How to Play Gin Rummy

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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(177 Ratings)

Known familiarly as gin, this classic, two-player card game provides an exciting mixture of luck and strategy.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Playing Cards
Pencils
Spiral Notebooks
Card Tables
Folding Chairs

Setup and Overview

Step 1

Deal 10 cards each to the other player and yourself.
Step 2

Place the remaining cards in a stack between the two players.
Step 3

Organize your hand into complete or partial "melds." A meld is a set of three or four cards of the same value (three aces, four kings and so on) or three or more sequential cards of the same suit (five, six and seven of clubs, for example).
Step 4

Take turns with the other player, taking either the top card from the deck or from the discard pile and discarding to the discard pile.
Step 5

Award points at the end of each hand when one player knocks or calls "Gin."
Step 6

End the game when one player reaches 100 points. At this point, the player with 100 points gets a 100-point bonus for winning, and each player receives 25 points for each hand he or she won.
Step 7

Tally the points and declare the winner - the player with the most points after all bonuses have been added in.

The Turn

Step 1

Draw a card from either the deck or the discard pile. If you're making the first draw of the game, you may only take from the deck.
Step 2

Try to integrate your drawn card into one of the melds you're building.
Step 3

Select a card from your hand that isn't now and probably won't become part of a meld.
Step 4

Discard this card faceup on the discard pile.

Knocking

Step 1

Knock when you have fewer than 10 points in deadwood by knocking on the table and laying down your hand faceup.
Step 2

Add up your total deadwood.
Step 3

Have your opponent lay down his or her hand.
Step 4

Separate your opponent's deadwood from his or her complete melds.
Step 5

Remove from your opponent's deadwood any cards that can be integrated into any of your complete melds.
Step 6

Add up your opponent's total remaining deadwood.
Step 7

Subtract your deadwood from your opponent's deadwood.
Step 8

Record this difference as your score for this hand.
Step 9

Gather the cards, shuffle them and deal a new hand.

Comments

Coach4U said

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on 3/14/2009 Gin is a fun game to play.

on 1/1/2009 There are many versions of Rummy. The regular Gin rummy is the most popular. You can get more information for online rummy at http://www.greenbaycasino.com/category/rummy/ also. You can register and play for free - it's fun!

nobrainer said

on 9/29/2008 I have played Hollywood Gin Rummy now for 25 years & I
believe that if you have 2 players with equal expertise, then it becomes 98 % luck to win. I wish gin had more to it than that. I do believe there are ways to adjust the rules that would take a little more of the luck out of the outcome. For example, a player cannot knock or gin until at least 10 cards have been discarded. That would eliminate a player from losing to an abundance of no-brainers & at least give the player a chance to get rid of some big cards before he gets brained. What do you think?