Blackjack Surrender – Surrendering in blackjack is a great move when used in the right situation. Unfortunately most blackjack players either ignore this option completely or surrender when they really shouldn’t. Knowing and using optimal surrender strategy helps reduce the house edge for casual blackjack players and increases profitability for card counters. Let’s take a closer look at the “who, what, where, when and why” of surrendering in blackjack and see how this valuable player option might be able to help us at the blackjack tables…

Who:

So who is it that you’ll see using the surrender option at the blackjack tables? Is it a fearful player that quickly throws in the towel? Is it a superstitious player trying to change the flow of the cards? The truth is that it’s the smart blackjack player that takes advantage of great surrendering opportunities. There are certain situations in blackjack when the expected value of your hand is a loss of more than 50% of your bet. When that’s the case, clearly you’re better off surrendering and getting half of your bet returned to you rather than playing out the hand.

Here’s a look at the expected loss on a $100 bet without card counting. The reality is that whether you’re keeping track of it or not, there is always a count. The more positive the count goes, the higher the expected loss is when hitting this 15 or 16…

What:

For those that are new to blackjack or just haven’t played many games where surrendering was an option, let’s clarify exactly what surrendering is. When you surrender in blackjack you are immediately forfeiting your hand and getting 50% of your bet returned to you. An example would be if you bet $100 and were dealt a 16 versus a dealer’s 10, you might prefer to “surrender” the hand and get $50 back instead of potentially losing the entire $100. You’re taking an instant loss of half your bet in order to save the other half of the bet. Surrendering is only an option on your first two cards before you take a hit. Once you have taken a hit you can no longer surrender and must finish playing out your hand.

Where:

So where is blackjack surrender offered? Surrendering is usually only allowed on certain shoe games that use 4, 6 or 8 decks. There are only a handful of exceptions that I’ve seen on the west coast (none in Las Vegas)…

Double Deck Blackjack with Surrender (Southern California)

Barona Casino – also has surrender on high limit single deck blackjack

Sycuan Casino
Harrah’s Rincon Casino
Casino Pauma

Double Deck Blackjack with Surrender (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

Isleta Casino
San Felipe’s Hollywood Casino

3-Deck Blackjack with Surrender (Tucson, Arizona)

Casino Del Sol

Typically it’s going to be the 4-8 deck games dealt from a shoe where you might find the surrender option. Here’s a list of the larger casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, plus a few noteworthy mentions off the Strip. I’ve noted where you will find surrender available, if at all…

Aria (City Center) – high limit 6-deck, $100 minimum
Bally’s – 3:2 paying 8-deck games, watch out for the 6:5 tables!
Bellagio – all 6-deck blackjack
Caesars Palace – high limit 6-deck games and some 6-deckers on the main floor
Circus Circus – surrender not allowed
Encore – all 6-deck blackjack
Excalibur – surrender not allowed
Flamingo – surrender not allowed
Green Valley Ranch – high limit 6-deck, $50 minimum
Hard Rock – high limit 6-deck, $100 minimum
Harrah’s – surrender not allowed
Imperial Palace – surrender not allowed
Luxor – all 6-deck and 8-deck games
M Resort – high limit 6-deck, $50 minimum
Mandalay Bay – all 6-deck blackjack
MGM Grand – all 6-deck and 8-deck games
Mirage – all 6-deck and 8-deck games
Monte Carlo – all 6-deck and 8-deck games
New York, New York – all 6-deck blackjack
Palace Station – all 6-deck blackjack
Palazzo – all 8-deck blackjack
Palms – high limit 6-deck and all 8-deck games
Paris – high limit 6-deck and all 8-deck games
Planet Hollywood – all 6-deck blackjack
Red Rock – high limit 6-deck, $50 minimum
Rio – high limit 6-deck, $50 minimum
Riviera – some 6-deck games
Sahara – surrender not allowed
Stratosphere – surrender not allowed
Treasure Island – all 6-deck blackjack
Tropicana – surrender not allowed
Venetian – high limit 6-deck and all 8-deck games
Wynn – all 6-deck blackjack

When:

So when is the right time to surrender? That depends on the blackjack table rules (S17 or H17) and whether or not you’re counting cards. Even without card counting, knowing the correct basic strategy surrender moves will help to reduce the house edge. Here’s a comparison of some 6-deck blackjack games with and without the surrender rule available…

A general rule of thumb is to never surrender against a dealer showing a 2 through 7. Surrendering should only come into consideration when the dealer shows an 8, 9, 10 or ace. Let’s have a look at the correct basic strategy surrender moves on a 4-deck, 6-deck or 8-deck game…

Dealer Stands on Soft 17

Surrender 16 vs 9, 10 or ace
Surrender 15 vs 10

Dealer Hits on Soft 17

Surrender 16 vs 9, 10 or ace
Surrender 15 vs 10 or ace
Surrender 17 vs ace
Surrender 8,8 vs ace

Card counting gives you some additional info to work with. Assuming you’re not using any cover plays that involve surrender situations, here are some easy-to-remember surrender moves that will save you money…

True Count of zero or higher: Surrender 16 vs 9, 10 or ace… Surrender 15 vs 10
True Count +2 or higher: Surrender 15 vs 9 or ace
True Count +3 or higher: Surrender 14 vs 10
True Count +4 or higher: Surrender 16 vs 8

If for some reason you’re a numbers freak and want to know every precise surrender move that exists when dealt a 14 through 17 against a dealer’s 8 through ace, you can contact me for a complete guide. This will get extremely detailed, for example you would want to surrender a 14 versus an ace (S17) at +6 or higher, but against an ace (H17) at a +4 or higher. In my opinion such extensive knowledge is overkill and not at all necessary to play a profitable game of blackjack. Stick to the four surrender points shown above and you’ll be fine.

Why:

The bottom line of why we want to surrender at the appropriate time is that we’re doing everything we can to gain and maintain a mathematical advantage over the house. I make my living off of maximizing my odds at the blackjack tables. Knowing optimal surrender strategy is definitely a key piece of the puzzle. Remember, surrendering is not about giving up or lacking courage, it’s about taking a smaller expected loss to improve overall results. Card counting or not, using correct surrender strategy is just plain smart.

Aria Casino at City Center in Las Vegas opened in mid December. A few weeks later I finally got a chance to check it out. The hotel is nice if you like a modern look, but I’m not writing to tell you about the ambiance of the resort. I’m a professional blackjack player, so all I really care about is the quality of the blackjack games offered at Aria. Here’s my review of Aria’s blackjack…

Blackjack at Aria Casino – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

My first thought about playing blackjack at Aria was that it’s a new place that will hold mostly higher-end players. Great! That means I can throw some large bets around and hopefully go somewhat unnoticed. When it comes to card counting I’m not just looking for great blackjack rules and good dealer penetration, I’m looking for where I can get the most action on the table without drawing too much attention to myself. I found that Aria was pretty good in this respect. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Aria’s casino chips do not have RFID technology (radio frequency identification) that could potentially track player betting patterns. If you’re wondering what an RFID chip might look like, just head into Wynn Casino and check out a $25 chip. You’ll see that there is a metallic circle near the top-center of the chip which is used for tracking purposes. The main idea of RFID technology is to prevent counterfeit chips, but I also know they can be used to detect a card counter’s betting patterns. So thank you Aria for using normal chips like most of Las Vegas!

Aria Blackjack Rules

Aria is currently dealing 3 types of blackjack and they’re all quite different. Knowing the difference between these games can really help reduce the house edge over an average blackjack player. For a card counter, it’s critical to understand these differences in order to maximize your advantage over the casino. Let’s have a look…

6 Deck Blackjack with Continuous Shuffle – (H17, DAS, no RSA, no Surrender)

This is clearly the worst blackjack game at Aria. Not only does the dealer hit on Soft 17 (H17), but players may not re-split Aces and may not Surrender. This game typically has a $25 minimum on weekends, but drops down to $15 on weekdays. As far as card counting is concerned, the continuous shuffling machines make these tables unplayable.

6 Deck Blackjack – (S17, DAS, no RSA, no Surrender)

The 6 deck blackjack dealt from a real shoe is definitely a nice improvement from the continuous shufflers. The games are countable for advantage players and the dealers are dealing through about 4 ½ decks before shuffling. That’s pretty much standard for an MGM property. The dealer stands on Soft 17 which cuts the house edge down some, but you still cannot re-split Aces or Surrender. Other MGM properties such as MGM, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and Mirage will all let you re-split Aces and Surrender on their 6 deck shoe games. Although this clearly isn’t the best 6 deck blackjack in Vegas, you could still do a lot worse. Remember, the hitting/standing on Soft 17 rule is the most important thing when it comes to blackjack rules (assuming you get the full 3:2 payment on blackjack). You want the dealer standing on Soft 17 and at Aria they do!

6 Deck Blackjack in High Limit – (S17, DAS, RSA, Surrender)

There are a handful of 6 deck blackjack tables in the high limit room at Aria. These games are similar to the 6 deckers dealt on the main floor, only with better rules. You not only get the dealer standing on Soft 17, but you can also re-split Aces and Surrender. This is the same 6 deck blackjack as you will find at many of the other MGM properties as mentioned above. The table minimums are set at $100, but that’s often the price you pay for the better games in Las Vegas.

Double Deck Blackjack – (S17, DAS, no RSA, no Surrender)

This is the table where I was more than happy to take some of Aria’s money. The double deck blackjack at Aria is excellent. They Stand on Soft 17 and you may double after splitting. Although you cannot re-split Aces or Surrender, you can’t re-split Aces or Surrender anywhere in Las Vegas on double deck when they stand on Soft 17. You will only find re-splitting Aces on games where the dealer hits on Soft 17. Whether you’re card counting or not, this is a great game and the dealer penetration is fairly good. This might actually become one of my favorite games in Las Vegas! On weekends you can expect a $100 minimum, but on weekdays I noticed it was dropped down to a $25 minimum (at least during the daytime).

So let’s have a look at the house edge on these 4 blackjack options…

Note: These “house edge” numbers assume you are playing optimal basic strategy at all times, but not counting cards at all. If you’re not playing correct basic strategy, then these red bars will grow. If you’re a good card counter and actually know how to properly use card counting strategies (this is rare), then these red bars will shrink and become a player’s edge.

So what percentage of the blackjack tables at Aria are dealing each of these games? Here’s an approximation of what it looked like when I was there…

Aria Blackjack Review – The Conclusion

All in all I was happy with what I found at Aria and I’m sure I’ll be spending plenty of time there. I don’t like the atmosphere nearly as much as I like Bellagio, Wynn and Encore, but it’s not too far behind. If you have anything to add my analysis of Aria’s blackjack, please feel free to post it below as a comment. If you’re interested in hearing about the betting strategy, cover and play deviations I used while at Aria and the amount of pit boss heat I received from it, then you’ll have to contact me privately. Unfortunately I can’t go too deep into my personal experiences at casinos because I don’t want to be identifiable by casino personnel. Good luck out there!