Blackjack side bets and insurance
The base game is one of the best bets on the floor. Every optional extra next to it carries a steeper price.
Short answer
Decline insurance as a basic-strategy player — it is a side bet on the dealer's hole card, and it loses money over time for anyone not tracking a card-counted shoe. Optional side bets like King's Bounty and Ties pay out on rare, high-multiplier hands and carry a higher house edge than the base game, the same trade-off every side bet on this site makes. Treat them as entertainment spend, not strategy.
Insurance
When the dealer shows an ace, you may bet up to half your original wager that the dealer's hole card is a 10-value card, making blackjack. It pays 2:1 if the dealer does have blackjack, and you lose the side bet (but not necessarily the main hand) if not. The trainer offers insurance whenever the dealer shows an ace, and grades declining it as the correct basic-strategy play, because insurance loses money over time. The only players for whom taking insurance is ever correct are card counters tracking a true count of about plus three or higher — see the card counting deviation table.
King's Bounty
King's Bounty pays on your own first two cards, regardless of how the hand plays out:
| Result | Pays |
|---|---|
| Any 20 | 4:1 |
| Suited 20 | 10:1 |
| Matched 20 (same rank and suit) | 25:1 |
| Pair of Kings | 100:1 |
| Pair of Kings, dealer also has blackjack | 1000:1 |
Ties
Ties pays if your final hand pushes (ties) the dealer at the end of the round, at 10:1.
[TODO: publish the exact house edge for King's Bounty and Ties once run through the site's engine. The mechanics and pay tables above are exact; the summary edge figures are not yet computed here, so none is stated.]
Common questions
Should I ever take insurance?
Only as a card counter, and only when the true count says the remaining shoe is rich enough in tens. As a basic-strategy player with no count, always decline.
Are King's Bounty and Ties worth playing?
They are optional, higher-variance bets that pay on hands you cannot influence with strategy. Play them for fun in small amounts if at all — they are not a way to improve your expected return.
Can I practice these side bets?
Yes. The trainer lets you place King's Bounty and Ties bets alongside your main hand to see how they pay.