Now, just what did I mean in the last chapter when I said, "You should practically never take Insurance"? Most blackjack books will tell you to completely ignore the Insurance proposition unless you're a card counter. Well, that's practically right. However. even if you don't count cards there are still a few opportunities to make an advantageous Insurance wager in single deck games. And it has nothing to do with whether you have a good or bad hand! It only has to do with the odds against winning the Insurance bet.

Here's where you can really test the strategies I've shown YOU without really getting hurt at all. The most you can lose is your buy-in money, and that's generally not very significant. Tournament play is a great way of getting used to and modify¬ing some betting levels as certain playing and losing conditions start occurring. In addition to what you've already learned, here are three more betting strategies that many use somewhat effectively for tournament play.

It is important to note that tour¬naments, as stated earlier, are usually only fifteen to twenty-five hands-therefore, any betting strategy has limitations simply based on the fact that not enough hands are being dealt to work through the strategy