Whats Insurance In Blackjack
- What Is Buying Insurance In Blackjack
- What Is The Purpose Of Insurance In Blackjack
- How Does Blackjack Insurance Work
- Should You Buy Insurance In Blackjack
- Whats Insurance Mean In Blackjack
Blackjack is an exciting casino game which impresses with its interesting rules and gameplay. It is possible to find it in almost every brick and mortar casino as well as online. This card game is a skill-based one and as such, it requires more than just luck. In order to be able to win in the long term, you need to be fully acquainted with all of the moves you can make during the game and their pros and cons.
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.
- An insurance bet is a side bet, meaning you can take it or leave it. The buy-in for blackjack insurance is usually half the amount of your original bet. For example, if you wager £50 before the dealer shows an Ace, your insurance bet will be £25. Why You Should Take Insurance in Blackjack.
- What is Blackjack Insurance? If the dealer shows an Ace during a round of blackjack, he or she will offer the player a chance to purchase insurance. If you buy the insurance and the dealer’s next card is a 10, the dealer will have a blackjack, and you would have won the insurance bet.
One of the options which you have in blackjack is called Insurance. It is a side bet which can be beneficial, however only on the condition that it is made when appropriate. In order to get the most out of it, you need to get familiar with all of the situations in which the insurance bet has proven to be efficient, otherwise you risk losing more money by placing it.
What is Insurance in Blackjack
Insurance is an optional move which is offered by most casinos, both online and offline. To take insurance means to place a side bet which can be put only if the up card of the dealer is an ace. The main idea of this move is to give players the opportunity to bet that the dealer has blackjack and this way insure their current cards. In order to take advantage of the insurance option, you need to place a side bet that is half of your initial wager.
In case that the dealer gets blackjack when his hidden card is revealed, the insurance bet wins and you are paid according to the payout the respective casino offers. It can differ from one place to another, however it is very easy to find it as it is usually displayed on the blackjack table. The standard payout for insurance is 2/1 and for blackjack – 3/2. If the dealer doesn’t get blackjack, your side bet will be lost and the outcome of your hand will be determined as usual by taking into account its total value and the cards of the dealer.
How to Take Insurance
You can make this move after you are dealt your first two cards and before the dealer reveals his hole card. If his up card happens to be an ace, he will directly ask whether any of the participants would like to take insurance. In most casinos, the dealer normally announces “Insurance open” and this is the time in which you are allowed to place this side bet in the designated betting area on the table.
It should be noted that this move is available for only a limited period of time as the dealer also announces “Insurance closed”. As already mentioned, you have the chance to take insurance even when you play blackjack online. In such cases, all of the players on the virtual table are asked whether they want to take insurance, starting from the right to the left side of the virtual room. This way, you have the opportunity to either make this move or decline it which makes the game identical to its land-based counterpart.
When to Take Insurance
The insurance bet can be a very beneficial one, however only if used in the appropriate situation. In general, it favors the casinos and this is the main reason why so many places offer it. If you are uncertain about the situations in which it is a good idea to place this side bet, you are bound to lose extra money and spend your funds much faster. One of the cases in which it is recommended to take insurance is when you have blackjack. The reason why is that blackjack is the best hand you can possibly get in this game and if the dealer also has this winning combination, the result is a tie. Therefore, there is no winner and you don’t get anything in return for having blackjack. If you take insurance in such cases, you will be able to get the same amount of money as your original wager, regardless of the dealer’s cards. In order to achieve this profitable outcome, you are required to take the maximum insurance.
What Is Buying Insurance In Blackjack
The insurance bet has also proven to be very advantageous for card counters as they can determine the ratio of high value cards to low value ones. Keeping track of the cards enables them to get a general idea of the remaining cards in the deck. If the pack is rich in 10’s, then it is a good idea to take insurance as the dealer’s chances of getting blackjack are high enough. In fact, the insurance bet is considered to be one of the biggest benefits for players who know how to apply card counting systems correctly. It is recommended to take insurance when the true count exceeds three.
Why to Avoid Taking Insurance
Insurance is a side bet which works in favor of the casino in most cases. Roughly speaking, in case that the dealer’s up card is an ace, it has been calculated that the house edge is around 7.39%, providing that the game is played with six packs of cards. Usually, the dealer will get blackjack around one-third of the time which makes this side bet irrelevant in a number of situations.
The aforementioned factors clearly show that if you don’t have a reliable strategy when it comes to taking insurance, you will most likely lose money in the long term by placing this side bet. Since blackjack is a skill-based game, it is essential to be prepared in advance in order to manage to reduce the house edge and prevent yourself from putting any disadvantageous bets.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that the insurance bet can be beneficial either if you are a proficient card counter or if you have blackjack in your hand. For the rest of the cases, this side bet has proven to work in favor of the casino and in the long term you are bound to lose money by placing it. It is no wonder that the casinos freely advertise that they offer insurance due to the fact that it highly favors them.
Thus, it is really important to get familiar with the cases in which it is best to take advantage of this move as otherwise you risk reducing your bankroll significantly for no reason. In general, insurance is said to be a rather disadvantageous bet for novice players who are not fully acquainted with its main usage and subtleties.
- Great range of games
- Inviting welcome package
- Fully licensed and regulated
- Great Live Casino
- Mobile Friendly
- Awesome Promotions
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 Is The Purpose Of Insurance In Blackjack
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.
How Does Blackjack Insurance Work
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.
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.
Should 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.
Whats Insurance Mean 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!