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Insurance: To Take Or Not To Take?

Imagine yourself at the blackjack table. You may or you may not be doing well but one thing you know - you are playing your best game although you have not been counting cards all night. You have yet to master that strategy. Suddenly, you find yourself in a position wherein you can take insurance. What does your gut instinct tell you?

Many a blackjack player has faced this situation and, more often than not, the novice player WOULD take out the insurance. After all, they think that it is a good thing. But here is one thing I can tell you – never, ever, take out insurance UNLESS you are counting the cards.

Now why do I say this? The answer is quite simple, if you take but a moment to think about it. What is the insurance all about anyway? Isn’t it merely a side bet wherein you bet that the dealer has a blackjack? Now that is a negative expectation bet, if anything. And statistics show that more often than not, the dealer will not have a blackjack! So why would you take out insurance? In other words, why would you bet that the dealer is holding a blackjack?

If you are counting cards, then that is another story altogether. In this situation, you would be able to have a higher chance of “guessing” what card might come up next – and that means that you have a higher probability of determining whether or not the dealer is holding a blackjack. And if your card counting skills are good, then you just might be able to win that side bet.