Blackjack Surrender Calculator
Find out when giving up half your bet beats playing on. Exact results for every hard 12 to 17 against every dealer upcard, whether the dealer stands or hits soft 17.
See the full chart for every other hand in the
, or check how risky hitting is with the
The short version
Late surrender lets you give up a hand after the dealer checks for blackjack and lose half your bet instead of playing on. Its value is exactly −50%.
Surrender only when the best other play loses more than 50% on average. With the dealer standing on soft 17, that means a hard 16 against a 9, 10 or Ace, and a hard 15 against a 10.
If the dealer hits soft 17, add a hard 15 and a hard 17 against an Ace. Never surrender a hard 14 or lower, or anything against a dealer 2 through 8.
The gain on each hand is small, between about $0.40 and $4 per $100 bet, and the hands are uncommon, so surrender is worth learning but not worth worrying over.
How the numbers work
Why give up half a bet?
A hand that loses more than half your bet on average is a bad place to be. A hard 16 against a 10 loses about 54 cents on the dollar whether you hit or stand. Surrendering turns that into a 50-cent loss, which is the cheaper outcome. Surrender is not defeatist: on these few hands it is simply the best play.
Where it is offered
This page covers late surrender, offered after the dealer has checked for blackjack. Many tables do not offer it at all, so check the rules before you sit down. Early surrender, which comes before the dealer checks, is rare and changes the numbers. Tables where the dealer does not peek for blackjack are different too.
How accurate is this?
The figures use an endless deck. A real shoe moves each number by a fraction of a percent, which matters only for the close cases: a hard 15 against a 10 is better to surrender by well under a cent per dollar, so with fewer decks or after seeing other cards it can tip either way. Pairs such as 8,8 are a splitting question and are left out.
Table Edge