Back home, when I was much younger, classic Rummy was the game of choice. We played two variants, the 10-card and the 7-card variant. The 7-card variant was a much shorter game where you were dealt 7 cards and were expected to form 2 sets, one of 4 and one of 3. The 10-card version, which was the principal game played, players were dealt 10 cards and they were expected to form three sets, of 3, 3 and 4.
The play for these traditional versions was simple. You shuffled a standard deck of cards sans Jokers, dealt out the cards to each player face down. The remaining deck was then placed face-down on the table with the top-most card placed face up next to the stock pile in order to start the discard pile. This first face-up card was then offered to each player in turn starting from the dealer’s left. If no one wanted the card then the dealer began his play by taking a face-down card from the stock pile. A player’s turn always ended with a discard thrown on the discard pile. Winning was straight-forward, you just had to form your sets and go down with all your cards at once.
My mother was exceptionally good at this variation of Rummy, I remember that I would get increasingly frustrated when she would win several hands in a row when I would have never even savoured the possibility of winning at least one hand. She obviously knew something I did not know, but back then I never bothered to read into the game or try to understand where I was getting it all wrong.
Some years ago I came across Gin Rummy, with the knock variation. This variation, just in case you never played this game, allows you to go down even if you have not melded all of your ten cards, so long as the sum of your un-melded cards does not exceed 10 points. Picture cards (King, Queen, Jack) are worth 10 points each and suited cards are worth their face value. Aces are always low.
Before venturing any further however, I would like to specify that Gin Rummy is a two-player game, and even though it can be played with more players, it still essentially works best as a two-player card game.
As with regular Rummy you can create sets of three identical cards (e.g. K-K-K) or sequences (e.g. 7-8-9 of hearts). However the fact that you can knock or go down with un-melded cards means that you have to adopt a different line of thought when playing Gin Rummy.
To begin with, you can for instance go down by tabling a sequence of 5 card say 4-5-6-7-8 of spades with 1-1-3-2-2 (for a total of 9-points) as deadwood. It’s legal and it could score you a lot of points especially if you manage to go down early in a hand. This happens because, as the winner, you become entitled to the total point score in un-melded cards still in the hand of your opponent at the end of the hand. there is however a downside to knocking with deadwood in hand, if your opponent ends up holding fewer deadwood points, then he gets to win 25 points and the difference between his and your deadwood, while you get nothing. Also, when one player goes down with deadwood, his opponent is also entitled to add any cards still in his hands to the tabled set or sets while also tabling any completed sets he might have put together right up to that point.
A match is normally played to 100 points. The player who reaches or exceeds this score first wins. Additionally then, besides the base score of points accrued over a number of hands, each player scores 25 points for each individual hand won, with the winner also scoring a 100 point bonus for winning. If a winning player then successfully wins a match without losing a single hand to his adversary, he will also score an additional 100 points called the shutout bonus.
That, roughly, settles matters regarding gameplay and scoring. Now a word or two regarding strategy. An average hand of Gin lasts somewhere between seven to eleven exchanges. A single exchange would be one full turn were both the dealer and non-dealer complete a turn of play. With this in mind, while it may be a good idea to hang on to you pair of kings, queens or jacks for the first few exchanges, the proposition should lose its allure by the fifth or sixth exchange. The deeper one gets into a hand the more dangerous it becomes to hold on to any picture card since if you do not successfully meld them, might potentially boost the score of your opponent.
When it comes to sets, three-of-a-kinds and sequences or runs are equally favoured when it comes to putting them together. This assuming you start off with two cards to a set, whether it be towards completing a three-of-a-kind or run. For instance, if I am holding on to a pair of Kings, there are two other kings in the deck that will allow me to complete that set. Likewise if I start off holding 5-6 of hearts, then there also are two cards that could complete that set, namely the 4 and 7 of hearts.
What really matters is keeping tabs on what cards were discarded up to a certain point in a hand, and also how much deadwood you still have in hand. Playing in a distracted manner could mean missing out on the fact that the only card you need to complete a crucial set was discarded previously. Alternatively if your opponent has not discarded too many picture cards, this could be an indication that he or she might be actually using them to form his sets.
Coordinated cards which combine 3-of-a-kind options with runs are also very good to have and you should hold on to cards that increase your possible outs to completing a hand. For instance if I am holding on to something like:-
7d-8d-8h-6h-5h-3h-3s-X-X-X
Where X is part of completed set.
Note that in this instance we have many possible outs to form sets. a 9 or 6 of diamonds would give me a set, any remaining 8 would give me a set, the 7 or 4 of hearts would also give us a set, as would any 3. Such a hand stands a good chance of winning.
While the above situation was contrived to illustrate a point, it is always possible to work towards putting your self in a better position to win.
So far we have spoken about ways to increase your chances of winning, with a nod towards being careful not to get bogged down with high scoring un-melded cards late in a hand. Yet there is another aspect of Gin you need to seriously consider.
Imagine that you are dealt a hand that is totally uncoordinated, so terrible that winning just isn’t an option. Additionally let us assume that you have played through five or six exchanges and no favourable cards came your way. You need to start dumping your high scoring cards and quickly. Your logic in such situations should be to minimize the damage so-to-speak by reducing your deadwood score as much as possible, especially if you get a gut feeling that your opponent will be going down soon.
In summary, while playing Gin Rummy here are some pointers regarding what you ideally should be taking note of.
- Keep track of the number of exchanges, the deeper you get into a hand the more becomes the urgency of reducing your deadwood score.
- Keep track of what cards were discarded by your opponent, are they high cards, low cards, were you in anyway interested in grabbing any of them but let the opportunity pass by?
- Do not claim discards unless you are doing so to complete a set.
- Hold on to cards that increase your chances of forming more than one possible set.
- Discard any un-melded high cards (picture cards and suited card from 8 upwards) if you can see no immediate way of melding them into sets.
- Discard High cards such as Kings if you currently hold K-?-J-10 with no opportunity forthcoming to form the Kings into a set. With J-10, a queen or 9 in the same suit will give you a set, but holding on to the King in this situation becomes risky the deeper you get into a hand.
- If a hand enters the 6th or 7th exchange start to seriously look at your un-melded deadwood and discard any un-melded high cards.
- If you find yourself in a position of holding 3 or less deadwood while standing a good chance of going down with a Gin (zero deadwood), take a risk it may pay off. Going Gin allows you to win a further 25 points and stops your opponent from offloading any his deadwood onto your tabled sets.
Basically I think that if a player were to take note of these suggestions, he will be in a position to play a much better game of Gin Rummy. Obviously the above list is by no means all comprehensive, I am sure there are points I might not have thought about. Yet when push comes to shove, there’s no real substitute to direct experience and actually playing the game.
One more thing, it pays to remember that while skill and experience will improve a Gin Rummy player, he is still playing a game that depends on the luck of the draw. Some hands or matches will not go your way, no matter how well you play. Still in the long term it will always pay to play conscientiously while following the suggestions I have listed above.
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