Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Ed View Post
Hmmm. I need to think about this. “Even Money” will reduce your sd, since now your payout is always 1 (I.e. 1 bet). Insuring a 20 reduces sd, since most of the time your payout +1/2 (instead of 1), or 0 instead of -1.

But if you have a stiff hand, say 14, your payout will be zero instead of -1 about 1/3 of the time if he has BJ, but if he does not, your payout is most likely -1.5 instead of -1 if you lose the hand, and +0.5 instead of +1 if in the off chance you win. Sd is increased.

So you have to look at insurance for all player hands to see if sd is increased or decreased overall. I don’t have the patience to do this, but I am a bit curious if insurance really reduces Sd, since it sure feels like it increases it.

P.s. This might be nit-picking, but please don’t say, “opinion” when you are talking about math. You might be right, you might be wrong, but your opinion does not matter.

Hi Mr. Ed:

My inclination, when you put everything together, is that properly taking insurance is that properly taking insurance will lower the standard deviation.

Best wishes,
Mason