Last night while playing blackjack I made a mistake regarding the taking of insurance. It was an understandable error, but one I have made before and vowed never to make again, which made it partcularly annoying.
Insurance is offered when the dealer's upcard is an ace. A player who thinks the dealer has blackjack can put up to half his bet on a line on the table, making a side bet on the dealer's hand. If the dealer has blackjack, the insurance bet pays two-to-one. The player loses his main bet but is made whole by the win on the insurance bet. (This assumes the player does not himself have a blackjack. If he doesn, he can choose to take "even money" rather than the higher blackjack payout, coming out twice as good as with the push he would have if he decline even money.)
Insurance and even money are both bad bets most of the time. Unless a player is counting cards, he should never take insurance or even money. But if the remaining deck is rich enough in 10-value cards, the bet is a good one. In my counting system, Knock-Out, insurance is taken when the cout reaches one below the number at which the maximum bet is put out.
Last night I was playing a double-deck game with the cards dealt face-down. I was sitting at first base. When the dealer offered insurance, the count, based on his upcard and my two cards, was where I had to take it. I put the chips on the line. But I hadn't looked to my left to see whether either of the other two players at the table had flipped over a blackjack. After I put the money out, I noticed that the player at third base had done just that, bring the count below the point at which I should have taken insurance.
I would have felt better about my error if the dealer had blackjack anyway, but he didn't.
A little mistake, but one with a cost.
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Insurance
Playing blackjack recently at Sunset Station, I was reminded of one of the most widespread misconceptions among not only players but the dealers who advise them.
The dealer was showing an ace and the count was high. I put chips amounting to half my bet on the insurance line (no one else at the table did), and the dealer flipped a 10 for the dreaded blackjack. Except for one who had blackjack and pushed, every other player but me lost his bet. My insurance bet paid 2-to-1, conveniently covering the main bet I lost and leaving me, effectively, with a push.
One of the players asked the dealer to explain insurance, which he did pretty well. If the dealer has an ace up, players can put half their bet or less on the insurance line. If the dealer has blackjack, a full insurance bet covers the lost main bet, leaving the player whole. If the dealer doesn't have blackjack, the insurance bet loses, and play of the round continues normally, with the main bet winning or losing based on the player's and dealer's hands.
Then the dealer said something I've heard dozens of times even though it makes no sense at all. You should insure a good hand, he told the player -- unless you want to gamble. Many players believe you should insure a had such as two 10-value cards but never a bad hand such as two small cards. (Many players also believe you should never hit a soft 18, another part of "folk" basic strategy that is wrong.)
Here's why that belief is wrong: The insurance bet has nothing to do with the player's hand. It is a bet on whether the dealer has blackjack. If the dealer has BJ, the insurance bet wins, no matter what the player's hand. If the dealer doesn't have BJ, the player loses the insurance bet no matter how good his hand is. In fact, as the authors of "Knock-Out Blackjack" point out, if a player has two 10-value cards, that's two less cards available for the dealer to get and make blackjack with, meaning the odds of winning the insurance bet are actually less when the player has such a hand than when he has, say, a 7 and 8.
So what to do about insurance? Unless you're a card counter, don't ever take it. It's a good bet only when the remaining deck or shoe is particularly rich in 10-value cards, and unless you are counting you have no way of knowing when this is. The cards in your hand have no significant effect on the dealer's likelihood of making a BJ, which is all the insurance bet is about. So don't ever insure a "good" hand unless you're counting, but be ready to hear "you should have taken insurance" if the dealer has BJ against your pair of monkeys.
The dealer was showing an ace and the count was high. I put chips amounting to half my bet on the insurance line (no one else at the table did), and the dealer flipped a 10 for the dreaded blackjack. Except for one who had blackjack and pushed, every other player but me lost his bet. My insurance bet paid 2-to-1, conveniently covering the main bet I lost and leaving me, effectively, with a push.
One of the players asked the dealer to explain insurance, which he did pretty well. If the dealer has an ace up, players can put half their bet or less on the insurance line. If the dealer has blackjack, a full insurance bet covers the lost main bet, leaving the player whole. If the dealer doesn't have blackjack, the insurance bet loses, and play of the round continues normally, with the main bet winning or losing based on the player's and dealer's hands.
Then the dealer said something I've heard dozens of times even though it makes no sense at all. You should insure a good hand, he told the player -- unless you want to gamble. Many players believe you should insure a had such as two 10-value cards but never a bad hand such as two small cards. (Many players also believe you should never hit a soft 18, another part of "folk" basic strategy that is wrong.)
Here's why that belief is wrong: The insurance bet has nothing to do with the player's hand. It is a bet on whether the dealer has blackjack. If the dealer has BJ, the insurance bet wins, no matter what the player's hand. If the dealer doesn't have BJ, the player loses the insurance bet no matter how good his hand is. In fact, as the authors of "Knock-Out Blackjack" point out, if a player has two 10-value cards, that's two less cards available for the dealer to get and make blackjack with, meaning the odds of winning the insurance bet are actually less when the player has such a hand than when he has, say, a 7 and 8.
So what to do about insurance? Unless you're a card counter, don't ever take it. It's a good bet only when the remaining deck or shoe is particularly rich in 10-value cards, and unless you are counting you have no way of knowing when this is. The cards in your hand have no significant effect on the dealer's likelihood of making a BJ, which is all the insurance bet is about. So don't ever insure a "good" hand unless you're counting, but be ready to hear "you should have taken insurance" if the dealer has BJ against your pair of monkeys.
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