Why You Should Avoid the Insurance Bet in Blackjack
Recently updated on May 10th, 2021
Insurance is associated with protecting variables. With the blackjack insurance bet, we are trying to break even should our bet lose. However, the insurance bet in blackjack does not necessarily amount to playing it safe. It is because the bet will actually cost you more money than it should be saving you. Hence, you should avoid it.
What is the Insurance Bet in Blackjack?
Players get a chance to place an insurance bet in blackjack when the dealer has an ace face-up card. This means that the dealer can get a face-down card that is a ten or has the value of 10. If you choose to make an insurance bet at the time, it means that you are betting that the dealer will have a natural blackjack.
The bet is made separately from your main bet. You will have to make half of your main bet for the insurance bet. What’s more, the main hand will play out the same, and if you lose, you still have a chance to win the side bet. If you win the insurance side bet, then you would have a break-even.
The Odds of Winning an Insurance Bet
The odds of you winning the bet against the dealer’s natural blackjack with an ace face up are 9 to 4. This means that the dealer’s odds of having a ten-valued card face down is 1 in 3. However, the odds players are given for an insurance bet is 2 to 1. All of this means a 33.3% chance that the dealer will have a natural blackjack. At the same time, the dealer’s odds mean that they are likely to have natural blackjack 30.8% of the time. It might seem like it is not a big difference, but this is why you will lose a lot of money.
Another way that you can check why the insurance bet in blackjack is not a good bet is by checking the blackjack strategy chart. Since it is such a bad bet, it is not even included in the chart. It is because there is no best time to make an insurance bet. What’s more, it has a low chance of paying off, which means that it is not worth the risk.
Should You Make the Insurance Bet?
Yes, only if you are exceptional at counting cards. You will wait for when the odds are in your favour and when the deck has more than three ten-valued cards. You would have been able to count cards and know how many ten-valued cards are in the deck of cards.
No, if you are not good at card counting. In this case, you won’t tell how many ten-valued cards are left in the deck of cards, which makes this bet very risky since you are not sure. So, avoid it at all cost.
