online blackjack

Insurance In Online Blackjack

Insurance in both land-based and online blackjack is a side bet the player is allowed to make when the dealer’s up-card is an Ace. The purpose is to protect the player from a dealer’s Blackjack. Players can wager up to half the original bet and get paid 2:1 if the dealer has a Blackjack—in other words, you get paid up to the original wager if the dealer hits a Ten for the price of the insurance bet. If not, you lose the insurance bet and continue with your hand.

Most of the times, insurance is a bad choice. Unless you have a distinct advantage over the dealer (like holding a online blackjack yourself or counting the cards), insurance will make you lose money in the long run.

Let us do a bit of Math. Assuming an even distribution of cards over the decks in the virtual online blackjack shoe—which you can safely assume, unless you’re counting—there are four cards that would make a online blackjack (Ten, Jack, Queen and King) and nine that won’t (Ace through Nice).

The probability that the dealer hits online blackjack will be 4 divided by 13 (the number of favorable events over all possible ones), which is slightly over 30%. Out of 100 insurance games with a 50 dollar bet, you will win only 30 ones (3,000 dollars) and lose 70 (3,500 dollars), which yields a net loss of 500 AUD. Of course, these are plain statistical figures and the amounts can vary. However, with the fast pace in online blackjack game, they can be considered accurate when sitting at a table for more than a couple of hours.

There are, however, a select few occasions where buying insurance in an online blackjack game is advisable:

• The amount wagered at that certain hand is much higher than your average bet. In that case, insurance helps minimize the loss.

• You are very close to hitting a target (like a bonus for a certain number of hands played) and breaking even with that hand is of help.

• You are holding a online blackjack yourself. Placing insurance waives the 3:2 payout but guarantees a win: if the dealer holds a online blackjack too, you push it and cash on the insurance, if not, you lose the insurance and get the 3:2 bonus.

To wrap it up, experts recommend that you don’t buy insurance in a game of online Blackjack, unless you really know what you’re doing.