The variations we speak of are early and late surrender.

But in general, surrendering will usually only be available directly after the dealer has checked for blackjack. It is usually only offered in hole-card games (but see below for variations), where the dealer draws two cards and may or may not peek at the hole (face down card), before players make their decisions. Surrendering is only available as a first decision of a two-card hand. Otherwise, it’s money down the drain that could have won. Surrendering is a feasible option if you are dealt a poor hand and the dealer has a strong hand, but it has to be used in the right situation. If you have a hard hand of 14 and the dealer has an Ace on show, surrendering in order to retrieve half of your bet instead of quite possibly losing it all can be appropriate. The option to do so is offered by some land-based casinos, and the majority of online casinos.

Surrendering, as we explain in our glossary of blackjack terms, refers to the offer in some games styles of blackjack (mainly American versions) which allows players to forfeit their hand in the current round and get back half of their original wager. And sometimes, surrendering is our best bet an occasionally viable tactic in games of blackjack which allow the player to do so. Let’s face it, sometimes we are just having an off day, with bad hand after bad hand.

Surrender blackjack chart