The games that require wagering are often considered to be of high risk and at times the players could lose all his or her money in one shot after many winning sessions. To prevent themselves from losing, the players tend to plan strategies or hunt for schemes that can reduce the risk.
Is blackjack insurance one of those strategies or schemes that can reduce the risk of losing? Is this option effective for reducing the house edge? Well, there is always a misconception which follows that blackjack insurance is effective for reducing the house edge which is not at all true. However, the fact is, it only increases the house edge more and might make you spend more money in the long run.
Then what is it exactly about? To know this, you must read the given below components and functions of the Blackjack Insurance: -
- Insurance is basically a kind of blackjack side bet which comes into play when the opposite player or dealer has an ace. In such a condition, when you have blackjack insurance then it would ensure your hand and could effectively save your money. It would also give you the chance to place another bet which would be half the amount of money being spent in the original bet. It is essentially placed for the fact that the dealer might have a blackjack. The blackjack insurance in a way to safeguard the player's money even if he or she loses the bet.
- The Blackjack insurance becomes available to the players during the game session in between the play when the dealer shows an ace. If it is a live casino, the dealer will announce this insurance option on the player's table. In case it is an online casino, the players will get to see a button or a pop up appear on their screens which are nothing but blackjack insurance options. This option becomes valid when the dealer shows an ace in the game before showing their whole cards, maybe due to this it is also called as a side bet.
- This kind of blackjack strategy, in the form of side bet, has the potential to pay out 2:1 and allows the user to play independently of the main wager. In case, the dealer gets a 10 in the game, and obviously a blackjack, then the player gets a win here. The win is as huge as getting 2$ for every 1$ which has been placed on the insurance bet. Even if the player loses the main hand, there are still chances for him or her to win from the bet placed by insurance. However, if the dealer does not happen to have a blackjack then the game continues as normal.
- For making the blackjack insurance option valid for you, you must always make sure that you place the bet which is at least half the amount of the wager you did originally. For example, if your original wager was 20$ then you must place your insurance bet for 10$. Another case in which the player can avail this insurance is when they themselves have a blackjack. When the player has a blackjack, then he or she can call off the game immediately and the player would be paid money which is equal to the amount placed during the bet.
- When it comes to taking out the expected value or EV of the blackjack insurance, it is found that the EV of this kind of bet is negative. This implies that making use of the insurance bet repeatedly could make you lose more money in the long run. However, when you calculate the WV from a far perspective, you might not find the negative margin much higher. But you must remember that when you play the game with huge wagers for a long time then there are fair chances in the decimal or percentage points potentially adding up.
- Sometimes it is also advised to choose even money over going for regular insurance bets. The reason behind is even money could allow the player to win for a longer time as compared to the insurance bets. However, if you are someone who is brilliant at counting cards, then insurance bets could assure you advantages. If the player has good hands-on keeping the count on the deck, then he or she must definitely try on this blackjack strategy.
However, if you are smart enough, you might not need to go in deep math. Instead, you would be able to simply make out what would profit you. In either online blackjack or live game, it is important to make the use of an appropriate strategy for winning. When it comes to blackjack insurance, it is neither good nor bad if made use intelligently in the game.