In some online casinos and traditional casinos, surrender is one of the most important playing decisions. Once you have compared your 2-card hand against the upcard of the dealer, if you feel that your chances are not so good, you have chance to forfeit your playing hand and give up half of the wagering amount. The dealer will get rid of half of the bet and scoop up two cards and place in discard tray if you choose to surrender.
A lot of players skip the option of surrender as they choose to ‘win their hands’ instead to surrender them and wimp out. As you will see, surrender is sometimes a smart strategy if you know the best hands to surrender. Before we get in detail of this strategy, be sure to consider the math behind it. When you give up, keep in mind that you will lose half of your wager. So, it is better to surrender only when you expect loss of over 50% by playing a hand (which means your odds of winning are less than one off your four hands). If there is less than 25% chance of winning by playing a hand (and there is 75% chance of losing), it is better to surrender the hand to save money in long run.
For example, you have a deal of 10 and 6 and upcard of dealer is 10, it is supposed to be the worst hand of blackjack you can get when it comes to play. There are three options on how to play a hand – i.e. stand, hit or surrender.
Basic Playing Strategy behind Surrender
In a six deck game with dealer on soft 17, the basic blackjack strategy for surrender includes –
- Give up hard 15 against 10 dealer upcard
- Surrender hard 16 (but without 8-8) against 9, 10 or Ace upcard dealer
Keep in mind that this strategy varies according to the number of cards decks to be used and combination of playing rules. Here are some other tips to surrender –
- If you don’t know whether casino has option for surrender, ask the casino in advance or ask dealer if you play in the casino. If it has surrender option, it will usually clear it on placard which mentions the rules on each table.
- You can just surrender your hand after dealer looks at her hole card when they show ten-valued or ace card to know if they have blackjack. The surrender option is no longer active if they have blackjack and you will lose the whole bet unless you have a blackjack also, in the US-based casinos. This strategy is known as late surrender.
- Early surrender is another type of strategy and is more common in Asian and European casinos where dealer doesn’t have hole card when all players played on their hand. With this option, player can choose to surrender his hand to an ace of the dealer and/or 10-value upcard before they check to ensure if they have blackjack. Early surrender is much better for players as compared to late surrender and it has different strategy.
