Insurance

In poker cash games, insurance is a type of side bet or agreement that a player who is all in and favorite to win makes with another player at the table. In the event they lose the hand, the player accepting the insurance will pay them; if their hand holds up, they’ll have to pay the insuring player the agreed amount.

For example, you get it all in with pocket Aces against pocket Kings. You are about 80% favorite to win the hand but want to make sure you make some money no matter what. So, you can ask for insurance from another player.

There are no official rules governing poker insurance, but it is usually based on mathematical odds. In this case, you might offer to pay $20 if your hand wins (as it should 80% of the time), but if it loses, the player providing insurance will pay you $80.

Lately, many online poker sites have started offering insurance as an automatic feature, so you can always ensure your hand when you’re all in and a favorite to win. For this, the poker room will usually charge a small fee, but it will give you insurance based on the exact mathematical odds.

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