Blackjack rules XXII
The concept of insurance in a blackjack game is the most underrated rules of the game and can be used to advantage by a skilled blackjack player. Although the insurance wager is not favorable to the players and come with a high house edge, it does not follow that opting for this action is an example of negative play and can actually turn out to be a judicious action by the player.
In a blackjack game, players are given the alternative to opt for insurance if the dealer’s face up card is an ace. If a player wishes to accept it, he must pay an insurance bet which is usually half the amount of the original bet staked by him and this wager is to be placed in the betting circle in the zone marked out for it. Now if the dealer have a ten-valued card and becomes a blackjack hand, the player who paid the insurance wager wins it and gets a payout of 2-to-1 on it. Now, if the player himself has a blackjack the outcome of the hand of play is a push or a tie. If the player loses to the dealer’s blackjack hand, he only loses his original bet but by winning the insurance wager, he gets the chance to break even. Since the player stands neither to gain nor to lose money even with the dealer having a blackjack, this type of bet has been termed ‘insurance’ and it acts as a form of protection against losing one’s bet against the dealer’s blackjack.
The catch in the concept of insurance bet is that if the dealer’s hand is not a blackjack, which is the case most of the occasions, the player who had staked the wager loses it although his original bet is still open and he can make a profit from it if he has the winning hand in subsequent play.
