Originally Posted by
JamesonDetroit
"Even Money" doesn't pay 1:1. It's an insurance bet equal to half of the Player's bet (on his/her blackjack) that wins and is paid out 2:1. The player's blackjack pushes against the dealer's blackjack. The net is 1:1 of the player's initial bet, but it is not a bet that pays 1:1 (after all,the player is betting additional money) and so the shorthand used by dealers and players is "Even money". The additional bet pays 2:1, just like insurance on every other hand. And when the odds that the dealer's second card (either downcard or drawn at end of hand) will be a 10 or face merit a 2:1 bet in favor, then it is a far better bet to make than to "hold out for a 3:2 payment" without the bonus insurance bet the player could (and should) make in that situation.
As I understand it from what Don et al are saying, you don't know the cards that will come out between the moment you make the insurance bet and the moment the dealer will draw their card, so the fact that they will exist mean nothing in relation to making the decision whether to make the insurance bet or not. And that 2:1 insurance bet is worth the same thing regardless of the player's starting hand, be it a blackjack, a stiff 16, a suited pair of tens, or anything else. A 2:1 bet that will make money is a 2:1 bet that will make money.
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