There are some blackjack strategies floating around out there that can help players know when to take insurance, when it might be profitable or when it can cause a positive shift in their odds. But such strategy tips are meant for blackjack played in a brick and mortar casino, and not in online blackjack.
This is not to say that such strategies for blackjack and insurance are not accurate—I am sure they work just fine in a brick and mortar casino…if the person expounding upon said strategy does indeed know what he or she is talking about. But when it comes to online blackjack, the strategies can work a bit differently.
For example, the most common insurance strategy for blackjack revolves around card counting. And card counting does indeed work in a brick and mortar casino. But card counting—and ergo the insurance strategy that uses such a skill—will not work in online blackjack.
The reason card counting will not work in online blackjack lies in the very construction of the game, and by that I mean in the programming to make online blackjack an electronic game playable online—not in the basic rules of the game.
Online blackjack games are essentially run by an RNG. The RNG is programmed with every possible way the cards could be dealt, and each time a player clicks ‘Deal’ the RNG pulls from all possible ways the cards could be dealt, and I do mean all.
Because each round begins with all possible outcomes of the cards being dealt it is like no cards have been eliminated from play. And if no cards are eliminated from the possibilities to be dealt it is impossible to count cards, as counting cards is all about tracking the kinds of cards—low or high—that have been removed from play.
If all cards are possible, then counting in online blackjack is futile, and it likewise makes using card counting to tell if insurance is a good bet or not futile. Your best bet when it comes to online blackjack and insurance it to just say no.