If the dealer does not get that blackjack, the player's main wager will pay one and a half but he will lose half a unit on the insurance. The insurance but pays two to one on the winning blackjack. If the dealer ends up getting that blackjack, the main bet will push, so it wins nothing, but the insurance but will win one unit because the player bets half a unit on insurance. …at what would happen both ways if the player has a blackjack and takes insurance. It's only offered when the player already has a blackjack and the dealer has an ace up. Well, let me explain to you first of all, that the even money offer is the same thing as taking insurance. If you've been counting cards and you know that the remaining cards are very 10 rich, but for the recreational player that's not counting, insurance is a terrible bet and, again, I recommend you decline it every time.

Before someone says in the comments, 'Mike, what if the count is good? What if I'm counting cards?' That means that for every dollar the player bets on insurance, he can expect to lose 7.4 cents or 7.4% of whatever his insurance bet is.ħ.4% is a pretty high house advantage and consequently, I recommend that you say no to insurance every time.

In other words, the player can expect to win 61.74% of his bet and lose 69.13% of his bet. Let's take the product of the win and the probability.Ģ times 96 over 311 is 61.74% and 215 divided by 311 times -1 is -69.13%. There's 311 because a full six-deck shoe is 312 cards and we take one out because of the dealer's ace, and there are 215 cards that will cause the insurance bet to lose. Let's assume six packs of cards, shall we?Īssuming no other information other than the ace up the dealer already has, there are 96 winning cards for the insurance bet, 16 times 6 out of 311 left. …put a two for the pace if the dealer has a 10 point card in the hole and a negative one if the dealer has an ace and a nine which represents that the player lost his insurance bet. The insurance bet can be made for up to half of the player's original bet and it pays two to one if it wins. It is offered when the dealer already has an ace up, so it wins in the event that the dealer gets a blackjack. What insurance is, is a side bet that the dealer has a 10 point card in the hole. Michael Shackleford: Hi guys, this is Mike and the purpose of today's Wizard of Odds Academy lesson will be to explain why you should never take insurance in Blackjack.

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