Insuring every dealer ACE?

I remember reading somewhere (I believe Wong) that in a $3 game insuring every time while playing BS will give you a pretty good edge. Furthermore, if you count, and bet according to your count, your edge is even more during positive counts where you have more money out on the table.. Can someone please conferm or reject this theory?

Mainly im interested in your thoughts on playing $3,6D,DOA,DAS,RSA,LS, flat betting using perfect BS and insuring EVERY opportunity.

Cliff

If you are not counting cards, basic strategy would be for you to NEVER take insurance, as always taking insurance would be a very expensive mistake to make. You may have read from Wong that one should insure at a true count of +3 or higher using Hi-Lo (this is the most significant money gaining deviation from basic strategy to be made for a counter).

If you are playing only basic strategy (and not counting), the correct strategy would be to never take insurance. The house has about a 7% edge on the insurance bet if it is taken every time. To put it another way, insurance pays 2 to 1 on an event (a ten in the hole) that happens less than once every three times.

By counting, you can determine when those odds increase, and hence when it would be advantageous to make the insurance bet. Without that information, the bet is a sure loser.

A single deck game with the rules you describe would have a slight positive expectation if the dealer did not hit soft 17. However a six deck shoe with those rules (including S17) would still have a house advantage of .26% with perfect basic strategy.

What you probably read was to insure every dealer ace against your Black Jack. The correct play would be to only insure when the count warrants it. However insuring all snappers costs you very little and is very good cover.

For non counters playing basic strategy, cover is of no concern so insuring snappers is a bad move. For non counters never take insurance.

"rare" casinos that because they dont deal in change allow a 1 dollar insurance bet on a 3 dollar wager and give you 3 dollarss instead of 2 on your 1 dollar bet. I think some AC casinos did this many years ago. Its doubtful that you will find this anywhere today.

What your referring too is an AC 6D game where a $1 insurance bet would protect your entire $3 bet. If you can still find this game, the correct play would be to insure up to -7 I believe. However, if your $1 insurance bet protects only $2, then you should take insurance at +3. Otherwise DONT TAKE IT.

MLB