Never give up, sometimes surrender

By Alan Vaughn

Probably my favorite blackjack variation is when a casino offers surrender. Surrender is a little known rule that favors the player. Even though the option to surrender does not make a huge impact on the house advantage it is easy to learn and helps you avoid some of the most frustrating situations in the game.

Before you can use the surrender option you will need to ask if the casino offers it. Not every casino offers surrender and many of the casinos that do will only tell you if you ask the dealer. The hand signal for surrender is drawing a straight line with your finger behind your bet, but not every casino understands this signal so you will need to verbally say “surrender” each time that you wish to take advantage of this rule.

There are two variations of this rule, known as early surrender and late surrender. Early surrender allows you to surrender your first two cards before the dealer checks for blackjack and late surrender allows you to surrender your first two cards after the dealer checks for blackjack. Early surrender provides a much larger player advantage, but in my years of play I have never been to a casino that offers it. As such I will only cover the correct plays for late surrender in this article.

When you choose to surrender the dealer will take your cards along with half of your bet and your action for the hand will be over. Obviously since you lose half of your original bet you will need to be in a very bad situation to even consider surrendering. In a six-deck game there are four situations where the casino has over a 50% advantage against the player: 16 v. 9, 16 v. 10, 16 v. A, and 15 v. 10. These four decisions are also typically the most painful choices to make as both a hit and a stand often lead to disaster. By taking advantage of surrender in these positions you can avoid beating yourself when you inevitably make the “wrong” decision.

The composition of your hand can also make a difference. If your 16 consists of two 8s, you should split instead of surrendering as the house edge is much smaller when you split 8s than when you hold any other hard 16. You should also never surrender if you are holding a soft 15 or 16 as you will have multiple chances to improve your hand.

While there are plenty of other hands where the casino has a hefty advantage, surrendering in situations other than the four listed can be very costly. If you were to surrender a 14 v. 10 you would be giving the casino an extra 3.5% advantage, and if you were unfortunate enough to surrender 13 v. 10 you would be giving the casino an additional advantage of 7.5%. The moral of the story, if you aren’t sure whether you should surrender then revert to basic strategy and play accordingly.

If you reach 15 or 16 after your first two cards the surrender option will no longer be available. In these cases you will need to take your chances with a hit but on your first two cards surrender can be a great option. It may take some practice but learning surrender as part of basic strategy can save you some money and more importantly save you some headaches. Just be careful not to surrender too often.

Alan Vaughn has played high stakes blackjack for several years in casinos all across the US. He recently moved to Denver where he teaches blackjack to players of all skill levels. For questions, comments, or information on lessons please email denver21school@yahoo.com.