What exactly is Insurance?

Does that mean that you get your money back if the Dealer wins? I'm so damn confused what Insurance means. It seems way too damn easy that way if that's what Insurance means. I would appreciate help on this. :)

Quote: Dean

Does that mean that you get your money back if the Dealer wins? I'm so damn confused what Insurance means. It seems way too damn easy that way if that's what Insurance means. I would appreciate help on this. :)

Insurance is a blackjack side bet that you are only allowed to take when the dealer has an Ace as his up-card. This bet pays 2-to-1 if the dealer has a ten-valued card as his down (hidden) card, otherwise it loses. The maximum wager you are allowed to take on insurance is limited to 1/2 of your main bet wager. Other than the bet-size limitation, insurance has nothing to do with your main wager.

The effect is that if you insure your bet and the dealer has blackjack. The main wager loses and your insurance bet will pay2:1 meaning you lost no money. If you take insurance and you also have a blackjack.... and the dealer has blackjack, you main wager will simply push and your insurance bet will win 2:1 again. Meaning you win even money relative to your main wager. Most places will ask you if you want "even money" on your blackjack with dealer ace showing. They will just give you even money rather than 3:2 on your blackjack and take your cards (accomplishes the same thing as you taking insurance.)

While the above answers are correct, I'd like to elaborate to say that Insurance doesn't actually insure anything. As such, it's a terrible name. It should be called Dealer Blackjack, or something similar.

It's just an optional side bet where you are betting that the dealer has a Blackjack. And it's only offered when he has an ace showing.

Now think about this, albeit, oversimplified math: There are 13 possible cards the dealer could have under the ace. 4 of them will give you a win on the insurance bet, but 9 will lose. That means you're gonna lose more than you win.

Bottom line, it's a sucker bet. (Unless you're card counting - and even then it's rarely a good bet.)

Quote: DJTeddyBear

It's just an optional side bet where you are betting that the dealer has a Blackjack.

It is just a bet, pure and simple, that the dealer's down card is ten-valued. It has nothing to do with his final result. By confusing the side bet with a dealer having blackjack, you create the illusion of "insurance," which as you stated, is a misleading name.

I also think that Brett's advice is not quite square. Understanding that the player can wager less than 1/2 of his main bet on his insurance bet is sufficient to understand the flaw in the "melded" description of insurance.

There are any number of side bets that have been created that extend this idea, allowing the player to bet that some unseen card is ten-valued and paying 2-to-1, that relax the condition that the dealer have an Ace as the up-card. I've analyzed a few of these over the years for would-be game developers. In every case I tell the person that the bet would not be viable, owing to its countability.

For example, here is an "almost insurance"-like side bet:

http://patents.justia.com/inventor/barry-fairhurst

Here is another:

http://apheat.net/2014/07/20/card-counting-the-wild-aces-blackjack-side-bet/

Insurance is simply an independent side bet offered by casinos to increase house profits due to its high house edge. The chance of a dealer having a natural is 4/13 (30.8%), however, if the dealer does not have a blackjack they can still win by drawing a higher total than the player. In this case the player loses both the main bet and the insurance bet so for the recreational or basic strategy player it is not a viable option.

Okay, thanks for the answers guys! :) I knew my original thought didn't make sense (Dealer wins, so you get your money back, that would be way too easy as I said in my OP, Casinos would end up in the red if Insurance meant that)