What’s Blackjack insurance and should I ever take it?
If a dealer shows an Ace up-card, he will offer the player insurance. This means that if the dealer does in fact have 21, if you take the insurance you will get a payout of 2:1. If the dealer does not have the Blackjack, you lose your insurance bet and have your original bet to play out with. If you both have Blackjack, then your insurance will win 2:1.
Most people believe the Insurance bets to be a “sucker” bet and that you should never take it. Statistically speaking, there are 9 cards that don’t make a Blackjack for the dealer and only 4 cards that do. The casino pays out 2:1 on a 9:4 event so technically you will lose your money over time if you take the bet.
The only time it can work in your favour is if you have a special knowledge of the deck of card (i.e. card counting.) Insurance can be a good bet if you manage to keep track of the cards left. If the dealer has an Ace, then there are 51 cards left in the deck, of which 16 are tens. If there are only 2 players and none of their initial cards are tens, then that means that 16 out of the 47 remaining cards are ten. That means that the chances are better than 1:3 in which case it is a good bet to make.
But be wary about making these kinds of bets if you are not familiar with the card counting system. Play the insurance bet with caution because more often than not, you will have to wave goodbye to your money if you make the wrong move.