Friday, December 30, 2011

Application of Insurance in Blackjack

A player has the opportunity to insure his hand, if he has an Ace as the face up card. This is in order to defend a scenario where the dealer may get a natural blackjack. Resembling other normal insurances such as health, life, etc., insurance in Blackjack is a backup measure on negative expectation. The player suspects a negative outcome, and protects against any possible loss, which is the original bet in this scenario. If the dealer reveals a 10 or a face card as the hole card, the bet pays 2 to 1. If not, the insurance bet loses, and the play resumes as normal. The maximum insurance bet that can be made is half the initial wager.

In casinos where insurance is available, the b table would clearly show it. Usually, the pay outs would be 2 to 1 and will be mentioned on the table. This area of the table will be used once the dealer calls out: "Insurance open," and before he says, "Insurance closed." Within this duration, the insurance bet will have to be placed if required. This is how insurance in Blackjack is used.

Online versions pop up a yes/no option for players to take insurance during the games. Usually, players good at card counting make good use of insurance as they evaluate the high proportion of 10-values to make it a good bet.

However, be warned that the casinos have only their own profit in mind, and are not offering you any profitable opportunity to win by giving you a chance to place an insurance bet. It would be prudent to understand and apply how to use the insurance option, as most players do not know how to put it to good use. The ones, who do know the ropes, can take advantage of insurance in Blackjack at the right time.

When it is time to take insurance, all players are offered the opportunity to do so. Only after it is ensured that all players were given an equal opportunity, the dealer will reveal the hole card. At this point, uninsured hand will lose if the dealer has a face card or a 10, and the insured players would get their stakes back.

One main opinion is to ignore insurance altogether. The justification for this outlook is that there would be no impact whatsoever on the odds of the game, or will there be any specific advantages. By ignoring insurance, only an opportunity cost is lost, which is the extra 50% that can be earned in the event of a natural blackjack. If the dealer doesn't have one, then there is no risk of losing anything from the hand.

In the ultimate analysis, the insurance bet is a choice to be decided by the player. He has an option to go in for one to insure himself against a dealer's blackjack, and includes a 50% premium payment. In the event, the dealer doesn't have one, then the premium amount goes to waste. However, here, the opposite argument still holds. It leads to a profit if the dealer gets a blackjack. This is the reason the whole concept still lives.

An insurance bet is best placed, when the probability against a victory is rated less than 2 to 1, which is normally an uncommon sight. Calculating this possibility is generally beyond the normal skill level of players, and hence they would opt not to take insurance. In conclusion, insurance in Blackjack is purely optional. As mentioned above, go in for it if you are good at counting and have a strong hunch that you will win.

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