Blackjack insurance is offered every time the dealer shows an ace. You can bet up to half your stake that the dealer's hidden card is a ten-value card. If it is, insurance pays 2:1 and covers your main bet. It sounds like protection. It is a separate bet with its own odds, and those odds are bad.
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The insurance arithmetic
Insurance wins when the dealer's hole card is a 10, jack, queen or king: 16 of the 52 cards in each deck. With the dealer's ace removed, the share of tens left in an eight-deck shoe is 128 out of 415 cards, about 30.8%.
| Chance | Result on a $5 insurance bet | |
|---|---|---|
| Dealer has a ten under the ace | about 30.8% | +$10 |
| Dealer does not | about 69.2% | −$5 |
| Expected result | about −$0.37, or −7.5% |
For insurance to break even, more than one card in three would need to be a ten. In a full shoe it never is, and without counting cards you cannot know when the remaining shoe is rich in tens. Online shoes are often reshuffled early, and many RNG tables shuffle every hand.
Even money
When you hold a blackjack and the dealer shows an ace, the table may offer even money: 1:1 now. Taking it is the same as taking insurance on your own blackjack. You give up the 3:2 payout on the roughly 69% of occasions the dealer does not have a blackjack, to protect against a push on the other 31%. It costs you about the same 7% of the insured amount. Decline it.
Common side bets
Crypto blackjack tables, live and RNG, offer side bets on your first two cards or on a three-card poker hand made from your cards and the dealer's upcard. The pay tables differ by studio, so the edge differs too.
| Side bet | Wins on | Typical edge |
|---|---|---|
| Pairs | your first two cards are a pair; more for same colour or suit | several percent, depending on the pay table |
| 21+3 | your two cards and the dealer's upcard make a poker hand | several percent, depending on the pay table |
| Hot 3, bust bets and similar | specific totals, or the dealer busting with many cards | often higher still |
The figures vary with the pay table, which is printed in the table's info screen. Read it before betting; some tables show the side bet's return to player directly.
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What side bets do to a session
| Session | Main bet edge | With a $5 side bet each hand |
|---|---|---|
| 100 hands, $20 main bet | about $9 | about $9 plus the side bet's edge on $500 more staked |
A side bet at a few percent on a quarter of your main stake can cost more over a session than the main game itself. That is the trade: a small chance of a big payout, paid for by a much higher edge.
When a side bet makes sense
- You enjoy it and have priced it into the session budget.
- You keep it small relative to the main bet.
- You never use it to chase a loss.
Insurance and card counting
Card counters do sometimes take insurance, when their count shows a shoe heavy in tens. Online that rarely helps: live studio shoes are cut deep and many RNG games shuffle each hand. For a basic-strategy player, the rule is simple: never insure.
To compare table rules casino by casino, go back to the best crypto casinos for blackjack.
Questions and answers
Should you take insurance in blackjack?
No, not with basic strategy. Insurance pays 2:1 when the dealer has blackjack, which happens less than one time in three in a shoe game, so it carries a house edge of about 7.5%.
Is even money a good bet?
Even money is insurance on your own blackjack. It guarantees 1:1 instead of risking a push for 3:2, and it costs you in the long run, by the same arithmetic as insurance.
Are blackjack side bets worth it?
Most side bets carry house edges of several percent or more, far above the main game. Treat them as optional entertainment with a price.
Where can I see a side bet's odds?
In the table's info screen: the pay table for each side bet is listed there, sometimes with its return to player.