Quote Originally Posted by Midwest Player View Post
The idea of insuring a good hand like 19 or 20 in a border line case is it will reduce variance. If you lose your insurance bet on a good hand you will probably still win the hand. Now if you insure a bad hand in a border line case like 16 it will increase variance because if you lose your insurance bet there is a good chance you will lose the hand also. So in border line cases I say be more likely to insure a good hand than a bad hand. Of course, in cases where there is no doubt play according to the count.
Which brings up the interesting concept if risk averse insurance. To insure right at index is only slightly profitable over the long haul. However, each additional plus 1 rise in each true count returns a higher and higher amount if the total Exoected Value. In other words, insure good hands only right at index, and everything in sight when your in a monster count.