Players Choices - Surrender

There are several things which players can do after the dealer has dealt the cards. They can surrender, hit/stand, double down or split pairs.

Surrender offers players a choice to fold your hand, at the cost of half of the original bet. You must make that decision prior to taking any other action on the hand. For example, once you draw a third card, or split, or double down, surrender is no longer an option. Not every game offers surrender, and those that do falls into two categories, namely Early vs Late.

The main difference between the two types of surrender is in the way a dealer's blackjack is handled. In an early surrender game, a player may choose to surrender before the dealer checks his cards for a blackjack, offering a cheap way out even if the dealer turns out to have a blackjack.

The player is able to cut his losses in this manner but because it offers a big advantage to the player, we would hardly see this version being offered (if you find one, go for it). The much more common variation is late surrender, where the dealer checks for blackjack first, and then only if he does not have blackjack will allow players to surrender their hands.

Surrender is a nice rule to have provided you know how to use it wisely. Unfortunately, many players surrender far too many hands. If you play in a game with surrender, determine if the surrender is appropriate by considering the following:

To lose less with surrender, you must be only 25% likely to win the hand (ignoring pushes). That is, if you lose 75% of the time, and win only 25% of the time, your net loss is about 50% of your bets, equal to the amount you'll lose guaranteed by surrendering. So, learn to use the surrender option, but make sure you know when it is appropriate.

How the dealer plays his hand

The dealer must deal in a standard manner, without any choices. Two popular rules are in existance today that determine what totals the dealer must draw to. In any given casino, you can tell which rule is in effect by looking at the blackjack tabletop where it should be clearly labeled with one of these rules:


1. "Dealer stands on all 17s"
This rule is the more common of the two. In this case, the dealer must continue to take cards ("hit") until his total is 17 or greater.

As an example, if his card total is 16 (say Ace,5 or 10,6) then he would have to hit and draw cards until his total is 17 or more. Even if he has three cards (say Ace,5,6) which gives value of 12, he still has to hit.

Take note that the ace for the dealer is always counted as 11 if possible without the dealer going over 21. For example, (Ace,8) would be 19 and the dealer would stop drawing cards ("stand"). Also, (Ace,6) is 17 and again the dealer will stand. (Ace,5) is only 16, so the dealer would hit.


2. "Dealer hits soft 17"
Some casinos use this rule variation instead. This rule is identical except for what happens when the dealer has a soft total of 17.

To illustrate, examples of soft 17 will be hands such as (Ace,6), (Ace,5,Ace), and (Ace, 2, 4) . The dealer hits these hands, and stands on soft 18 or higher, or hard 17 or higher. When this rule is used, the house will have a slight advantage against the players.

Again, the dealer has no choices to make in the play of his hand. He cannot split pairs, but must instead simply hit until he reaches at least 17 or busts by going over 21.

Know the Proper Rules in Blackjack

Black Jack is a very simple game to play and its simplicity could be the main reason behind its enduring popularity. It is not clear when or who actually invented the game. Similar games were played in France in the 1700s. One version was knows as Vingt-et-un, which is French for "21." The game traveled to North America with French colonists and spread throughout the continent. It evolved over time, and continues to evolve today.

Some basic rules:

In blackjack, the suits have no meaning. Number cards have a value equal to their number, while all the picture cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are worth 10. Aces can be worth 11 or one, whichever is more beneficial to the person holding the hand. For example, a hand with an Ace and an Eight is worth 19 (the Ace is valued at 11, known as a soft Ace). A hand with an Ace, a Four, and a Nine is worth 14 (the Ace is valued at one, known as a hard Ace).

In a single or double deck game, the dealer shuffles a deck of playing cards and one player cuts the deck. Before the first card is dealt, the dealer will 'burn' (discard) the top card and then begin to deal one card at a time per player (including themselves) starting from their left. Each player sitting at the table gets dealt a total of 2 cards face down. The dealer's second card (at most tables) will be dealt face up.

The object is to get a hand with a value as close to 21 as possible without going over. A hand that goes over 21 is a bust. The players at a blackjack table do not play against each other; they play against the dealer. Each player only has to beat the dealer's hand. If the player's hand is not that high, they can opt to 'hit' (request an additional card or cards), or 'stay' (keep the hand that they have). If a player is dealt a sum of 10 or 11, they may also opt to 'double down' (place their hand face up and double their wager).

When a player 'doubles down', they are dealt only one more card faced down. Since Black Jack is played against the dealer; the player's goal is to achieve a higher hand than the dealer. To keep the game going smoothly small number counting skills should be exercised.