When Should You Surrender in Blackjack?

Blackjack is one of the most popular table casino games featured in the best UK casinos, and enjoyed by all avid gamblers across the globe. The game has become a phenomenon and has transcended to become a game of strategy and planning. Gamblers and professionals who make a career out of Blackjack, have put in hours of effort and time to analyse the game and devise methods to increase their potential chances of earning more. And so, a decent amount of planning goes towards it as well. However, during an unlikely event, when the player experiences a loss, what exactly should he/she do in order to salvage the recurring losses and get back to the game?

Surrendering in Blackjack: Meaning and Implication

At an unlikely event of coming across a less likely chance of winning, one might consider to ‘surrender’ in the game. Surrendering means to give up the hand and the initial deal from which the round was started with. The player gets to keep half of the original bet and give away the other half. This is considered as a wise move as against playing the hand, leading to further losses.

How to Relay a ‘Surrender’ Move to the Dealer in Blackjack?

It is a common practice where a player uses hand gestures to convey whether he or she wants to hit or stand. However, in this game, dealers at casino tables prefer players to use verbal cues in order to convey whether they want to surrender or move on from the round or not. In Online Blackjack games, there are buttons available as options for players to surrender their hands online; something that is quite convenient and easy to practice.

Early Surrender Strategy

Early surrenders are something that is seldom found at casino venues, both online and physical casino venues as well. This is because it allows players to opt out of the hand even before the dealer calls out and checks for it. There is a significant percentage increase in return to player values if an early surrender option is availed against an ace or a ten. The percentage increase can range from 0.24-0.39%. That is a substantial amount, keeping in mind that Blackjack odds are up against 1% house edge.

How to Approach This Strategy?

If the dealer holds an ace, an early surrender strategy must be employed if the player has hard 5-7, hard 12-17 and pairs of 3, 6,7 or 8. If the dealer has a soft 17, the player needs to surrender his or her pairs of 2.

In case the dealer hits a 10, the player needs to surrender hard 14-16, pairs of 7 and 8 (if in case the player has an 8 that comes from a single deck that allows for a double after split, it must not be surrendered).

Late Surrender Blackjack

This is the most common practice observed where a late surrender allows the player to give up half the bet of the original amount placed initially. There are lots of rule variances that can be added to allow the player to surrender late in the game. It depends on what the dealer hits up with and the cards dealt with the player. Players are advised to memorise the onsets when it should be considered viable to for a late surrender, rather than playing the round till its very end and losing a horrendous amount of bet money placed initially.

Surrendering Is the Best Option in Adverse Situations

The aim of Blackjack is to beat the dealer and many people fail to understand this in order to win more profits in one single hand. The game is not about winning the most in hands but about making the right judgement in order to lessen the house edge and increase one’s own chances to avail a better probability of winnings. However, if in case one feels like that there is a less likely chance to win, the aim shouldn’t be about leaving all out on the luck, but to take the right step to avoid losing any more.