There is a lot that can be said for those who are able to walk away from a losing cause. It is generally a good thing when you are able to live today to fight another day. The “another day” is sometimes one in which the odds are more so in your favor or at least not stacked so highly against you. Some blackjack games allow players to surrender. When you surrender in blackjack games, you are giving up or walking away in unfavorable situations so that your bankroll can survive (in part) to fight another day.
When you surrender in a blackjack game, the player gives up, forfeits, or surrenders 50% or one-half of their bet. This means the house collects half the bet and the player keeps half the bet upon requesting a surrender. While some would look at a surrender as admitting or guaranteeing defeat; the reality is that surrendering is a profitable or correct move when the expected and most statistically probable outcome (based on the card count and dealer’s up card) results in losing more than one-half the bet. Thus, the surrender allows a blackjack player to cut his losses short in exchange for getting out of the marginally bad scenario and giving up half their bet.
While losing one-half a bet is far better than losing a full bet, not all blackjack games allow players to surrender. Those blackjack games that let players surrender utilize one of two means of surrendering. Both options cost the player one-half bet. If the player is permitted to surrender after the dealer checks for blackjack, the type of surrender is known as a “late surrender.” If the dealer does not check their hole cards before a player can choose to surrender, then the blackjack game allows for “early surrender.”
While the surrender option saves blackjack players money, there are only a few instances where surrendering is the best possible action. In fact, a player should only consider surrendering in blackjack if they hold a fifteen or a hard sixteen. In the instances where the player holds a count of fifteen, surrendering is only appropriate if the dealer shows a ten as their up card. If the player holds sixteen, you can surrender correctly when the blackjack dealer is holding a nine, ten, face card, or an ace. In these instances, surrendering one-half a bet is more profitable than playing the hand to conclusion and risking losing a full bet.