When to take/not take even money (6d, h17)

Do you ever take insurance?

The reason I asked about insurance is that even money is simply taking insurance on your blackjack without putting 1/2 your bet out in front of your original bet.
The indice for taking even money is the same as the indice for insurance. Just about +3 (TC) for a 6D game. Remember, it is not the count in which you placed your original bet but the adjusted count after having seen the hand dealt.

Many players take it all the time and consider it a form of cover and reduced variance. The only time I tend to take even money when the count really does no longer call for it is when there was about a max bet count when I placed my bet but so many big cards came out on the hand that now it falls slightly below the indice line. I call it, "having to get paid on a big bet."

ihate17
 
You might consider it if you have a much larger than normal bet out. I always take it if I have a 3X my betting unit on the table. If my normal bet is $10, and I have a $30 bet out, I'm taking even money every time. My bets usually reflect the count but not always.
 
shadroch said:
You might consider it if you have a much larger than normal bet out. I always take it if I have a 3X my betting unit on the table. If my normal bet is $10, and I have a $30 bet out, I'm taking even money every time. My bets usually reflect the count but not always.
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Out of curiousity is there a theory behind doing this? If the true count is less than 3 (or whatever your insurance index happens to be) why would you take even money?
 
One problem with taking insurance with a big bet out is it's pretty obvious what's going on.

Yesterday, I had 2 hands with big bets out and pushed out an insurance bet. Just then, the pit manager happened to walk by the table and noticed it. He then stayed to count down the next shoe. I got up and left at that point
 
Unshake said:
Out of curiousity is there a theory behind doing this? If the true count is less than 3 (or whatever your insurance index happens to be) why would you take even money?
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Yes, there is a theory. It's my own and not backed up by sims. It's based on wanting to win my big bets. I'd rather win $30 than push if I'm betting $10 that day. For the most part, the reason I have a bigger bet than the count would call for is that the pit boss is watching closely. In this case, not only do I have a certain win, but I also show the PB that I'm a ploppie he doesn't need to worry about. Getting a BJ against an Ace with a bigger bet than the count dictates is a pretty rare occasion, perhaps twice a session.
 
If you only take insurance on bets larger than your minimum bet, your losses are negligible and it provides practically no information on your skills to an observer.
 
itakeyourmoney said:
I've always played cautiously, taking even money every time I had a BJ with the dealer showing an Ace, is this wrong?
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Yes.. it will cost you money. Only take Even Money at the insurance TC's. Some indexes/counts are better at this than others. I've had dealers scold me for not taking even money after I revealed I had a BlackJack... say dealer had an Ace up and no ten in the hole.. had I taken EM I would have lost 1/3 of my midrange bet winnings.. If she had a ten, there would have been a Push.. of course I knew she didn't have a ten. ;-) Casino's offer it because it saves them money.

Most of the time with a big bet out you will be justified in taking it.

I Also agree with what IHate17 said.

I also agree with AutoMonkey too.. I have been know to do that when I'm paranoid. :eyepatch:
 
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Since I use a L2 count, I take 1/2 insurance,(1/4 of bet) @+3. Thats usually when playing two-hands, but sometimes happens, w/1-hand only. I suppose someone taking insurance @+3 could insure as follows:

+1=1/6 of bet
+2=1/3 of bet
+3=1/2 of bet(full insure)


Playing Single and Double Deck, playing Ho2, using Ace params, there will be times, where the the count calls for taking insurance with a min bet, splitting XXs with minbet, and Hitting bust hands w/MaxBets out, sometimes all the way as low 14v4, depending on the # of players at the table of course. Of course you probably wont see that in MD.
 
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21forme said:
One problem with taking insurance with a big bet out is it's pretty obvious what's going on.

Yesterday, I had 2 hands with big bets out and pushed out an insurance bet. Just then, the pit manager happened to walk by the table and noticed it. He then stayed to count down the next shoe. I got up and left at that point
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So you just insured 1 of the 2 hands and you still got the fish eye--or did you insure both? (Insuring just your "good" hand but not your "poor" hand was supposed to be classic Ploppie behavior--thus most likely avoiding scrutiny.)
 
Finn Dog said:
So you just insured 1 of the 2 hands and you still got the fish eye--or did you insure both? (Insuring just your "good" hand but not your "poor" hand was supposed to be classic Ploppie behavior--thus most likely avoiding scrutiny.)
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I pushed out one bet to insure both.
 
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