Why Taking Insurance In Blackjack Is Never A Good Bet – Casino.Org News

Ah, blackjack insurance. The bane of many abreak-in dealers existence.

You know they shouldnt be betting it; all theexperienced blackjack players at the table know they shouldnt be betting it.

Still, theres always going to be that one guyat the table insisting to everyone that will listen that you have to insureyour 20 against the dealers ace. Or that even money is a good bet.

While I suffered in silence all those yearsago in Las Vegas, Im going to do my best now to explain to you why insuranceis never a good bet no matter what your new friend throwing back mojitos atthe other end of the table is telling you.

First off, lets talk about what insurance is.

Insurance in blackjack is a side bet you can make if the dealer has an ace up, which allows you to bet on the dealer actually having blackjack. If youre right, you get paid 2 to 1.

But of course, you will lose your main bet. Soby betting insurance, you are insuring your hand against the dealer having thatdreaded blackjack.

Its only offered when the dealer has an aceup, and importantly, you can only take insurance for up to half of your mainbet.

This is because its a simple matter to keeptrack of the 10s in the deck, and any knowledgeable player would crush theinsurance bet if they were allowed to bet more.

The math here is straightforward.

There are 13 types of cards. Four of them are 10-value cards that will give the dealer blackjack. So, the odds are 9/4 against you winning the bet. The casino will only pay you 2 to 1, so the house edge is almost 6 percent.

As mentioned, house advantage depends on howmany 10s have come out of the deck.

Insurance is far and away the most significant deviation from basic strategy for a card counter.

In fact, if I notice nothing else other thanthat you always take insurance with a large bet and never with a small one,Ill be on the phone with the eye in the sky before youre dealt your nexthand.

That being said, lets talk about our tipsynew blackjack instructor attempting to get you to insure your 20 because its agood hand.

If you have been dealt two 10-value cards, youknow that those are two fewer 10 cards that can make the dealers hand ablackjack. Taking insurance at this point is even less of a good idea.

The other hand that will have someone at thetable clamoring for you to take insurance is when you have a blackjack againsta dealers ace.

This version of insurance is often called evenmoney, as you will receive even money for your bet.

Its important to realize that even money isnot a separate bet.

Its just a term used for the short cut thatdealers use in paying insurance on a table that still pays a players blackjack3 to 2.

In this case, if you bet $10 and received ablackjack, you could ask for even money. The dealer will happily give you $10,pick up your cards, and proceed on their merry way.

But what has happened here?

In this special instance of taking insurance,the dealer knows that there are two outcomes.

If the dealer has a blackjack as well and hadyou placed the $5 bet on the insurance line, you would have pushed on yourblackjack but been paid $10 on your separate insurance bet.

If the dealer had not had blackjack, you wouldhave lost your $5 insurance bet, but you would have received 3 to 2 on yourblackjack.

Thats $15 minus the $5 for insurance, or anet of $10. Sadly, this neat little math trick only works on blackjack tablesthat still pay 3-2.

Casinos do not offer even money on tableswhere blackjack pays 6 to 5. In that case, you would put up your $5 insurance.

If the dealer has blackjack, you win $10 as inthe original even money scenario. But if the dealer doesnt have blackjack, youlose $5 in insurance and only pick up $12 for your blackjack.

Thats a net of only $7, not the $10 that madethe even-money trick work before.

Other than that, insurance works exactly thesame on tables that pay 3 to 2 or 6 to 5. Though obviously, the 3 to 2 game hasmuch better odds.

The argument here is that youre going to bepaid something. A win is a win.

But of course, youre playing many hands ofblackjack. Getting paid something isnt the same as getting paid the most overtime.

Lets review our $10 bet scenario. There are 13possible cards under the dealers hole card.

If you take even money on all 13 of thosecases, you have $130. If you dont, you push on the 4 occasions the dealer hasa 10-value card but get paid $15 on the other 9 non-10-value cards. Thats$135.

This is a little simplified in that it ignoresthe cards dealt to you and the dealer, but in the long run, you will be over3 percent better off if you dont take even money.

Despite the well-meant intentions of yourslightly boisterous new friends on the blackjack table, or even in some casesan ill-informed dealer, insurance is never a good idea for a casual blackjackplayer.

The surge in tables paying 6 to 5 on blackjackhas caused a lot of confusion about taking even money.

Casinos dont offer this shortcut because themath doesnt work the same as on a 3 to 2 table, but you can still takeinsurance on your blackjack.

Perhaps the only positive to come out of 6 to5 blackjack is reigniting the debate about eliminating insurance altogether.

Casinos make money on hands per hour. Spending10 or 15 seconds tracing the layout asking for insurance when almost no oneever takes it can seriously impact the bottom line over hundreds of thousandsof hands.

The saving grace on the old 3 to 2 tables wasthe ingrained (but bad) advice to take even money and walk away with something.This provided at least some player participation on the insurance side bet.

But now, with 6 to 5 games forcing folks toactually insure a blackjack, participation has fallen to all-time lows.

Dont be terribly surprised if in the not-too-distantfuture you walk into a casino and insurance is no longer on the layout in boldletters.

But not to worry, your garrulous friend downon spot 7 can probably opine for hours about 12s against a bust card.

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Why Taking Insurance In Blackjack Is Never A Good Bet - Casino.Org News