How To Play Gin Rummy

The objective of gin rummy is to score more points than your opponent. You do this by forming melds (a set 3 or more matching cards or a sequence of 3 r more suited cards). You also want to eliminate deadwood. Deadwood cards are cards that the player couldnt form into a meld. You want to have the deadwood cards to add up to as little as possible as they will be counted against your total point score at the end of the game. Deadwoods are counted by the point values of each card: An ace counts as 1 point, face cards count as 10, and others according to their numerical value. After you lay all your meddled cards you add up all deadwood cards and subtract them from your point total.

Dealing and game play:

The dealer deals ten cards to himself and to his opponent and then places the 21st card face up, this is the discard pile. The rest of the cards are called the stock and is placed next to the discard pile. The player who is not dealing acts first, having the option of taking the face up card. If the player does not want the upcard, the dealer has the option of taking it instead. If the dealer chooses not to take the upcard, his opponent must then draw a card from the stock. The whole point of taking cards from the stock or the discard pile is to try and improve your hand by forming melds and discarding high deadwoods cards that you cant use. Each turn, the player must take a card from the stock or the top card on the discard pile, and must end the turn by placing a card in the discard pile. Play continues until one player knocks (after a player knocks, there opponent has on last turn) or when there is 2 cards remaining in the stockpile. You can only knock if your deadwood total is equal to 10 or less. Gin rummy occurs when someone knocks and has 0 points of deadwood in his or her hand.

Once a player knocks, he or she must place one card face down on the discard pile and lay the rest of his cards in front of his opponent. The defending player can then lay any possible melds down and can add any fitting deadwood cards into his opponents melds. If the knocking player has gotten gin rummy the defending player cannot lay of any of his or her cards. Each player than calculates their deadwood, the knocking player then subtracts their deadwood from the defenders deadwood and the resulting sum is the point total for the knocker. For example, if the knockers deadwood count is 7 and the defender is 10, the knocker would get 3 points (7-10=3). If a player gets gin rummy they get a bonus of 25 points. You then play up until a predetermined number.