Surrender bet is a smart option in blackjack – Detroit Free Press

QUESTION: I have been counseled that a surrender bet is a bet that favors the house in blackjack. Seems to me that in selected situations, a surrender move is an advantage. What is your opinion? — Dirk D.

ANSWER: You were wrongly counseled, Dirk. Surrender, both early and late, is a rules option allowed in certain casinos where a player may give up half the wager after seeing the dealer’s up-card. Between the two, early surrender is far more advantageous for blackjack players.

With early surrender, the casino allows the player to surrender his hand and relinquish half the bet before the dealer checks the hole card. This reduces the casino’s edge by a whopping 0.6%. That makes early surrender one of the most favorable blackjack playing rules allowed, and that’s why few casinos make it available.

The more frequently offered late surrender allows a player to abandon a hand after the dealer has checked the hole card for a blackjack. If the dealer has a blackjack, lose you must. This rule reduces the casino’s advantage by only 0.08%, but it’s still one of the more sophisticated moves in blackjack and an advantage to the player.

So when is the best time to wave the white flag? Surrendering is best utilized when the dealer is showing a 10 or an ace and you have a hard 16. You will lose on average 41% of all the 16s dealt to you. Your worst loss will occur when the dealer shows a 10. For every 100,000 hands dealt, you’ll get a 16 against dealer’s 10 a total of 1,824 times and lose 1,037 of them. Your best playing strategy here is to surrender the hand and cut your losses.

Any time you’re allowed to give up half your wager for the privilege of not playing out a bad hand, consider it less an admission of defeat than really smart gambling.

MARK PILARSKI is a contributing editor for numerous gaming periodicals. E-mail questions to pilarski@markpilarski.com.