- The payoff for insurance, on the other hand, is 2:1. Insurance is a side bet which you can take when the dealer's face up card shows an Ace. The worth of insurance bet should be half your blackjack bet. So if you placed a $100 blackjack bet, your insurance bet should be $50. If the dealer wins, you lose your bet but get paid on the insurance.
- Essentially, Blackjack insurance allows the player the option to lessen their wager after the dealer exposes their cards and reveals an Ace card. In this scenario, if the rule is in play, then if the dealer has an Ace then he or she will go around the table asking each player whether or not they want insurance.
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- What Happens When You Buy Insurance In Blackjack
- What Is Buying Insurance In Blackjack
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Insurance is the act of protecting your hand against the possibility that the dealer has blackjack. In a game of 21, a blackjack by the dealer means an immediate loss for the player. Whenever a dealer shows a 10, the first thing he will do after dealing the cards is check his hand for a blackjack. PA: 2-7 Purchased Insurance PB: J-A (Blackjack) Purchased Insurance PC: 8-9. PD: A-10 (Blackjack) Dealer shows an A peeks and has Blackjack. All players loose their ten dollar bet's, PA get's paid 2:1 on the $5 Insurance and thus makes up for the $10 loss buy wining $10. Insurance is a side-bet that dealers offer to players whenever they have an ace showing. The idea behind insurance is to protect your bet just in case the dealer has a blackjack. How Does Insurance in Blackjack Work? When a dealer has an ace showing they’ll ask you if you want insurance.
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Blackjack online can be a lot of fun, and it can provide you with hours of entertainment. Especially considering that there are so many variations of it available, too. From live Blackjack to mobile Blackjack, there’s something for everyone these days.
Yet, there are also some inclusions in the games that you may not be as familiar with and/or know how to use effectively.
One of those options is the Insurance addition. This won’t be found in all blackjack games, but it’s functional in quite a few, and it’s relative for you to know what it’s all about and how to go about using it.
So, that’s why we’ve brought together this Blackjack Insurance explanation. This way, you’ll be able to know what it does and when you can utilise it to the best of your advantages.
What Exactly is Insurance in Blackjack?
If you think of insurance as a word in general, it relates to something that covers you for a particular outcome. So, if you think about your car, you get this insured so that if you are involved in an accident of some kind, you have a way to get it repaired without having to fork out hundreds or thousands to get this done. Well, in blackjack, you’re insured against a certain outcome taking place in the game.
Essentially, insurance is a side bet that is offered to you when the dealer’s face-up card is displayed as an Ace. So, you have the chance to place an additional bet which is equal to half of the original wager that you placed. You’re basically betting on the dealer having a blackjack hand. So, if you’ve made an insurance bet and the dealer turns over their second card to reveal a 10, Jack, Queen or Kind card, then you receive a pay-out from the insurance bet of 2 to 1.
The idea of this side bet is that you have the opportunity to win back some of your initial bet should the dealer have been dealt a blackjack. So, let’s say that you place a wager of €30 and you receive a hand of 19 from your first two cards. You see that the dealer’s face-up card is an Ace, so you decide to place an insurance bet, equating to €15. The dealer then urns their downcard over and it’s a 10, making it a natural blackjack. While your original be will lose, your €15 insurance bet pays out 2 to 1 – so €30.
It’s always the case that an insurance bet will pay out 2 to 1, and its commonplace for you to not be able to bet more than half of your original bet on this side wager.
So, When Should You Opt for Insurance?
Unless you’re able to count cards at a land-based casino, then you should never proceed with an insurance bet when playing blackjack. You don’t need to look too hard to discover that in the long run, it’s going to be something that loses you money.
Odds against the dealer having a blackjack hand are roughly 9 to 4, meaning that on average, you are likely to lose more than half of the insurance bets that you make in this situation. That’s because the side bet only pays out 2 to 1, so it’s quite a losing proposition to take.
There is an exception to this rule though, and that applies specifically to advanced card counters. Such players are able to keep track of how many 10-point cards have already been dealt out and how many remain in the deck. The higher proportion of 10-value cards in the shoe, the more likely it is that the dealer will make a natural blackjack. So, if the count isn’t good enough, then taking an insurance bet could be a great way of saving some money. Of course, it’s something that comes with experience more so and applies much more to live casino blackjack gameplay, rather than online. That being said, because you can see which cards the dealer has had online too, it may be able to be implemented this way by advanced gamers.
What Are the Insurance Bet Odds?
There aren’t set odds for insurance bets because it depends upon the number of decks being used in the version of blackjack you’re playing as well as the number of 10s and face cards that have already been dealt out.
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Because someone who is good at card counting can easily keep track of this, they can identify when the most beneficial moments are to utilise the insurance bet. For a general blackjack player, the odds are generally always against you, and it’s especially true for many online versions of the game, because in a lot of them, the decks are often shuffled before each hand.
What Happens When You Buy Insurance In Blackjack
Something else to keep note of is that the more decks in use in a game, the worse the odds get for the player. If you’re accessing a one-deck game, then the house edge for insurance bets can be about 5.8%. That leaps up to around 7.5% if you’re playing an 8-deck blackjack game as an alternative.
Therefore, a good rule of thumb is that if you definitely have to take an insurance bet, then you should only do it with a one-deck game and with a full table when a small number of 10-point playing cards have been dealt out.
What Is Buying Insurance In Blackjack
Using a Blackjack strategy can be very useful to increase your chances of winnen. For those who are interested, check our definitive Blackjack Basic Strategy Guide 2020!