Gin Rummy

PLAY

Overview

We have 2 versions of Rummy for your gaming pleasure, Gin Rummy and Oklahoma Rummy.  Both versions involve forward thinking to attempt to beat your opponent.

Do you have the nerves to go for GIN or will you lay your cards at the first opportunity!!!!!

Enjoy this fun, fast and competitive classic card game.

 

• How to Play
• Scoring
• Set Guidelines
• Knocking Guidelines
• Card Values
• Game Types Explained
• Rake Table
• RUMMY Hints and Tips

 

• Oklahoma Gin
• See Other Games Hints and Tips

Gin Rummy

Known as 'The Thinking Person's Poker', the aim of the game is to arrange your cards into sets or runs and lay them on the table before your opponent in order to win the game or point. This is a two player game with each player trying to achieve the target points before the other.

MEANINGS

HOW TO PLAY

Each player is dealt 10 cards, one card laid face up in the centre of the table (the open pile) and the remaining cards laid face down next to it (the stock pile).

Play will continue from player to player taking a card from either the open pile or stock pile and then discarding one from their hand back to the open pile.

Each turn starts with taking a card and ends with discarding one.

When you start a round for the first time, whichever player is chosen to go first is offered the top card from the open pile only. (At this stage of the game the player is not able to take the stockpile card untill certain decisions have been made). The below shows the decisions that are made at this point:-

1.     Player 1 takes the card and the game then passes normally to the next player.

2.     Player 1 declines the card; the game then passes to player 2 who is given the same option to take it.

• They decline the card, the game passes back to player 1 who takes a card from the stock pile. Game continues normally.
• They take the face up card, the game then continues as normal starting from this player.

(This only happens at the start of each deal).

Once the starting round is complete the game continues with each playing taking a card from one of the piles and discarding a card to the open pile.

Each time you take a card you will be attempting to build SETS or RUNS in order to win the game.

When you have enough Sets/Runs in your hand that leave you with a Deadwood Total of 10 or Less you are then able to "Knock". At this point you will lay all your Sets and Runs and the round will end.

To "Knock" you highlight the card you wish to discard (remember you must always discard a card to the open pile, even on your last go), then click the option on the screen that shows "Knock with selected Card".

This will then discard the card you have highlighted and the system will automatically total the "Deadwood" for each player and adjust the scores accordingly.

Even if you manage to lay all your cards and "knock" before your opponent the winner of the round is the player with the lowest "Deadwood", the score recieved by the winning player is the difference between the two player's deadwood totals.

The game continues in this manner until one player reaches the target score.

SET/RUN GUIDELINES

• A Set consists of: Three or more cards of the same value (e.g. 2-2-2 or K-K-K),

• A Run consisits of: Three or more consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g. A-2-3 of Spades or 7-8-9-10-J of Clubs).

A card can only be part of one Set or Run at a time and Aces are low

GAME TYPES EXPLAINED

First to Knock: - A single round of cards. The winner is the player with the lowest deadwood after this one round.

Match Play: - Play continues till a target score has been achieved (chosen at the start of the game). The winner of the match is the first to accumulate the agreed number of points (i.e. a 100pt Match Play).

Money Play: - Here you choose your stake per-point and how much to bring to a table as the 'Buy-in'. You can never win or lose more than the 'Buy-in' you brought to the table. Money Play game ends when a player reaches or exceeds the target Score chosen at the start of the game.

Extra to note: If the stock pile runs out of cards and gets down to two the hand is abandoned; the cards are shuffled and dealt again

SCORING

MATCH PLAY AND FIRST TO KNOCK SCORING

The winner of the hand is the player who has the lowest deadwood. So even if you manage to knock before your opponent it doesn't necessarily mean you will win the hand.

The difference between the player's deadwood totals is the score that is awarded to the winner.

Example Scoring below:

Player 1 knocks, they laid "4 Aces & 3456 Clubs", 2 cards remain "3 hearts & 3 spades" = deadwood total 6.

Player 2 now gets to discard his sets/runs PLUS add any cards that could join Player 1's sets/runs.

After discarding their sets/runs Player 2 has "1 Queen",  "2, 3, 7 & 8 clubs" and 6 spades.

Player 2 now add's the "7 and 8 of clubs" to player 1's set of 3,4,5,6 (done automatically by the system)

Player 2 ends with a Deadwood total of 11 (1*Queens+2 and 3 clubs+6spades=11

(The "7 and 8" of clubs is not counted as both these cards were added to player 1's set)

The difference between the two players score is 11-6= 5. Player 1 had the lowest deadwood so receives 5 points.

Bonus points are awarded if:

1. The knocking player has Gin they then recieve 25 points.

2. The player who didn't knock has a deadwood less than/equal to the knocking player's deadwood they then recieve 25 points.

MONEY PLAY SCORING

Scoring for this game type is completely different to the others

The winner is determined by points awarded at the end of the game in 5 different areas:

• Rounds Won, both player receive the amount of games won as point (E.G 3 games won 3 points)
• Game Points, both players receive their game score as points (E.G finished game on 104 = 104 points)
• Line Bonus, each player is awarded 25points for each 'Round' won during the game;
• Target Bonus, the first player to reach or exceed the Target Score is awarded 100points;
• Zero-Point Bonus, in the event a player fails to score a single point the other player is awarded an additional 100points.

The winner is the player with the highest total point-score.

KNOCKING GUIDELINES

You can only knock if the total value of your deadwood is equal to or less than 10

If you try to knock and your deadwood value is greater than ten, you will be informed to discard to the open pile instead

CARDVALUES

• ACE = 1 point
• 2-10 = Face Value
• J, Q, K = 10 points

Oklahoma Gin Rummy

This is a slight variant on the standard Gin rummy rules. Same game play, same main rules same strategy required to beat your opponent. The only difference with Oklahoma is the amount of deadwood you need to have in your hand before you can knock.

Oklahoma deadwood is determined by the first card in the face up pile. So anything from Ace - 10. This version takes a little more strategy to win especially if the deadwood value is as low as 2 or even the Ace

If the ACE is the first card turned up you must have 0 deadwood before you can knock.

All other rules and gameplay are exactly the same as Gin Rummy click the links below to head to the rules you wish to view.

• How to Play
• Scoring
• Set Guidelines
• Knocking Guidelines
• Card Values
• Game Types Explained
• RUMMY Hints and Tips

 

• See Other Games Hints and Tips

 

• Back to Top

RAKE TABLES

All figures below are in pounds sterling (£). Commissions remain the same no matter what currency you play in!

Winners always receive their own stake/buy-in back untouched by commission. Only winnings will be subject to commission.

MATCH PLAY GAMES:

FIRST TO KNOCK:

MONEY PLAY:

**Each player brings a set amount to the table and cannot win or lose more than that (called a Stop Loss for players). Commission is only taken from the winnings. The winner receives their entire Buy-In back untouched. The percentage commission charged varies according to stake. The higher the stake, the lower the commission charged.

Example:

Based on a game with a buy in of £10 and a stake per point of £0.05

• Winners final Score = 178 points
• Losers final Score = 71 points
• Difference between the two = 107
• 107 points x by the stake per point £0.05 = £5.35
• £5.35 is the amount taken from the losing player. before the winning player recieves their winning commission will be taken
• £5.35 - 10% rake = £4.81 (rake = 0.54)
• So the winning player would take home £4.81 from the losing player + the return of their Buy-In £10

Please note:

Purse Play games are raked at 5% per hand.

All money sums displayed within the multi-player lobby and games are accurately displayed in your chosen currency at the prevailing exchange rate.

RUMMY HINTS AND TIPS

Known as 'The Thinking Person's Poker'. This game requires many skills if you want to be a winner, strategy, good memory, forward thing, these are just a few.

Study the below Tips and in no time at all you'll be a professional Gin Player.

Tip 1 - Don't draw from the discards

Unless the up-card is one that will complete a meld then leave it.

Taking this card allows your opponent to see what card you take and gives them an advantage as to what your hand may contain.

For example if you pick up a seven of clubs to match the seven of diamonds in your hand, you may never get that third seven because your opponent may hold onto it until the end of the game.

Tip 2 - Watch your opponent's draws from the discard pile.

If your opponent decides not to follow the above tip, you can gain an advantage simply by holding onto cards that your opponent might be trying to collect.

If you are deciding whether to discard a six of clubs or a six of diamonds, and you saw your opponent pick up a seven of diamonds, you should discard the six of clubs first.

Tip 3 - Pay attention to what cards get discarded.

In some cases, this can give you information about an opponent's hand; cards close to what your opponent discards are usually safer to throw away.

The biggest benefit of paying attention to the discard pile is to be aware of what is left in the deck. If two jacks have already been discarded, your pair of jacks is never going to become a meld, and you should get rid of it.

Tip 4 - Discarding - Which cards are best?

You'll eventually want to be building towards a hand good enough to knock with, which means you need to lower your deadwood score. Dump your deadwood face cards and hold on to low numbers, to increase the chances of an early knock.

On the other hand:

Yes we did just say get rid of your high deadwood, however EARLY ON in the game you may find your opponent following the above tip and may discard some high cards early on. If you have a high pair or high consecutive possibility you may find that you get these cards thrown by your opponent and give you what you need to complete a meld.

As the game continues, the risk of holding deadwood high cards increases, and you should probably dump these if you have not completed a set by the time the deck is halfway gone.

Tip 5 - Make your Knock Count

Knock Early

There is a possibility that the other player will undercut you, but if you knock early enough, you are likely to catch your opponent with enough deadwood that you can score. Even knocking with 10 deadwood points, early in the game, can be very strong.

Don't make weak knocks late in the game.

If the deck is more than halfway gone, your opponent has probably gotten rid of their worst deadwood, so knocking with 10 points is an invitation to be undercut.

Remember, the longer the game has gone on, the better your hand should be to knock.

Tip 6 - Form Triangles.

A card triangle is for example: 4 of hearts, 4 of spades, and 5 of hearts this gives you the best possibility to form a meld in the future

Tip 7- The inside straight

Never try to fill an inside straight.

• If you have a 4 and 5, you can add to this with two cards, a 3 or 6.
• If you have a 4 and 6, however, you're half as likely to pick up a 5.

Tip 8 - Use your memory

You must be able to memorize all the possible melds in a hand. By observing and remembering what your opponent discards, and which of your discards he is taking you should be able to figure what they may have in their hand. This way you won't give any good cards away and you also won't be holding cards for an impossible or unlikely meld.

Some GREAT Gin rummy Info and Hints:

• In arranging your melds after knocking, try to attach a card to a set of 3 rather than a sequence if it could go with either. This way, you prevent your opponent from laying off his deadwood to your sequence.
• Typical game ends at half-deck to 2/3rds of deck, so knockers should not hesitate to knock earlier than half-deck point.

• There are 52 three-card melds of three of a kind -- three kings, three deuces, etc.
• There are 44 melds of three cards of the same suit in sequence 5-6-7 of diamonds, 10-jack-queen of hearts, etc.

• Before reaching half-deck, you can retain the high-value potential un-melded combinations (such as Ten plus Queen of Hearts waiting/hoping for in-the-middle Jack of Hearts). However, after reaching half-deck with unfulfilled hopes, it is advisable to discard these cards.
• Seven is usually the most valuable card in the deck as far as its ability to form melds - it can extend melds better than any other card. Therefore, be careful discarding it too early.