Blackjack Insurance
Insurance in Blackjack is offered to the player when the dealer draws an ace card. The Blackjack insurance bet is a side bet to the original wager at half the initial stake to protect a hand against the dealer drawing a Blackjack.
The online casino will prompt the player when blackjack insurance is offered, the player can either accept or decline and the casino will automatically place the insurance bet for the player. If the dealer draws a Blackjack, the insurance side bet is paid at odds of 2-1 but the initial bet is lost. If the dealer doesn’t have a Blackjack, the player loses their insurance bet and the game is played on as normal. When the dealer has an ace, if the casino uses 2 cards to draw, then the casino will check for Blackjack straight away before the game is carried on.
Is it Worth it?
In my opinion, taking Blackjack insurance is only worth it if
the player is trying to track down the aces.
For instance, if the player decides they always want insurance it is
an easy way of counting the aces because it is easier to remember how
many insurance bets have been taken. With online casinos, they use a
random generator to pull the cards, so counting them is virtually impossible.
Blackjack insurance is a bad bet in my opinion. It’s just another way for
the casino to win more money.
For example:
The original wager was £2. The dealer draws an ace and the player is offered
insurance. They decide to take it and place half their original wager, £1.
The dealer draws a Blackjack; the player loses their original wager of £2,
but gets paid odds of 2-1 on their insurance. The bet was £1, so the player
gets paid £2. They end up getting back their original wager of £2,
which means the player and the casino are evens.
If the dealer hadn’t drawn a Blackjack, the player would have lost their
insurance bet, the game would have carried on as normal, the player may win or
lose but in essence the casino has just earned £1 from the player. The
player is in a no win situation.
