Also known as 21, blackjack surpasses all other table games in popularity. It is considerably more engaging than roulette or baccarat because it involves significant decision-making and strategic play, which further reduces the game’s already low house edge.
Hitting, standing, splitting, doubling, and buying insurance are the most common moves players can make in standard blackjack. Surrendering a hand is also possible in some cases, but few blackjack variants allow the move since it benefits players and minimizes their long-term losses.
As the name implies, surrender is an optional move that allows the player to forfeit half of their bet after seeing their first two cards and the dealer’s exposed card. This is usually possible immediately after the initial deal, before any other playing decisions have been made. While extremely rare, surrendering after hitting or splitting is also an option in some online blackjack variants, and we will explore these cases in today’s article.
Standard Surrender Rules in Online Blackjack
When available, the surrender move is usually made at the very beginning of the round, before the player has taken any other action on their hand. Surrendering is a viable move when you are dealt very weak starting hands against particularly strong dealer upcards.
The dealer will then remove your two cards from the layout, collect half of your bet, and return the other half. The surrender option, when exercised properly, reduces the house edge and helps you minimize your losses.
It typically becomes available only after the dealer has peeked under their hole card to check for blackjack. In other words, players cannot surrender if the dealer has a blackjack. The two standard variations of the rule are early surrender and late surrender.
The correct use of late surrender in multiple-deck blackjack is as follows:
- Hard 15 vs. 10 if the dealer must stand on soft 17 (S17)
- Hard 16 vs. 9, 10, and aces in S17 games
- Hard 15 vs. 10 and aces if the dealer must hit soft 17 (H17)
- Hard 16 vs. 9, 10, and aces in H17 games
- Hard 17 vs. aces in H17 games
- Pairs of 8/8 vs. aces in H17 games
Rare Variations of the Surrender Rule
1Available Only at Specific Casinos
In addition to early and late surrender, several other variations of this player-friendly rule exist. Some are as rare as hen’s teeth and are available only at specific land-based casinos. Others, such as surrendering after splitting, hitting, or doubling, appear in certain online versions of the game, which we will cover shortly.
2Macau Surrender
Macau Surrender once allowed players to forfeit any hand containing five cards, provided the total did not exceed 21. We intentionally use the past simple tense because this version of the rule is now obsolete.
3Early Surrender Against a Ten
Early Surrender against a ten is self-explanatory: you may forfeit a weak starting total against the dealer’s ten. This variation is usually available in European-style blackjack games in which the dealer has no hole card. However, you cannot use this move against the dealer’s ace.
4Surrender After Hitting
Surrender after hitting lets you forfeit a hand after any number of hits, provided the total does not exceed 21.
5Surrender After Doubling
Surrender after doubling is straightforward: it lets you forfeit a hand on which you have doubled down. The dealer collects only the double-down wager and returns your original bet. This variation is also known as Double Down Rescue.
6Surrender After Splitting
Surrender after splitting lets players surrender once they have split a pair of cards of equal denomination. You may forfeit one hand and continue playing the other, although surrendering both split hands is also possible.
7Surrender After Buying Insurance
Surrender after buying insurance is also straightforward. In this case, you can surrender a hand you have already insured. For clarification, insurance is available on any player hand when the dealer starts with an ace. Insurance costs half of your original wager and pays 2 to 1 if the dealer has a ten in the hole for blackjack. If not, you lose the insurance bet and play your hand as normal.
8Casino Surrender
Casino Surrender lets you forfeit any two-card total of twenty against a dealer who shows a ten but does not have blackjack. Experts advise against this move because it is generally detrimental to players.
RNG Blackjack with Surrender after Splitting and Hitting
As mentioned earlier, surrender is a rare rule supported by only a handful of online blackjack variations, even in its conventional form. However, this does not mean that more exotic versions are unavailable to online players. You can find more flexible surrender options in a blackjack variant called Super Fun 21.
Two RNG versions of the game are available online: one developed by SG Digital and the other by Microgaming. Their rules largely overlap. Let’s first take a closer look at SG Digital’s version before we discuss the optimal surrender strategy for Super Fun 21.
Super Fun 21 Extreme by SG Digital
Strategy for Super Fun 21 BlackjackLive Dealer Blackjack with Surrender after Splitting and Hitting
If randomly generated blackjack is not your thing, you can enjoy more flexible surrender rules at live dealer casinos powered by Visionary iGaming (ViG) that offer Early Payout Blackjack. In essence, this live game is quite similar to standard versions with surrender. The key difference is that players can forfeit their hands at any stage, provided the live dealer has not completed their hand.
Another interesting twist in Early Payout Blackjack is that the player does not necessarily forfeit exactly half of their original bet. How much you get back depends on the precise winning probability of your hand relative to the dealer’s exposed card.
The early payout option will return more than half your bet in some cases and less than half in others. The bottom line is that players can accept the early payout after they hit, split, or even double. The other rules in this live variation by Visionary iGaming include:
- The game is dealt from six decks.
- The dealer does not take hole cards; instead, they draw their second card after all players have completed their hands.
- The dealer hits soft 17.
- Doubling is allowed on any two-card total.
- Doubling after splits is permitted.
- When players split aces, each ace receives only one card, and the split hands then stand.
- The software calculates the early payouts after each move the players make.