When to Surrender in Blackjack?

When to Surrender in Blackjack?

Published Date · July 30, 2019 · Last Updated · June 15, 2023 ·Read Time · 3 mins

When-to-surrender-in-Blackjack-1

In blackjack, you should know when to surrender and when not to. Surrender is an option that gives players the ability to walk away. However, they’d have to forfeit half of their bet. Nevertheless, it’s better than actually losing the total bet. For instance, let’s say a player wagered $100 if the player notices the chances of winning is low, the player could use the surrender option where the player gets to keep $50 rather than playing out the hand and lose it all.

A lot of brick and mortar casino, as well as online casinos, offers the surrender option. However, the blackjack surrender rule depends on the type of blackjack surrender option you use. There are two types of blackjack surrender; blackjack early surrender and late surrender. When considering the types of blackjack surrender options, we strongly advise that you consider the analysis of the blackjack early surrender, and late surrender. Below is a simplified summary of what the early surrender and late surrender is all about and a highlight of cases when you should surrender. If you can correctly work out the total chances of winning then this is a great blackjack strategy to use. This is similar but not the same as when to split in blackjack.

The Blackjack Early Surrender

The blackjack early surrender is not often used in blackjack casino games. In the blackjack early surrender, the player can choose to surrender rather than playing out the hand to the dealer’s 10 or ACE upcard before the dealer check for blackjack card in the hole cards. If a player chooses the blackjack early surrender against a dealers ACE earns him 0.39%, while against a 10 earns him 0.24%, overall that’s 0.63% in a six-deck soft 17 game. In review, it probably is not worth it.

Basic Strategy for Playing Blackjack Early Surrender

When playing on a multiple deck game, you should surrender the following hands when using the blackjack early-surrender basis strategy:

  • Surrender; if the dealer has an ace against your hard 5 to 7 including 3-3, and hard 12 to hard 17 including 6-6, 7-7, 8-8.
  • You should surrender; if the dealer has the 10-card against your hard 14 to hard 16 including 7-7 and 8-8.
  • You should surrender; if the dealer has the 9-card against your hard 10-6 and hard 9-7 but not 8-8 against a dealer 9.

The Blackjack Late Surrender

In the late surrender, the only time you can surrender is when the dealer has taken a peeks at her hole card. Now, if she has blackjack the ball game changes as the surrender option would no longer be available for you. And in a case like this, you’re more likely to lose your total bet. Well,  the only exception is when you also have a blackjack.

Making use of the blackjack late surrender can reduce the house edge by 0.07%, especially in multiple decks.

Basic Strategy for Playing Blackjack Late Surrender

Here’s a summary of how to use the late surrender option when playing in single decks, double decks, and multiple decks:

On a single-deck when the dealer hits soft 17

Your handSurrender if the dealer has

16
10 or ACE
7-7
10

On a single deck when the dealer hits hard 17

Your handSurrender if the dealer has

15
ACE
16 or 7-7
10 or ACE

On a double-deck when the dealer hits soft 17

Your handSurrender if the dealer has

15
10
16
10 or ACE

On a double-deck when the dealer hits hard 17

Your handSurrender if the dealer has

15
10 or ACE
16
10 or ACE
17 or 8-8
ACE

On a multiple 4/6/8 decks when the dealer hits hard 17

Your handSurrender if the dealer has

15
10 or ACE
14
9,10, ACE
17 or 8-8
ACE

On a multiple 4/6/8 decks when the dealer hits soft 17

Your handSurrender if the dealer has

15
10
16
9, 10, ACE

Author

Phoebe Greenwood

Content Writer