Surrender Strategy When Playing Blackjack

There is a special move in blackjack that is called as surrender which players can make use of in a number of variations of this game. This is how this move works for most players. The players gets his pair of cards and the dealer also gets his pair of cards but one of the dealers cards is face up while other is face down. In case the open card is an ace then dealer can always check for blackjack. So if he manages to get a blackjack then the player loses his bet and the game is over. So if the dealer does not manage to make a blackjack then the player has an option where he can always surrender. The player can always make use of this particular option and then save half of his bet amount.

So before surrendering a player is expected to keep three sets of information in his mind. When speaking of any other moves, the factors may depend a lot on the hand value a player has, the card that dealer has as face up card, and also if the dealer has decided to hit or stand if having a soft 17. So here we shall consider all the above options and see if the players should actually surrender or not.

If the dealer decides to stand off on soft 17

So if this is the case then the player should only surrender in case he is holding a hand that has a value equivalent to 15 or even 16 depending on the face up card of the dealer. This certainly does mean that there is no probability of presence of an ace with the cards that have been dealt. So a player can always achieve a value equivalent to 10, 5 or 9 and even with 6, 8 or 7. The player is requested to surrender only if dealer is having a face up card of value equal to 10.

If the player is holding a card value 10 along with 6, 7 or 9 or even a pair of 8 he can try and achieve a value equivalent to 16. So if he is having a pair of 8 then the best option available if to try and split. But in any other circumstance the player is expected to surrender.

Dealer decides to hit on soft 17

If the dealer decides to hit a 17 soft total he is definitely having a greater advantage as there are more chances that he might end up with a grand total that is greater than 17. So this is one point that forces player to surrender without notice. Players are requested to surrender only when they are holding hard total.

If the player is holding a hand value equivalent to 15 he is advised to surrender only when the dealer has a hand value equivalent to 10 or even an ace in face up card. So if the player maintains a hand total of 16, he is advised to surrender only if the dealer is having ace, 10 or even 9. He can also surrender when he is having a pair of 8 in case the dealer is showing an ace. If the player is holding a hand value of around 17 he can surrender if the dealer is holding an ace in his face up card.

All the strategies proved here have a mathematical explanation. The players can request to surrender if they feel that they have a 50% chance of losing. Moreover it is always a wise decision to save half bets other than losing full betting amount.