The Blackjack Insurance Bet Explained
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How To Win Playing Blackjack
Simple, fast, and rewarding to play. Blackjack is the go-to for big wins every time. But maybe you’re a little unsure how to play blackjack? That’s why we’re here, so you can get clued up on how to bring the best out of your game to reach 21, aka blackjack as quickly as possible.
Here’s a quick brush up on the blackjack card values. Cards 2 to 9 obviously depict their worth, the King, Queen, and Jack have a value of 10, while the ace shifts between 10 and 1 depending on how you want to play it.
When you take a seat at the blackjack table, the dealer will get one face up card and you’ll get two face up cards which need to total 21. If you have a value of 21 or close to it, then ‘Stand’, which means don’t take another card. If you’re not even close, then op to ‘Hit’ to get additional card/s.
What Exactly Is Insurance?
This is one of the most important aspects of a blackjack basic strategy that you need to understand to use to your advantage. The insurance option comes up when the dealer’s holding an ace. With that ace, do you think the dealer’s next card will give them 21? If you take out insurance with this side bet option, half your wager will be gone.
But, if the dealer does get a blackjack, you win with the odds being 2 to 1. Meaning, for each dollar you put down, you will get a return of 2 dollars back. So, if you had a R20 wager on insurance and the dealer lands up with a total of 21, you win R40. No blackjack by the dealer, and you can kiss that R20 insurance bet bye bye.
Amount You Can Wager And The Payoff
To help put the odds in your favor, there are a few insurance possibilities you can make use of where most of the payoffs will be 2:1. In the majority, if not all casinos, the blackjack rules state, only half of your initial wager can be taken for insurance.
- Full insurance – As stated previously, this is where half of your bet gets taken
- Insurance only on blackjack – Exclusive to casinos in Europe. This is only allowed when the dealer has 21.
- Insure then surrender – First off, surrender is when you give, or surrender, half your wager after the dealer has checked out what his down card holds. Once the round is over, you get back your other half of the wager. Now, if you use the insurance then surrender option, you have no option to surrender.
- Insurance against 10 – This is where you wager on the dealer’s hole card (ie. a card that’s face down) being a 10.
When To Take Insurance In Blackjack
Your gut. Trust it. If you feel that the dealer is holding a 10, then you should consider taking insurance. When you see the dealer holding a 10, you should also take the insurance to avoid losing your entire bet. Because, should that dealer get a blackjack, then as said before, you’ll get back everything you put down.
Why Do Casinos Offer The Insurance Bet?
Marketing. Pure marketing on the part of the casino. The insurance wager gains a higher house edge over you. Especially as half of your wager is taken! As a player, there is some sort of security in knowing that, even if your hand is not the greatest, at least you can win off the dealer’s hand.
Simple Math Of The Insurance Wager
Not a math boffin? We’ll take it slowly…
To begin with, a deck has 52 cards.
Four of these cards are 10s (aces). The rest of the 16 cards left are valued at 10 (4 tens, 4 Jacks, 4 Queens, and 4 Kings).
Hypothetically, let’s just say you already know the dealer has an ace.
So, the equation is:
16 / 51 = 0.3137 = 31.37% chance of a ten
This means there’s a 31.37% chance the dealer gets a 10 with that house edge being 5.8.
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