How to Avoid Using the Late Surrender Option Too Often in Blackjack

Published: April 24, 2014

The early and late surrender options come up a lot in blackjack as being some of the most over-used options that there are. While this might seem counter-intuitive since you'd think people would hit, stand or double much more than they would ever surrender, the point is that you are only correct to surrender in a handful of extremely specific spots. You could surrender in two or three spots that you aren't supposed to and very easily be over-shooting the mark by 50 percent or more as far as the frequency for surrendering goes. We want to show you how to avoid using this option too much by understanding exactly why it is used and when to use it.

The basic idea of surrendering is that you are in such a disadvantageous position that it would be better to just give up half of your bet and any chances of winning the hand than it would be to try to play normally. This normally only occurs when you have the worst totals possible like 16, 15 or 17 (starting from worst and working down) when you're up against the strongest dealer cards which are a ten and an ace.

If you have a hard 16 against a nine, ten or ace, then you should always surrender if you have the option to. Along similar lines, if you have a hard 15 against exactly a ten, then you should surrender (though you shouldn't against an ace). If you are in a game where the dealer hits on a soft 17, then there are three other situations that you should learn, and they are all extremely specific.

The first spot is when you have a hard 15 against an ace (note that you won't surrender here if the dealer stands on a soft 17). The second is when you have a hard 17 against an ace. This is one of the hardest for people to remember because it seems so odd to surrender with a total as high as 17. Finally, you should also surrender if you have paired eights against an ace. If the dealer stands on a soft 17, then you should split instead of surrendering. It's worth it to memorize these situations, but if you can't remember exactly what they are, then you should err on the side of surrendering too little instead of too often.