Insurance
A side bet in blackjack offered when the dealer shows an Ace, paying 2:1 if the dealer has a natural blackjack.
Detailed Explanation
Insurance is a side bet available in blackjack when the dealer's upcard is an Ace, giving players the opportunity to wager up to half their original bet against the dealer having a natural blackjack (a 10-value hole card). If the dealer has blackjack, insurance pays 2:1. If the dealer does not have blackjack, the insurance bet loses and play continues normally.
Insurance is one of the most misunderstood bets in blackjack and is almost always the wrong decision for basic strategy players. The house edge on insurance is 5.88% in a single-deck game (increasing to 7.47% in a 6-deck shoe). The insurance bet pays 2:1 but the true odds require approximately 33.3% probability to break even; only 30.77% of remaining cards are 10-value.
'Even money' is a specific form of insurance offered when a player holds a natural blackjack against a dealer Ace. Declining even money and risking the push is mathematically correct — the expected value of accepting even money is $1.00 per $1 bet, while declining it yields approximately $1.04 in expectation.
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A card removed face-down from the top of the deck after a shuffle before dealing begins.
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Exchanging a stack of lower-denomination chips for fewer higher-denomination chips of equal total value.
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A solid-coloured plastic card used by players to cut the deck before dealing begins.