Surrender spots
Why hard 16 against dealer 10 is usually surrender
With late surrender available, hard 16 against a dealer 10 is so weak that giving up half the bet is often the best mathematical result.
Key idea
With surrender allowed, 16 vs 10 is a surrender spot, not a hit spot.
4 min
Hard 16 is trapped between two bad options
Standing on hard 16 against a dealer 10 loses very often, because the dealer has many ways to finish with 17 through 21.
Hitting is also painful because 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or any face card busts the hand. You are not choosing between good and bad; you are choosing the smallest loss.
Late surrender changes the answer
When surrender is not available, basic strategy often hits hard 16 against 10. But this trainer uses late surrender, and that extra option matters.
Giving up immediately loses half a unit. In this specific spot, playing the hand out tends to lose more than half a unit on average, so surrender has the better expected value.
Important exception
A pair of 8s is also hard 16, but it is treated as a pair first. You split 8s instead of surrendering them under the strategy used here.
So remember the full rule: surrender hard 16 against a dealer 10 when it is not a pair of 8s and surrender is available.