Blackjack Surrender Explained: Key Strategies for Every Player

Want to stop giving money away to the casino on bad hands?

If you play blackjack you either use surrender too much or not at all. Both are bad habits. One of the easiest ways to protect your bankroll while playing blackjack is by perfecting your blackjack surrender strategy.

Here’s why…

Surrender is one of the most misunderstood rules in blackjack. Use it properly and you have a powerful tool. Ignore it and you’re leaving free money on the table every time you play.

Table of Contents

1. What Is Surrender in Blackjack?
2. Early Surrender vs. Late Surrender
3. When To Surrender – And When To Hold
4. Four Surrender Mistakes to Avoid
5. Does Surrender Reduce The House Edge?

What Is Surrender in Blackjack?

If you’re not familiar with surrendering in blackjack allow me to explain. Surrendering is an option offered in blackjack that allows you to forfeit your hand before the hand plays out. In return for surrendering your hand you get half your bet back and the casino keeps the other half.

Simple enough right?

Instead of playing out a hand that is very likely to lose you simply cut your losses in half. Surrendering is the savviest players secret escape hatch, and knowing when to use it is what sets apart a strategic player from a recreational player. It is also the foundation for any effective blackjack surrender strategy.

Bottom line: Surrendering isn’t giving up, it’s making a mathematically sound decision.

Early Surrender vs. Late Surrender

If your first thought was “uhhh what about early and late surrender?” then congrats you gettin it!

There are two types of surrender, early surrender and late surrender. Each play out differently and can affect your odds differently.

Early Surrender

Allowing you to forfeit your hand before the dealer checks for blackjack. Of the two options this is by far the more powerful.

When used properly early surrender can reduce the house edge by up to 62%! That my friends is nuts! Easily the best rule to have at any blackjack table.

Unfortunately, it’s also exceedingly rare. Most brick-and-mortar casinos and online casinos do not offer early surrender. If you see a table with this rule prominently listed make sure to learn how to use it.

Late Surrender

This is the version of surrender most players will come across. Late surrender allows you to forfeit your hand but only after the dealer checks their hole card to confirm they do not have blackjack.

Used correctly late surrender will lower the house edge by 0.07%. Doesn’t sound like much does it? Well consider this, this advantage compounds over hundreds of hands turning into real money!

Late surrender can be found at many more tables than early surrender, especially online.

When To Surrender – And When To Hold

This is where most players make their biggest surrender mistakes.

Never surrender unless the expected loss from playing the hand is greater than losing half your bet by surrendering. If it costs more to play out the hand then surrendering, simply fold. Plain and simple let the math make that decision for you.

If you’re following basic blackjack strategy these are the hands you want to surrender:

Late Surrender (Dealer Stands on Soft 17)

• Hard 16 vs Dealer 9, 10, Ace = Surrender
• Hard 15 vs Dealer 10 = Surrender

Late Surrender (Dealer Hits Soft 17)

• Hard 17 vs Dealer Ace = Surrender
• Hard 16 vs Dealer 9, 10, Ace = Surrender
• Hard 15 vs Dealer 10, Ace = Surrender
• Pair of Eights vs Dealer Ace = Surrender (don’t split)

Got questions about why these hands in particular? Let’s use hard 16 vs. a dealer Ace as an example. If you play this hand out you face an expected loss of about 0.58. Surrender gets that expected loss cut down to 0.50. That’s right half! A small difference per hand sure but over the course of dozens or hundreds of hands those halves add up. Surrender wins the math every time.

Here are a list of hands you should never surrender:

• Any hand of 17 or higher against most dealer upcards
• Any hand that has a good chance of winning
• Check the blackjack strategy chart for splits. If you’re supposed to split don’t surrender.

Four Surrender Mistakes to Avoid

There are two big mistakes people make when trying to develop a blackjack surrender strategy. Both are very costly and 100% avoidable.

Surrendering too much. Makes sense if you think about it. If you start surrendering hands that have a decent chance of winning you will find yourself surrendering way too often. Freeing money back up to the casino.

Never surrendering. Yeah, you heard that right. Some players believe surrendering is taboo. That’s bad pokerface right there. Nobody is judging you if you surrender, that’s just discipline. Every time you skip surrendering on a hand like hard 16 vs. an Ace you lose money. Every single session that hand comes up.

Stop making these mistakes and stick to the surrender strategy chart. Every blackjack surrender rule is created by running millions of simulated hands through a computer. You vs a computer math doesn’t know your gut feeling.

Does Surrendering Reduce The House Edge?

Here’s a little trivia for you.

In the perfect table conditions (dealer stands on soft 17, doubling is allowed after splitting, and surrender is available) the house edge can be reduced to as little as 0.28%. That right there is one of the reasons why blackjack is such a great bet. To compare, roulette usually runs a house edge of over 2.5%.

Using surrender alone won’t get you there but it sure helps. Surrender is one of several parts of the puzzle that help bring the house edge down as low as possible. When using basic strategy correctly surrender works best when you’re playing a six-deck shoe, the dealer stands on soft 17, and late surrender is offered as a rule.

Not every blackjack table offers surrender. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the table rules before taking a seat. If it’s not listed ask your dealer if surrender is allowed.

This Is The Bottom Line On Surrender Strategy

Blackjack surrender strategy isn’t complicated. There isn’t ever a reason to be aggressive with surrender. Just like any other tool it only works when applied correctly.

Let’s review…

• Early surrender is super powerful but very rare. Use it whenever you can.
• Late surrender can significantly reduce the house edge when used on proper hands.
• Know which hands to surrender using the strategy chart.

And most importantly:

• Don’t deviate from the surrender strategy chart.
• Always check the table rules for surrender.