Rummy Strategy

Rummy strategy in our game starts from one fact: a single hand is the whole game. The first player out wins, and a loss counts the same whether you are caught holding 3 points or 60. Every tip here serves one aim, going out first.

Home games that keep a running score to 100 or 250 also charge you for the cards left in your hand, and three tips change there: a King goes before an Ace, melds you hold count against you if someone else goes out, and high cards get dumped when an opponent is close. The rummy scoring rules cover running totals.

Count Your Outs

Count your outs before you choose a discard: the unseen cards that would complete a meld with cards you already hold.

Among touching cards, only Ace-2 and Queen-King are one-sided. The 2 and 3 of hearts have two outs, like the 6 and 7, because A-2-3 is a run in our game. The low end costs you later: A-2-3 grows only to the 4, while 2-3-4 takes the Ace or the 5.

Keep three cards that build two ways: the 7 and 8 of hearts with the 7 of spades have four outs, twice any two-card start, so throw a lone King before you break them up.

Keep Cards That Connect

Keep cards that touch in a suit over cards with a gap. The 5 and 7 of hearts wait on the 6 alone; the 6 and 7 take the 5 or the 8.

A pair and two touching cards both show two outs on paper, so check which are still live. In a four-player game you must throw one of the 9 of clubs, 10 of clubs, and 10 of diamonds, and Player 3 has melded the 10, Jack, and Queen of hearts. Throw the 10 of diamonds: the clubs keep both outs, the 8 and Jack of clubs, while the two 10s are down to the 10 of spades, because the 10 of hearts sits in Player 3's run.

Which Cards to Throw

Throw the lone card that fits the fewest melds, counting every three-card meld it can join:

Lone Kings and Queens go before middle cards, but a 7 is no better a keeper than a 10: both fit six. Middle ranks pull ahead only in longer runs, where each rank from 4 to 10 fits four four-card runs and each from 5 to 9 fits five five-card runs.

A lone Ace fits as few melds as a lone King, so in our game either can go first; at a home table the King goes, since it costs 10 points against the Ace's 1.

Keep a pair of Queens, though: it has two outs, like a pair of 7s.

When to Take the Discard

Take the top discard when it completes a meld, and leave it when it only makes a pair, such as a second Jack. A pickup that finishes nothing trades an unseen stock card, which could be one of your outs, for a card you still have to build on. You cannot throw it back on the same turn, either, and at a home table everyone sees what you collect.

The close call is a card that doubles your outs. You hold the 7 and 8 of spades and the 8 of hearts, with four outs: the 6 or 9 of spades and the 8 of clubs or diamonds. The 7 of hearts on the pile would make it eight. Take it when the rest of your hand is loose cards; when you already have several outs elsewhere, draw from the stock.

Hold Your Melds, Then Go Out in One Turn

Keep finished melds in your hand until the turn they take you out, because holding costs nothing here. A loss counts the same whatever you hold, and a one-turn finish pays no bonus; you can even go out without a final discard. Every meld you put down early gives opponents a place to lay off, and the club run in the example below would take the Ace or 6 of clubs from anyone.

Unlike Gin Rummy, where melds stay in your hand until someone knocks, Basic Rummy lets you pick the moment. In a two-player hand you hold the 2, 3, 4, and 5 of clubs, the 9s of spades and hearts, and the 10, Jack, Queen, and King of diamonds. Say Player 2 throws the 9 of diamonds. Take it and meld the club run, three 9s, and the diamond run. Your hand is empty, so you are out without discarding, and you score the 69 points in Player 2's hand, not doubled.

Lay Off to Close, Not to Open

When one card fits two table melds, lay it on the one it closes. The table holds the 7s of spades, diamonds, and hearts and the 8, 9, and 10 of clubs, and you hold the 7 of clubs. On the set it makes four 7s, and the only open spot left is the Jack of clubs. On the run it leaves two, the 6 and the Jack.

Four 7s take nothing more

The 7 of clubs closes the set and leaves one open spot, the Jack of clubs. Laid on the run, it would open the 6 of clubs as well.

The same count applies to any meld you put down early. A run opens two spots, or one for A-2-3 or J-Q-K, and a set opens one until its fourth card closes it.

Lay off rather than discard when you can: the card leaves your hand for free, even with no meld of your own, while throwing it lets Player 2 pick it up and lay it off.

Defend Against the Next Player

Your discard can reach one player: Player 2, who plays next, since only the top card of the pile can be taken. The exception is the reshuffle: when the stock runs out, the old discards go back into it.

Watch what Player 2 picks up: after it takes the 7 of diamonds, throw the 6 of clubs before the 6 of diamonds, which fits 5-6-7 and 6-7-8 of diamonds, and hold back the other 7s, since a pickup can start a set as easily as a run.

Near the end, stop adding places to lay off. Say Player 2 has one card left in a four-player game, the table holds the 4, 5, and 6 of spades, and after drawing you hold the 9, 10, and Jack of hearts, the 8 of diamonds, and the King of clubs. Throw the King and keep the run in your hand.

Your outs are the same either way. Melding only adds the 8 and Queen of hearts as places for Player 2's last card: if that card is the Queen of hearts, melding lets Player 2 go out next turn, and holding leaves it nowhere to play.

Dead Cards and Dead Pairs

Split a dead pair first: a pair of 9s, say, whose other two 9s are buried in the discard pile, where only the top card can be taken.

With four players at the table, you hold the 4, 5, and 6 of diamonds, the 9s of spades and hearts, and the Queens of clubs and diamonds; the 9s of clubs and diamonds are buried in the pile. You draw the 7 of diamonds, so a card must go from one of the pairs. Throw a 9, because no set of 9s can be made until the reshuffle. The Queen of hearts or spades would take you out next turn: the four-card run, three Queens, and the last 9 as your discard. Throw a Queen instead and no card takes you out next turn.

More Players, Fewer Cards

The number of players, 2 to 6, sets how many cards you must use and how soon buried cards return.

You deal every hand, so all the computer players move before your first turn: three at a four-player table, five at six. The rummy rules cover the deal in full.

Buried cards return sooner at a big table: the six-player stock of 15 is gone after 15 stock draws, two and a half laps if everyone draws from it, while the two-player stock lasts 31 draws.

With three to six players, more melds reach the table than with two, which means more places to lay off and one more reason to hold yours.

Mistakes That Cost Hands

• Keeping a Queen and King for the Ace. Q-K-A is not a run in our game, so the pair has one out, the Jack. Players raised on ace-high rules count two.
• Taking a discard with no plan for your own. Our game will not let you throw that card straight back, so know which other card goes before you pick it up.
• Dumping high cards when an opponent is nearly out. At a home table that cuts your loss. Here a loss counts the same, so keep the cards with the most outs, even a pair of Kings.

The Queen and King of hearts have one out

The Ace plays low only, so the Jack of hearts is the only card that makes this a run.

Play rummy against one to five computer players, or see the rummy FAQ for quick answers.