The popular (mis)conception is that the insurance bet is related to your main hand. If you have a strong hand (such as a pair of faces), you might consider taking insurance, but never on a hand such as a hard 16, since you?re probably going to lose that hand even if the dealer does not have blackjack. This is wrong.

The insurance bet is actually a side bet on whether or not the dealer has a 10 hole card. We base our decision whether or not to ?insure? on the count, not on the composition of our hand.

The ?insurance? bet has nothing to do with the main bet. You will win or lose your main bet the same, regardless of whether or not you take insurance. The fact that winning the insurance bet and losing your main bet effectively turns the net result of the hand into a push is no more relevant that the fact that if you win a hand and lose the following hand (same bet out), the net result is a push.

As it turns out, there is a tenuous relationship between the insurance bet and the main bet having to do with the composition of the main hand. This is discussed in a post by Cacarulo in the archives of Don?s Domain. This is advanced stuff, and not a topic for the Beginner?s page.

Again, the insurance bet is a side bet which is unrelated to the primary hand/bet.