Just because something is offered to you it does not mean that you should take it. This is as much true in real life as it is in online casino gaming. Online blackjack games often have rules that give you the option of exercising a certain move that appears beneficial. You have to be extremely careful when you exercise such an option. Sometimes the option does not offer the advantage and sometimes it is even disadvantageous. This article highlights two of such most common offers in online blackjack.

Split is a move offered in all online blackjack variants. It comes into play when the first two cards dealt to you are of the same rank. For example, if you have two sixes, two tens or two queens. You can split the cards, place an additional equal wager and play two separate hands. If you do not want to exercise the split option you can continue with the single hand. You must keep in mind that though tens, jacks, queens and kings are valued at 10 points they have different ranks. Therefore, normally a ten and a jack cannot be split. However, there are some online blackjack variants that allow you to split any two cards that are valued at 10 points. Newbie players may get carried away when they get two unequal cards valued at 10 points and go for the split move. This would be a disaster. A dealt hand of 20 points is the strongest hand after a dealt blackjack. So you never spilt two cards valued at 10 points even if they are of the same rank.

The second option you should refrain from using, when offered, is the insurance bet. The option is offered when the dealer’s face up card is an ace. If his second card will later turn out to be a 10 pints card then the dealer will get a blackjack. He will win against all player hands except player blackjack. The optional insurance bet wins if the dealer actually gets a blackjack. There is a deceptive sense of comfort in this. New players may fall into the trap. The insurance bet requires you to place half the amount of your main wager. If the dealer does not get blackjack then you lose the insurance bet and the main bet is decided in the normal manner. If the dealer gets a blackjack then the insurance bet pays 2 to 1. Computer simulation of blackjack games shows that the insurance bet is a losing proposition.