What is Surrender?
Surrender is a blackjack option letting a player give up a hand after seeing their first two cards and recover half of their stake.
With late surrender, the most common form, the player may surrender only after the dealer has checked for blackjack. A £20 bet surrendered returns £10. Early surrender, offered rarely, allows the decision before the dealer checks and is more favourable to the player.
Surrender is useful only in a small number of situations, mainly hard 16 against a dealer 9, 10 or ace, and hard 15 against a 10. In those spots the player is expected to lose more than half the stake on average by playing on.
Where offered, late surrender trims the house edge slightly when used correctly. Not every casino or online table includes the option. The option is announced verbally or with a hand signal at land-based tables, while online versions show a surrender button when it is available, usually before any other action is taken.
