As I'm working on the Blackjack table for my LSL1 EGA remake, and not being a blackjack pro myself, I stumbled upon some questions I can't seem to find an answer for when searching online. Hope someone here knows the answers.
My question is:
At what exact moment can you take Insurance, Split and Double down and
in what sequence and order will the complete flow goes?Initially there are these 3 basic actions:
- Bet
- Dealer deals hand 1 to player
- Dealer deals hand 1 to dealer
But there are some specific actions:
- a) Insurance (dealer's up-card is an ace)
- b) Split (after initial 2 cards have been dealt AND cards are identically ranked)
- c) Double down (after initial 2 cards have been dealt AND combined value is 10 or 11)
Note: I'm aware that Split has two variants (a regular split and a Split With Double Down) but these are not related to my question.
Now let's assume the situation is as follow:
- you've placed your bet,
- you've got a pair of 5 (triggers Split and Double down),
- dealer got an ace for the face-up card (triggers Insurance).
At what moment can you take Insurance, use Split and Double Down?
I've noted 6 possible flows (vertically shown) in the table below, but I don't know if the correct flow is among them:
v1: | v2: | v3: | v4: | v5: | v6: |
Bet | Bet | Bet | Bet | Bet | Bet |
Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to player | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to player | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to player | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to player | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to player | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to player |
Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to dealer | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to dealer | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to dealer | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to dealer | Split | Double down |
Split | Double down | Insurance | Insurance | Double down | Split |
Double down | Split | Split | Double down | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to dealer | Dealer deals card 1 and 2 of Hand 1 to dealer |
Insurance | Insurance | Double down | Split | Insurance | Insurance |
I would go for v3. There are countless variations of the rules, but insurance is taken before player action. It's a side bet and not really connected to the "real" Blackjack round, e.g. it doesn't depend on the player's cards.
Doubling down is logically the last action, as it is basically taking one more card and standing. Thus, you can't split after doubling down. Some casinos will not allow you to double down after splitting, but the other way around just won't work.
So either go for v3 or make splitting and doubling down mutually exclusive.