As one of the world’s most popular casino games, blackjack hardly needs much introduction. Part of the allure of the card game is that it is both simple and complex; you can learn the ropes within two minutes yet spend years perfecting it. Blackjack is also somewhat unique within the canon of casino games in that it is hard to define. The question of whether it is a game of skill or chance can vex legal experts, and it usually becomes central to the argument when legislators are deciding on bills to legalize casinos in a state.
However, it is worth noting that blackjack comes in several variants, and one of the most interesting when it comes to the skill versus luck debate is blackjack surrender. The variant is arguably one of the purists, and it requires detailed knowledge of blackjack strategy. In fact, it is the kind of game that would easily wreck inexperienced players. Blackjack surrender arguably divides opinion, but it’s worth exploring for those who enjoy the probability and mathematical sides of the game.
Surrender gives you the option to fold
What, then, is blackjack surrender? Broadly, the game plays the same as a standard classic blackjack variant, yet there is an additional option – the surrender option – for players. Some casinos will distinguish between early and late surrender, but we will focus on the latter as that is much more common.
Effectively, the surrender option gives you the opportunity to exit the game after receiving your initial cards and before the dealer reveals their cards. The attraction is that it allows you to judge the probability of success when continuing against cutting your losses. It is the cost of surrendering that tends to raise eyebrows, though, as you will forfeit half of your initial stake.
You can understand how inexperienced players might balk at the prospect of paying half their stake just to forfeit the game. Indeed, it doesn’t sound very attractive at all. But if you look under the hood, so to speak, it starts to make sense. Estimates vary, but some mathematicians claim that using the surrender option can lower the house edge by 0.63%. As blackjack already has one of the lowest house edges of any casino game (another reason that it is so popular), those tiny margins can make all the difference.
House edge can swing to your advantage
So, when would you use surrender? A typical example would be if you have a 15 from your first two cards, and the dealer is showing a 10 (J, Q, or K) in their face-up card. You don’t need to be a math genius to appreciate that the dealer is more likely to end up with a superior score than 15 with the cards available to them. While it’s a crude rule of thumb, most experts would advise that you surrender when you have a hard 15 or 16, and the dealer is showing a 10 or an Ace. The difference in the house edge varies, but it can be advantageous.
If it is generally accepted that surrender is a net benefit to players, you might wonder why it is not used more as a tactic. There are several reasons for this. The first is that it is inherently risky, and, as we said, it may be a ticket to a loss for players who do not know what they are doing. Secondly, it is not as commonly offered in land-based casinos as it once was. You can usually find online casinos offering blackjack surrender options.
But perhaps above all, it is the fact that blackjack surrender seems counterintuitive to the vast majority of us. It is built into us as humans that we should play to win, so this strategy of failure seems like the antithesis of casino play. Yet, if you study the game and learn other strategies like counting cards, then it is proven to swing the odds in your favor. No casino game offers a guarantee, and the house always wins eventually, but surrender is an underrated option for blackjack players, even if it divides opinion.
