How Much Is An Ace In Blackjack
Insurance is a word that most people are familiar with. You buy insurance just in case you get in a car accident with an uninsured driver, just in case you die and just in case you break your arm after falling off your ladder while hanging Christmas lights. You pay a premium up front and if or when the inevitable happens, the insurance companies takes care of (most of) the cost.
With traditional insurance in mind, I think a lot of players confuse what insurance is as a side-bet in blackjack. Insurance (in blackjack) is not as good as it appears. My goal for this article is to explain exactly what blackjack insurance is, and why you should avoid it like the plague.
Depends on the value of the Ace and 5, Aces are used as the highest or lowest values in different games. If an ace has any positive value however, 2 aces and 2 fives would beat 1 ace and 2. Ace (A) might be counted as 11 or 1 point, depending on the value needed for a best hand. If you have 7 and Ace (A) – this makes the sum of 7 + 11 = 18 points. But, if you get 9 afterwards, this will make the sum of 26 points, meaning higher than 21. The total blackjack payout, then, partially depends on your wager. 3:2 is the payoff for a blackjack. To win the blackjack payout of 3:2, your hand must consist an Ace and a face-card or a ten card. Facecards have a value of 10 in blackjack Such card combination is referred to as natural 21 or blackjack.
Insurance is a side-bet that dealers offer to players whenever they have an ace showing. The idea behind insurance is to protect your bet just in case the dealer has a blackjack.
How Does Insurance in Blackjack Work?
When a dealer has an ace showing they’ll ask you if you want insurance. This is before they check for a (natural) 21. If you take the insurance you can wager as much as half of your original bet. For example, if your original bet was $10 you can pay as much as $5 for insurance.
Once the insurance bet has been placed the dealer will then check for a blackjack. If the dealer has a blackjack you’ll be paid 2-1 on your money (insurance bet). If you wagered $5 you’d receive $10. However, unless you have a blackjack, too, you will still lose your original bet, breaking even overall. If the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack, you’ll lose your insurance bet and will still have the opportunity to play your hand like normal.
Another insurance-like situation you may find yourself in is if you have a natural blackjack and the dealer has an ace showing. The dealer will offer you even money on your bet. In other words, if you bet the maximum of $5 insurance on a $10 bet and the dealer has a 21, you’ll push on the blackjack, but win 2-1 on your insurance. So you’d be up $10. However, if you take the insurance and the dealer doesn’t have a blackjack, you’ll lose your $5 bet and win 2-1 on your blackjack ($15) for a total of $10. Either way, you walk away with an even money win.
So… Should You Take Insurance or Even Money Side-Bets?
Cards 2 through 10, no matter the suit, represent that number. Face cards, whether it’s a King, Queen, or a Jack, have a card value of 10. The Ace card is special, and can have a card value of 11 or 1 – nothing inbetween, just a solid 11 or a solid 1. And you get to pick!
No. Experts recommend that you pass on insurance bets.
The reason why passing on insurance in blackjack is recommended is because the dealer will only show up with a blackjack 30.87% of the time. However, to breakeven on the insurance bet you need a 10-point card to show up 1 out of 3 times (33%). So every time you take this bet you’re taking a minor loss over the long run, assuming you max your insurance bet (half the original).
There are exceptions, of course. For example, if you’re a card counter than you would know how many 10-point cards are left in the deck. So if the deck is rich with 10-point cards it would make sense to take the insurance bet. If the deck is poor with 10-point cards you’d pass on insurance.
You could even make the argument that you don’t have to be a card counter. In fact, if you simply pay attention to the cards dealt and notice that there are more 10-point cards then you could pass on insurance, or vice versa. The difference here (from counting cards) is that you’re not as accurate, and would likely be making a breakeven play, or at best a slight win/loss.
At the end of the day, though, taking insurance is going to be a -EV bet for the majority of players. To give you a better idea of how insurance affects the house edge, just look at these numbers:
- 1 Deck – 5.88%
- 2 Decks – 6.8%
- 4 Decks – 7.25%
- 6 Decks – 7.4%
- 8 Decks – 7.47%
Not very appealing, right? So unless you know how to count cards you should avoid taking the insurance bet in blackjack like the plague. Unless you like losing, of course.
Point Values in Blackjack
Card and Hand Values in Blackjack
One of the first things a card player needs to understand about blackjack is that suit doesn't matter. The only thing that matters at the blackjack table is the point value of each card and of each hand. The goal of the game is to get a point total that is higher than the dealer's without going bust, or getting a hand value of over 21.
The ace is worth 1 point or 11 points, whichever is most advantageous to the player. A hand with an ace in it is called a 'soft hand' because if the player takes a hit, he will almost never go bust because the ace will be counted as 1 instead of 11.
All face cards, the jack, queen, and king, are worth 10 points each.
All other cards in the deck are worth whatever the numeric value of each card is.
Why the Ten's Are the Most Important Cards
There are a number of reasons that the 10's are more important than any other cards. The first is that there are more 10's in the deck than any other card value. (There are 16 cards worth 10 points in a 52 card deck. All other cards only have 4 cards worth their value.)
10's are a critical ingredient in being dealt a blackjack too, since a 10 and an ace give a total of 21. Getting a blackjack (a natural total of 21) results in a 3 to 2 payout, which makes a big difference in the player edge.
Why Five's Are Almost as Important
The five is the least advantageous card in the deck for the player because a five makes it really easy for a player to get a 'stiff hand', or a hand that it's really easy to go bust with. If you took all four of the 5's out of the deck, you'd turn then advantage over from the house to the player instantly with only that one change.
If it weren't for cards like five's and ten's, there would be no such thing as card counting.
How Much Is An Ace Worth In Blackjack
The how to play blackjack guide consists of the following pages:
How Many Points Is An Ace In Blackjack
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