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Insuring Your Own Blackjack?

Dealers, and casino employees, always tell players that they should insure their blackjack. What they mean is this: If a dealer shows an ace, and the player himself is holding a blackjack, he should take the insurance bet. Why? Dealers explain that "you can't lose. Either way you're going to win your original bet." Well, that's true. Here's how it works:

You still have your original $50 bet out and you peek and see you have a blackjack. The dealer is showing an ace, and he might have one also. If you don't make the insurance bet and the dealer has a blackjack, then all you'll get is a push, blackjack vs. blackjack, and no one wins.

If you do "insure your blackjack" by putting out $25 as an insurance bet, you're guaranteed a $50 payout, equal to your original wager. If the dealer has a blackjack, your blackjack is a push, but he pays you 2-1 on the insurance bet and you collect $50.

If the dealer doesn't have a blackjack, then he takes your $25 insurance bet, but pays you $75 for your $50 bet at 3-2. So you net $50 either way.

Well, if that's the case, are these dealers correct in suggesting that you "insure your blackjacks"? No. What the bet really boils down to is this: When you make an insurance wager, what you're betting is that the dealer has a blackjack. Instead of insurance, the dealer should really ask, "Who wants to bet that I have a blackjack?", for that's what this wager is all about.

Unless you've learned to count cards and know what the count is, you shouldn't really take insurance. Even if you have a blackjack yourself, you should avoid the bet. Let's see why, with a very simple example:

Let's assume you sit down at an empty table, and the dealer had dealt you one hand after you've bet $10. You see that you have a blackjack. Great! But the dealer shows an ace, and he says to you "insurance?" Well, do you take it? Do you make a $5 wager that they have a blackjack? Let's examine the situation mathematically.

There are three cards that you have seen, two aces and a 10. In the deck are sixteen 10s, and thirty six other cards. This means that of the cards you don't know, fifteen are 10s and thirty-four are other cards, cards that won't form the dealer's blackjack.

If you make the bet, you're getting 2-1 on a bet that should really net you 34-15, and that gives the house about an 8% edge. So it isn't worth making the bet.

Remember, most of the time the deck will be so constructed that the odds are against the dealer holding a blackjack when they show an ace. Only when the deck has at least enough 10s to bring the ratio down to 2-1 in terms of other cards vs. 10s, is it worthwhile making the insurance wager.

In some casinos where the insurance bet is allowed, the dealer won't peek at his or her hole card until after all the players have acted upon their hands. They make the insurance bet immediately, but then play out their hands and finally the dealer peeks at his or her hole card. If they have a blackjack, then those players making the insurance bet get 2-1, and the others lose their original wagers. Note that we said original wagers. If a player doubles down or splits cards and adds to his original total, and it turns out that the dealer has a 10, in addition to their ace upcard, those additional bets will be returned to the player. He or she only loses the original bet.

Some players are afraid to double down or split when they sea a dealer's ace in these instances, afraid they're going to lose double their bet, but that's not really the case at all.