Surrender
We now reach the playing decision tables. The idea behind these tables is to remember the patterns. If the game offers surrender, this is the first decision we must make. There are few hands where Surrender makes sense since it is an automatic loss. It makes sense only if on average you will lose more than half a bet by not surrendering. When playing S17 (dealer stands on soft-17), surrender red hands below. For green hands, go to the split table. (Note: If you are looking at black and white versions of tables in this chapter, substitute dark for red and light for green.)
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Surrender 4-8 Decks S17 |
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16 |
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15 |
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14 |
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Playing H17 (dealer hits soft-17), you surrender additional hands with a dealer ace up since the dealer has an extra chance to improve a soft hand. If you ignore the additional hands and use the S17 table above for an H17 game, the penalty is only .005% or a half a penny for every $100 bet. This is not worth the trouble for a Basic Strategy player, but the difference is larger for a counter.
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Surrender 4-8 Decks H17 |
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16 |
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15 |
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14 |
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8,8 |
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I did not bother to include double-deck or single-deck tables, as surrender is extremely rare in these games. However, if you are lucky enough to find these games, do not surrender 16v9. Also in single-deck, do not surrender 15vT, but surrender 7,7vT. You surrender two sevens against a ten in single-deck because you want a seven for a 21 to beat a possible dealer 20, and you are already using two of the four sevens.
© 2009 Norman Wattenberger
