Gin Rummy: Drawing from the Deck

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Gary Zyer for Expert Village. So, which player starts the game? First, the person who did not deal gets first choice whether to take the turned up card in the discard pile. If the person who did not deal does not want the card in the discard pile, then the dealer has the option of taking it and he would go first. If both players decide not to take the turned up card in the discard pile, then the person who didn't deal draws the top card from the stock pile. Regardless of who it is, the person who makes the first draw would then have to take a card and place it into the discard pile to finish his turn because he could only be holding on to ten cards at one time. Then play would go over to the second player. One of the strategies in Gin Rummy is to get an idea of which cards your opponent needs. You do this my keeping a good mental note of which cards he's taking from the discard pile and which cards he's throwing out to the discard pile. Remember, since we are forming melds, or groups of cards in order of rank or sequence, the card picked up from the pile can mean a few things. For example, the four of spades could be used to complete a group of fours. Or your opponent could be picking up the four of spades to complete a series of Ace, two, three, four."