Insurance

Insurance is easily the most misunderstood part of blackjack. The insurance bet is nothing more and nothing less that a bet that the dealer has a 10 under the Ace. Insurance is primarily designed for high limit play on a single deck. For example, if a player were betting $1000 a hand, we could suppose they were watching the deck and thought it to be rich with face cards, The player could take $200, if the dealt has the blackjack, the player gets 2-1 or $400 back. If not, the player loses $200 but the hand is still working. The insurance bet does not protect a 20. In fact, that would be betting against yourself because the 10’s are sitting in your hand and obvious in a face up game. The way to gauge if the dealer has a blackjack, after the dealer has taken the last card, is looking at the cards on the board and if you see mostly baby cards, the dealer likely has a 10 under as opposed if you see a lot of 10’s, the dealer probably did not get a face card under the Ace. The player should always, without exception, take even money regardless of the amount of your bet. You DO NOT WANT NOT to get paid on the only natural winner of the game. That is mechanically good card play.