Why, When and How to Surrender in Blackjack
When playing Blackjack, some could compare it to a battlefield. It pits yourself alongside the other players in a no-holds struggle against a common enemy for that elusive “21”, with the winners taking home that big pot of money. There are times, however, that fighting the good fight just isn’t enough, and it becomes time to throw in the towel. In other words, there comes a time that pride must be put aside, and surrender becomes necessary.
Ok, we’re exaggerating a bit… it’s really not a life or death struggle. But the “surrender” play is very real in blackjack, so we figured why not get a little dramatic in introducing it?
Surrendering is just like it sounds – you see the dealer may have a good hand (and you don’t have that good a hand) so you agree to give up, albeit for less money than if you had lost outright. That’s the advantage to the surrender play – you lose less money on a hand you think is lost anyway.
So when does a player surrender? Let’s say that after the initial dealing of the first two cards, a player decides that the situation is not ideal (say they have 13, and the dealer is showing an Ace… uh oh). They can choose to surrender. When this happens, an indication will be made to the dealer by either using a hand signal (placing a finger on the card’s layout and moving said finger from left to right), or point blank telling the dealer that you wish to surrender. Raising a little white flag and waving it about vigorously is also great for dramatic effect (but totally not necessary.)
Once the player signifies their intent to surrender, the dealer will then take the player’s cards away from the table, and place a half of the player’s bet into their chip tray. What this means (if you haven’t guessed it already) is that the dealer keeps this half of the bet. “How is this advantageous to me”, you may ask? Well, look at it this way: Would you rather lose half your bet or the whole thing? It’s best to surrender if you truly think you will lose (surrendering is similar to insurance, in that you are guarding against loss. But we’ll discuss insurance in another article.)
While it won’t be ideal for every hand, if your chances of winning are looking less than say, fifty percent, then this is definitely a good move. You’ll end up losing less in the long run.
For those players who tend to employ the surrender tactic, just keep in mind that not all casinos allow for this move, which means that in this case, surrender is not always an option. So make sure to check with the dealer if this is a favorite play of yours to use.
Remember, he (or she) who runs away lives to fight another day!! Ok, another overly dramatic line, but then again, Blackjack is a dramatic casino game. Good luck out there!
