1. Should I Take Insurance In Blackjack For Real
2. Should I Take Insurance In Blackjack Without
3. Should You Use Insurance In Blackjack

Apr 1, 2014

Sometimes during a hand of blackjack, a dealer will offer the player the option of insurance, but is this a good idea?

1. You win in blackjack when you get a better hand than the dealer’s. Sometimes it is advisable to minimize the chances of losing the entire bet to the dealer. You take insurance when there is a high likelihood that the dealer’s next hand will be better than yours.
2. The main reason blackjack insurance is offered is that many players take insurance. Almost 100% of the time, this is a mistake. Insurance in blackjack is a sucker bet–you should never take it. A few exceptions to that rule exist. One gambling expert wrote “insurance is for cars and card counters”.

Take a look at these blackjack sign-up offers. Blackjack strategy for 4-8 decks, dealer stands on 17. Blackjack insurance: what it is, how it works, when to take it. 14 Feb 2020, 10:30am.

Generally speaking, insurance is a good thing to have. Travel insurance, car insurance, home insurance, and most notably life insurance, all play an important role in millions of people’s lives around the world when things go wrong. Taking out an insurance policy is a form of risk management, transferring the risk of loss from you onto someone else – the insurance company – for a fee that represents a fraction of the full potential loss. A $100 policy can sometimes be the difference between managing to salvage a decent holiday and spending an entire week on the beach in the same pair of underwear.

However, when offered blackjack insurance at the casino is it as worthwhile to take the insurance, or just take the risk? Let’s take a look at the casinos only offered insurance policy, and what your best option is.

What Even is Blackjack Insurance?

The main thing to know about blackjack insurance is that it’s only offered in one circumstance and involves someone – probably – having a blackjack.

Blackjack do’s & don’ts:

• Never split 10s

• Avoid betting irregularly high when you’re on a ‘streak’

• Always learn basic strategy

Insurance will become an option when the dealers’ showing up-card is an ace; already holding an ace, there’s a good chance that their second card will have a value of 10, which will give them a blackjack; the actual probability of this happening is around 1 in 3. So, when the dealer has an ace, players are offered the opportunity to place an insurance bet; these are secondary bets, and can be made up to half the value of their original bet.

If you opt to place the insurance bet the dealer will check their hidden card – the hole card – and if they have a blackjack then the insurance bet will be paid out at odds of 2:1. Naturally if this happens, you will lose your original bet unless of course you are also holding a blackjack in your hand.

The purpose of the insurance is to allow the player to break even on their hand, by betting the dealer will have a blackjack when it is probable they will.

So, Should You Take It?

However, players will only break even if the dealer does indeed have blackjack; assuming the player had a worse hand than blackjack and subsequently lost their original bet, and that they placed the insurance bet at half the value of the original.

Unfortunately, if the dealer isn’t holding a blackjack you lose the insurance bet and the initial bet will continue to be played out. So, is it worthwhile to take insurance? Usually, no it’s not.

Basic blackjack strategy players should simply never take the insurance bet, because usually they’re just throwing their money away. Although the idea seems appealing, because you still get something if the dealer is holding the all-powerful blackjack hand, it’s isn’t actually very favorable to you as a player.

The insurance bet is always given at odds 2:1, but the chances a dealer has a 10 as their hold card is almost always greater than 2:1; so, as you’re only offered these 2:1 odds you don’t get a fair betting value and shouldn’t bet. Ultimately, even if you did win an insurance bet a few times, you’ll end up losing money purely because of the pay-out odds and the chances of winning it.

Exceptions

As with all blackjack rules, there are exceptions and sometimes it can be favorable to take the insurance bet; however, the conditions in which it’s okay to do so are pretty specific.

First of all you wouldn’t be just playing blackjack, you would be counting cards and as such you would have a good idea of what was likely to be the dealer’s hole card. If you’re counting and know that the more than one third of the remaining cards have a ten value, then it’s more likely that an insurance bet will be a profitable one.

For a card counter, insurance is one of the most favorable play variations possible; interestingly though, it’s almost the most-important tip-offs a counter can give to the casino that the odds are no longer stacked in their favor. Counters can’t afford to ignore the option of an insurance bet, but should be careful as to how they go about it.

So, unless you know the bet is favorable, you should ignore the possibility of placing an insurance bet; it’s just not a mathematically sound strategy to exercise the insurance betting option if you are not an expert player.

Counters, stick with the travel insurance though, because you wouldn’t want to end up in Vegas with only one change of clothes and none of your carefully-planned master disguises.

Tags: basic blackjack strategy, basic strategy, Blackjack, blackjack hand, blackjack insurance, Blackjack rules, blackjack strategy, card counter, Card counting, Casino, counting cards, even money, insurance bet, Las Vegas, mathematically sound strategy, Nevada, pay-out odds, Probability, split 10s, Vegas

• Play Blackjack from the Pool at Caesar’s Palace
  The gambling industry is a raging one in its entirety and that means that between...
• Venetian Casino in Las Vegas Loses $500,000 to Bad Blackjack Debt
  California blackjack card game player won a fortunate round in U.S. 9th Circuit Court of...
• The Ace of Spades: How Blackjack Got its Name
  Blackjack has a long history and has been called many names, so where did the...
• How Blackjack Can Help You Buy a Secondhand Car
  How effectively can blackjack be used to help with the purchase of a secondhand car?...
• The Hipster Guide to Blackjack
  We’ve got the ultimate hipster guide to blackjack; straight from the source....

There are a lot of myths surrounding the game of blackjack-myths that many people take as truths. Many people think that bad players at the table hurt your chances of winning, that counting cards is illegal, that you should never sit in the last position at the blackjack table or other players will blame you for bad luck and a whole plethora of other 'truths' that, in fact, are not true at all. Read on to learn about some common blackjack myths and the truth about them.

Always Figure the Dealer for 10 in the Hole

One of the most common blackjack myths is that you should always figure the dealer for 10 in the hole. If the dealer is showing a 2 then you should assume that he's got a hand of 12, if a dealer is showing a 5 then you should assume that he's got a hand of 15. This is a basic strategy of many players. However, should we always pre-assume that the dealer's got a hole card of 10?

The truth of the matter is that there are 4 times as many cards in a deck that are worth a value of 10 than any other card. However, only 30% of the cards in the deck are worth 10, so there is really only a 3:7 chance in any given round that the blackjack dealer actually has a 10 in the hole. If you get past the myth that the dealer's hole card is a 10 then you can start actually start playing more strategically and increase your chances of winning.

Bad Players at the Table Hurt Your Chances

Many blackjack players believe that having bad players at the table hurt their chances of winning. If a player hits when he should have stayed or stays when he should have hit then many of the other players at the table may believe that this is throwing off the flow of the game, messing with the order of the cards and hurting the chances of all the other players at the table. This goes along with the following myths-that the order of the cards is sacred and that you should avoid choosing the last position at the table.

In reality, mathematically speaking, bad players have no real effect on the outcome of the game. While they may throw off your concentration or get on your nerves, it's a myth that they can seriously affect your chances by playing at your table.

The Order of the Cards is Sacred

A lot of blackjack players feel that the order of the deck in a game of blackjack is sacred. If a new player joins the game in the middle or one of the other players surrenders then this sacred order can be thrown off, ruining the other players' chances of winning.

While it's true that another player surrendering or someone new joining the game will change the order of the cards, there is just as much a chance that their decisions will result in a shift that will help you to win. This is a myth that many players probably use to place the blame on others for their losses, rather than owning up to their own bad strategy or luck.

Avoid Choosing the Last Position at the Table

Another common blackjack myth that goes along with placing the blame on others is to avoid choosing the last position at the table. The player in the last position, closest to the dealer, is commonly the scapegoat for the rest of the players. Say, for instance, that the last player at the table hits and receives an 8 and immediately following that the dealer shows his up-card and then draws a final card that gives him a total of 21, beating the rest of the players, whereas the 8 would have caused him to bust. The last player at the table may be blamed by the other players for their losses.

However, the chances are just as likely that the last player at the table will make a decision that results in the dealer just missing blackjack and busting instead. The decisions of the other players at the table shared just as big a part in leading up to the end of the round and the order of the cards as you did.

Should I Take Insurance In Blackjack For Real

Always Take Insurance When Dealt a Blackjack

A lot of players think that you should always take insurance when you have a blackjack or 20 and the dealer is showing an Ace. However, taking insurance in every instance is often one of the worst moves you could make. When you take insurance you give up 13% of the profit that blackjack pays, cutting your winnings drastically. Don't fall into the trap.

Should I Take Insurance In Blackjack Without

Card Counting is Illegal

Should You Use Insurance In Blackjack

One of the most widespread myths about blackjack is that counting cards is illegal. This myth is proliferated in movies about casino sharks and through word-of-mouth and the casinos are happy to let players continue believing this because, the truth of the matter is that counting cards is one of the most effective blackjack strategies. When you learn to count cards well you can easily decrease the already low 2% house edge in blackjack to next to nothing. Stop worrying about getting caught and learn this great strategy because in reality, card counting in blackjack is perfectly legal and can greatly increase your chances.