Posts Tagged ‘blackjack’
Insurance is perhaps the least understood of all the commonly available rules for Blackjack. This is not necessarily a bad thing because the insurance bet is normally a poor bet for the player, with a high house advantage. However, that’s not always the case. So, here we go:
If the dealer turns an up-card of an Ace, he will offer “Insurance” to the players. Insurance bets can be made by betting up to half your original bet amount in the insurance betting stripe in front of your bet. The dealer will check to see if he has a 10-value card underneath his Ace, and if he does have Blackjack, your winning Insurance bet will be paid at odds of 2:1. You’ll lose your original bet of course (unless you also have a Blackjack), so the net effect is that you break even (assuming you bet the full half bet for insurance.) This is why the bet is described as “insurance”, since it seems to protect your original bet against a dealer blackjack. Of course, if the dealer does not have blackjack, you’ll lose the insurance bet, and still have to play the original bet out.
In the simplest description, Insurance is a side-bet, where you are offered 2:1 odds that the dealer has a 10-valued card underneath (”in the hole”). A quick check of the odds yields this: In a single deck game, there are 16 ten-valued cards. Assuming that you don’t see any other cards, including your own, the tens compose 16 out of 51 remaining cards after the dealer’s Ace was removed. For the insurance bet to be a break-even bet, the hole card would have to be a ten 1 out of 3 times, but 16/51 is only 1 in 3.1875.
The situation is often thought to be different when you have a Blackjack. The dealer is likely to offer you “even money” instead of the insurance bet. This is just the same old insurance bet with a simplification thrown in. Let’s ignore the “even money” name, and look at what happens when you insure a Blackjack. Let’s say you bet $10, and have a Blackjack. You would normally collect $15 for this, unless the dealer also has a blackjack, in which case you push or tie.
Let’s assume that the dealer has an Ace up, and you decide to take insurance for the full amount, or $5. Now, two things can happen:
1) The dealer has a Blackjack. I tie with the $10, but collect 2:1 on the $5 insurance bet for a total profit of $10.
2) The dealer does not have Blackjack. I lose the $5, but collect $15 for my BJ. Total profit, again $10.
In either case, once I make the insurance bet, I’m guaranteed a profit of $10, or even money for my original bet.
So, casinos allow me to eliminate the insurance bet altogether, and simply declare that I want even money for my blackjack when the dealer has an Ace showing.
You’re probably thinking that sounds like a pretty good deal. You’re guaranteed a profit even if the dealer does have Blackjack. Just remember that the guaranteed profit comes at a price. You’ll win more money in the long run by holding out for the $15, even though you’ll sometimes end up empty-handed. Nonetheless, many players are adamant that they prefer to take even money when offered. Just be aware that you’re costing yourself money when you make that choice.
The basic strategy player should simply never take the insurance bet, even the “even money” variety. Card counters on the other hand can often detect situations where more than one-third of the remaining cards are ten-valued, and the bet is then a profitable one. So, unless you know the bet is favorable, just ignore it.
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When you are dealt a matching pair of cards (remember, ignore the suits), you have the ability to split the hand into two separate hands, and play them independently. Let’s say you are dealt a pair of eights for a total of sixteen. Sixteen is the worst possible player hand, since it is unlikely to win as is, but is very likely to bust if you draw to it. Here’s a great chance to improve a bad situation.
If you are playing a hand-held game, toss the cards face-up in front of your bet just like a double down. Then, in either type of game, place a matching bet beside the original bet in the circle. Note that you must bet the same amount on a split, unlike a double-down, where you are allowed to double for less. The dealer will separate the two cards, and treat them as two independent hands. Let’s say you draw a 3 on the first 8, for a total of 11. Many casinos will allow you to double down on that hand total of 11 at this point. When this is allowed, the rule is called “Double after Split”, predictably enough. Regardless, you can play the first hand to completion, at which point the dealer will deal a second card to the second hand, and you can begin making play decisions on it.
If you get additional pairs (in the first two cards of a hand), most casinos will allow you to resplit, making yet another hand. The most common rule allows a player to split up to 3 times, making 4 separate hands, with 4 separate bets. If double after split is allowed, you could have up to 8 times your initial bet on the table if you chose! Some casinos restrict resplitting, and some allow unlimited splitting. Another fine point is that you are allowed to split any 10-valued cards, so you could split a (Jack, Queen) hand. However, this is usually a bad play: Keep the 20.
The other complication for pair splits concerns splitting Aces. Splitting Aces is a very strong player move, so the casino restricts you to drawing only one additional card on each Ace. Also, if you draw a ten-valued card on one of your split Aces, the hand is not considered a Blackjack, but is instead treated as a normal 21, and therefore does not collect 3:2 odds. Some casinos allow resplitting Aces if you draw another, while many do not allow resplitting Aces although they often do allow resplitting of any other pairs. With all these restrictions, you may wonder whether it makes sense to split Aces. The answer is a resounding YES. Always split pairs of Aces.
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