the ase, then the smart move is to surrender and get half the bet back, instead of playing the hand and losing.
What:
New players or those who have not played many games that have a surrender option, here is some clarification on what surrender is. When a player surrenders their hand they are forfeiting the hand and getting 50% of their bet returned to them.
A good example is if $100 bet is places and the player is dealt 16 against the dealer’s 10, there is the option to ‘surrender’ to get back $50 instead of possibly losing the whole $100. The surrender is only an option on the first two cards, before taking a hit. Once a hit is accepted then the surrender option has already fallen away and the player has to complete the hand.
Where:
Where is blackjack surrender offered? This is where a player needs to find out from the casino they wish to play if surrendering is an option. Some casinos only allow surrender on certain shoe games that make use of 4, 6 or 8 decks. There are a few exceptions its best to heck prior to playing with the casino you intend to play on.
When:
When is the right time to surrender? It all depends on the Blackjack Table Rules, (S17 or H17) and if you’re counting cards or not. Even if you are not card counting, by knowing the correct basic strategy for surrender moves will be of help in reducing the house edge.
A comparison of some 6-deck blackjack games that give a with and a without surrender rule at a casino.
One general rule of thumb, never surrender against the dealer when the dealer is showing a 2 through 7.
A surrender should only be considered when the dealer shows an 8, 9, 10 or an ace.
Here are some of the correct basic strategy surrender moves on the 4-deck, the 6-deck or the 8-deck game…
The dealer Stands on a Soft 17
Surrender 16 vs 9, 10 or ace
Surrender 15 vs 10
Dealer Hits on Soft 17
Surrender 16 vs 9, 10 or ace
Surrender 15 vs 10 or ace
Surrender 17 vs ace
Surrender 8,8 vs ace
If a player is card counting it will give the player additional information to work with. That’s assuming the player is not using any cover plays that could involve surrender situations, here are a few easy-to-remember surrender moves that could save money.
A true Count of zero or higher: then surrender 16 vs 9, 10 or ace - Surrender 15 vs 10.
A true Count +2 or higher: then surrender 15 vs 9 or ace.
A true Count +3 or higher: then surrender 14 vs 10
True Count +4 or higher: Surrender 16 vs 8
Why:
The reason a player would want to surrender at an appropriate time is to do everything to gain and maintain a mathematical advantage against the house.
Having a knowledge of optimal surrender strategy is a key piece of the overall puzzle. Just remember that a surrender is not about lacking courage or giving up, it is about taking a smaller loss to improve the overall results. Whether you use card counting or not, by using the correct surrender strategy is just being plain smart.
