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What is Blackjack Insurance?
Blackjack Insurance Meaning
Blackjack Insurance is a special betting option that players can choose in the casino table game ‘Blackjack’. It refers to a betting option that allows players to bet an additional amount if the dealer’s upcard (the first card that is opened on the table out of the two cards received) is an Ace to cover their loss when the dealer completes Blackjack .
Blackjack Basic Rules and the Role of Aces
To understand blackjack insurance , you need to understand the basic rules of blackjack and what role the Ace (A) card plays in the game of blackjack .
Blackjack is a game where the player wins if the total of the two cards does not exceed 21 and the player’s hand is higher than the dealer’s hand . – [Learn more about the rules of Blackjack]
To do this, the player uses a hit (receiving an additional card) or a stand (not receiving a card) to avoid a bust (the sum of the cards exceeding 21) and makes a number closer to 21 than the dealer, or uses the rule that the dealer must make at least 17 to induce the dealer to bust.
If you make the highest number, 21 , with only two cards, it is called Blackjack, the name of the game, and is considered the strongest hand , winning the game unless your opponent also makes Blackjack. (If the player wins with Blackjack, they receive a Blackjack Bonus that multiplies the winnings by 1.5 times.)
In order to make a blackjack with only two cards, you must have an ace card that can be counted as 11, and this is because the only condition that can make a blackjack (10+11=21) is the case of (11,10) .
As you can see from the picture above, in the game of Blackjack, the Ace is the only card that can become either the lowest number 1 or the highest number 11 (calculated in the player’s favor), so it can be considered the most powerful card among all cards .
Therefore, when the dealer’s up card is an Ace, players can check the possibility that the dealer’s remaining cards, which are not revealed, are 10 (including J, Q, K) and make a blackjack, so they literally make an additional bet with the concept of ‘insurance’ .
How to Play Blackjack Insurance
When the game begins, the player and the dealer are each dealt two cards, and the dealer opens one of them.
Here, if the dealer’s open card is an Ace, before moving on to the order of deciding whether to hit or stand, you will be asked whether you want to make an insurance bet. If you accept, you will be asked to make an additional bet equal to half of your initial bet .
After that, when the dealer’s face-down card is revealed and a card worth 10 points is revealed, if the dealer has blackjack, the player will receive a prize equal to twice the amount of the insurance bet.
So, let’s see what happens to a player’s profit when he wins and loses when he places an insurance bet.
How to view insurance results
If the dealer has blackjack
First of all, if the insurance bet is successful, it means that the dealer’s down card is a card worth 10 points, and thus makes a blackjack .
However, the insurance bet is treated as a separate bet from the main bet, and as a result, the player in this situation is treated as having lost the main game, and thus loses the entire main bet amount wagered before the game started.
For example, let’s say you bet 10,000 won on the main game before the game starts. If you see that the dealer’s upcard is an Ace and bet an additional 5,000 won, which is half of the 10,000 won, as insurance, the player will have bet a total of 15,000 won.
- Total betting amount : (15,000 won)
- Main Bet : 0 won
- Insurance bet : 15,000 won
- Total Revenue : 0 won
If the dealer’s down card is a 10 and becomes a blackjack, the player loses 10,000 won of the main bet amount, but since the insurance bet has a payout of 2:1, the player receives 15,000 won including the bet amount, thus compensating for the loss .
If the dealer does not have blackjack
So what happens if the dealer’s card total is not blackjack after the insurance bet?
The first situation is when you fail to insure but win the main game .
For example, let’s say you bet 10,000 won for the main bet and 5,000 won for insurance, but the dealer’s down card is a card with a value other than 10, and the dealer’s card total is lower than the player’s or you bust.
In this case, the player wins the main betting game with 10,000 won at stake, but loses the insurance betting game with 5,000 won at stake because he failed to predict blackjack.
- Total betting amount : (15,000 won)
- Main bet : 20,000 won
- Insurance Betting : 0
- Total Profit : 5,000 won
The second situation is the worst for the player, where both the main bet and the insurance bet fail.
If you bet 10,000 won on the main game bet and 5,000 won on the insurance bet, but the dealer’s down card is not a 10-point card and the sum of the player’s cards is lower than the sum of the dealer’s cards, the player will suffer a greater loss than if he had only bet on the main game.
- Total betting amount : (15,000 won)
- Main Bet : 0
- Insurance Betting : 0
- Total Revenue : (15,000 won)
If the player has blackjack
Even if the player has a blackjack with two cards, he can still make an insurance bet if the dealer’s upcard is an Ace.
For reference, the payout for blackjack is 3:2, meaning you will receive 1.5 times the bet amount as winnings.
Assuming a main bet of 10,000 won and an insurance bet of 5,000 won, the following occurs:
1. When the insurance bet is successful (when the dealer has blackjack)
- Total betting amount : (15,000 won)
- Main Bet : 10,000 won (Push, refunded in case of a draw)
- Insurance : 15,000 won
- Total Revenue : 10,000 won
2. When the insurance bet fails (when the dealer does not have blackjack)
- Total betting amount : (15,000 won)
- Main Bet : 25,000 won (Blackjack Bonus)
- Insurance : 0
- Total Revenue : 10,000 won
Pros and Cons of Blackjack Insurance
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of blackjack insurance betting and whether it’s worth using.
Advantages of Blackjack Insurance Betting
1. Additional betting options available to complement the main game
The biggest advantage of blackjack insurance is that it provides a mechanism to protect the player by making an additional bet when the dealer is judged to have an advantage over the player .
When a player has an ambiguous hand like 13 or 16, there is a chance of going bust even if he hits, so he has no choice but to use a strategy that aims to bust the dealer.
However, as you can see in the table above, when the dealer’s upcard is an Ace, the probability of the dealer busting is lower (11.65%) than the average (28.36%), so you can consider insurance as a betting option to supplement the main bet, which has a low chance of winning .
2. Prize money that can be covered by losses
The principle for insurance betting is to bet half of the main bet amount, and the odds are 2:1.
In other words, if you successfully predict that the dealer’s down card is a 10 and that it is a blackjack, the winnings from the insurance bet are twice the bet amount, which is the same as the main bet amount, and can completely offset the loss from the main game that was lost due to the dealer’s blackjack .
This can also be used as a means of gaining psychological stability by reducing anxiety about the dealer’s possibility of blackjack even when the player has a good hand .
Disadvantages of Blackjack Insurance Betting
1. Low hit probability
The numbers will vary slightly depending on how many decks of cards are used and what hands other players at the table have, but the odds of winning on insurance bets are generally low.
A standard deck of playing cards has 52 cards, so a standard 6-deck blackjack game would use 312 cards.
Here, excluding the dealer’s up card (Ace), there are 311 cards left, and among them, the four cards with a value of 10 points for making a blackjack are 10, J, Q, K, and each deck has four suites (♠, ◆, ♥, ♣), so there are 4*4*6=96 cards, which means the probability of the insurance bet winning is 30.8% (96/311) .
2. In reality, low dividends and long-term losses
At first glance, the insurance bet’s odds of 2:1 seem like a decent payout, enough to cover losses from a main game loss.
But if we calculate the actual dividend, it is as follows:
- Probability of drawing a card with a value of 10 (10, J, Q, K) among 13 cards (A, 2~10, J, Q, K) : 4/13
- Probability of drawing a card other than a 10 value among 13 cards (A, 2~10, J, Q, K) : 9/13
In other words, the actual odds for insurance betting should be calculated as 2.25:1, which is 4/9.
Ultimately, placing an insurance bet that is calculated lower than the actual payout will increase the house edge (the probability that the casino will win), which means that the player will suffer greater losses in the long run .
conclusion
To cut to the chase, it’s much more advantageous to not make insurance bets in blackjack.
Insurance betting ultimately means ‘insurance’ in the true sense of the word.
It covers my losses, but to do so I have to pay a certain percentage of the amount, 50% of the amount, and predict a low probability case .
However, in reality, the winnings of insurance bets are paid out at a lower rate than the probability of winning, which means that players should understand that insurance bets are also risky bets with a negative expected value .
Ultimately, in a structure where the casino benefits the more long-term the bet is made, insurance betting can be seen as a risky and worthless choice in the long run, and this is something that most casinos acknowledge.
Even if you win the main game, there is a risk of your profits decreasing due to insurance betting, so I think it is more important to focus on basic blackjack strategies that can better utilize blackjack strategy charts rather than insurance betting, and to make strategic decisions with higher odds .
Blackjack Insurance Strategy
As explained above, insurance betting in basic blackjack strategy is not recommended for several reasons.
However, since it still exists as a betting option, let’s find out what are the best times to place insurance bets and what strategies can increase the probability of winning.
1. Use card counting
Card counting is the skill of looking at the table and tracking the overall distribution of cards received by you, the dealer, and other players, and predicting the cards remaining in the deck or the dealer’s down card.
It is a difficult technique that requires quick calculations and table reading skills, but it is practically a dead technique these days because it mostly uses multiple card decks and it is not a technique that guarantees a perfect winning percentage like in the movies.
However, if you are going to make an insurance bet , it is important to carefully check the cards the players have received, especially the distribution of 10-point cards that can make the dealer blackjack .
2. Short-term betting
Insurance betting ultimately increases the house edge, which can ultimately lead to greater losses in the long run than if you had only placed the main bet .
Therefore, for beginners who simply want to enjoy the game for fun or have a very short-term betting plan with little capital, I think it is not a bad experience to place an insurance bet to relieve psychological anxiety about the possibility of the dealer getting blackjack.
Especially for players with little experience in blackjack, there are many cases where they go bust after making an unnecessary hit out of anxiety when they receive a low hand, or they lack basic skills such as strategically standing while aiming for the dealer’s bust. Therefore, I think it is not a bad idea to try insurance betting once or twice to prepare for blackjack with peace of mind.
However, we must be aware that insurance can lead to long-term losses and avoid making insurance bets beyond that amount.
