Insurance at =>3 even on bad hands?

[Mimosine]

i think Renzey wrote that insuring a 20 V A in any count will cost you very little and could serve as cover. Or was it insuring for less?

From BJBBII "insure 20 V A for $5 on a $25 bet costs $0.45, subtracting 0.006% from your edge. Only if $25 is your 1 unit bet. (i.e. at neutral / neg counts).

0.006% used to sound like nothing, but now i know better. It might be something to keep in mind as a cover play.

 

[mdlbj]

You take even money, thats a 100% payout. Either way you are going to break even. If the Dealer does not have BJ, and you have placed an insurance bet, your still getting paid off 3/2. 100% of your original bet. So if you have BJ and dealer is showing an ace, take even money.

Ive never thought about that. Can you take insurance if you have blackjack and the dealer is showing an ace? And do you mean that if you do you take even money?

That would be sweet if you could take insurance because thats basically 90% chance of winning half of your original bet.

 

[nightspirit]

I have recently aquired the skill of counting (Hi/Lo) and have recently discovered indexes and how to use them (mainly studying illustrious 18) but I am confused about the idea of buying insurance at =>3. Am I supposed to do this every time no matter what my hand is or only when I have a decent hand? I tried this procedure the other night and lost both my insurance and my crappy hands over and over it seemed like. I know one night is no way to base anything off of, but it just seems odd to insure a cruddy hand against and Ace. Any info would be appreciated.

The best articles I've read about the subject are from Peter Griffin and published in the library of blackjackforumonline.com.

INSURE A GOOD BLACKJACK HAND? PART I

INSURE A GOOD BLACKJACK HAND? PART II

and MathProf's treatise about risk-averse insurance on the GreenChip pages at bj21.com. Well worth reading!