{"id":17380,"date":"2021-09-09T02:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T07:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=17380"},"modified":"2024-05-10T10:23:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T15:23:13","slug":"when-should-you-surrender-in-blackjack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/when-should-you-surrender-in-blackjack\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrender In Blackjack: Everything You Need To Know To Take Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The proper use of either early or late surrender in blackjack<\/a> can dramatically cut the house advantage over skilled players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while not as popular as it once was, surrender can be found in some land-based casinos, and on many online casinos<\/a> and electronic table games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nIs Surrender In Blackjack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Surrender is simply an optional rule in\nblackjack that allows you to give up half your bet after you have seen your\nfirst two cards and the dealer up card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your hand has less than a 50 percent chance\nof winning against the dealer, then it\u2019s time to consider surrender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of surrender rules,\nreferred to as either early or late surrender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will discuss both, though early surrender\nis increasingly difficult to find in its original form, where it hasn\u2019t been\ndiluted by other less advantageous rule changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early\nSurrender<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Early surrender allows you the option to\nsurrender half your bet before the dealer checks the hole card for blackjack.\nThis has a tremendous effect on house advantage as players can give up half\ntheir bet on bad hands vs. a dealer\u2019s ace up card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early surrender was a byproduct of some questionable decisions by the Casino Control Commission<\/a> and early operators in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the late 70s when casinos first became legal there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoping liberal rules might lure players, and\nnot wanting the dealers to peek at their hole card due to possible collusion,\nthey came up with this new version of surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a .6 percent blow to the casino\u2019s house edge<\/a>, even basic strategy players had a slight advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, this rule change was so disastrous\nthat in 1981 then New Jersey Governor Byrne had to step in and uphold the New\nJersey Casino Control Commission\u2019s decision to bypass the regular public\nhearing process, as they believed continuing the early surrender rule for the\n60 days normally required for public comment posed an \u201cimminent peril\u201d for\ncasino operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a potent rule variation is seldom seen today in land-based casinos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find it online, it\u2019s best to carefully\ncheck all the house rules as they are likely to have been tweaked to make up\nfor the loss to the house edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the rules seem reasonable you will want to\nsurrender 14, 15 or 16 when the dealer has a 10 up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the dealer has an ace, you will want to surrender\nhard 5, 6, 7 and 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the dealer hits soft 17<\/a>, you will also want to surrender hard 4. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late\nSurrender<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Late surrender differs from early surrender in\nthat you can only forfeit your hand and lose half your bet AFTER the dealer\nchecks his hand for blackjack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dramatically reduces the effectiveness of\nthe surrender option to something like .05 to .1 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t sound like much, but consider\nthat on a 6 deck shoe with loose house rules, the edge drops from .42 percent\nto .35 percent or almost 20 percent overall when late surrender is used\noptimally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So late surrender can be another tool to help\nus decrease house edge when it\u2019s available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it should be an easy option to spot at\nonline casinos or e-tables, in land-based casinos it is seldom displayed on\ntable signage or elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your best bet may be to ask the dealer if the\nsurrender option is available and if it\u2019s late surrender or early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that wasn\u2019t confusing enough, not all\ncasinos use the same hand signals for surrender in blackjack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, you should draw a horizontal line behind your bet with your index finger, while verbally announcing surrender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hand<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This applies to blackjack games dealt out of a\nshoe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In casinos with handheld games, procedures for\nsurrender may differ, so when in doubt it\u2019s best to ask your dealer the proper etiquette\nfor surrendering your hand. They will be happy to walk you through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will want to surrender any hands where you don\u2019t have at least a 50 percent chance of winning against the dealer\u2019s up card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this will be influenced by house rules such as hit or stand on soft 17 and by the number of decks in play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a quick summary of late surrender rules: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n