Gin Rummy Strategy: Knock Smarter, Lose Fewer Points

Luck decides which cards come off the stock, but over a game of several hands the steadier player nearly always comes out ahead. Good gin is mostly about three habits: keeping cards that can grow in more than one direction, paying attention to what your opponent picks up and throws away, and knowing when to knock. Here is how to build each habit. If you're new to the game, start with the gin rummy rules.

1. Get Rid of High Cards Early

In the first few turns, a loose king, queen or jack is a liability. If your opponent knocks early, each one costs you 10 points. Unless a face card is already paired with another of the same rank or sits next to a card of the same suit, throw it before you throw a low card. A loose 2 or 3 costs almost nothing to hold and is easy to fit into a run later.

The exception: once your opponent has picked up a queen from the pile, think twice before throwing another queen or a jack or king of that suit. That is where the next section comes in.

2. Keep Cards That Work Two Ways

A pair, like 7♠ 7♦, waits for one of two sevens. Two cards in a row in a suit, like 7♥ 8♥, waits for the 6♥ or the 9♥. Now look at 7♠ 7♥ 8♥ together: any of the 7♦, 7♣, 6♥ or 9♥ makes a meld, which is four chances instead of two. Combinations like this are the strongest thing you can hold early in a hand, so break up lonely cards before you break up a shape like that.

Count chances that are still alive. If two of the sevens have already gone into the discard pile, your pair of sevens is dead and should be thrown before a live pair.

3. Watch What Your Opponent Picks Up

Every card taken from the discard pile is a clue. If the computer takes the 9♣, it is building nines or clubs around the 9. Avoid throwing the other nines and the 7♣, 8♣, 10♣ and J♣ for a while. Our game lists the cards the computer took from the pile right under its hand, so you don't have to remember them.

What your opponent throws is a clue too. A player who discards the 5♦ is probably not collecting fives, so another five is fairly safe to throw. Cards of the same rank as recent discards, and cards next to them in the same suit, are usually your safest discards.

Taking from the pile tells. When you take the top discard, your opponent knows exactly what you're building. Take it when it makes a meld or brings you right down to a knock. Otherwise the stock is often better: the card you draw might fit just as well, and it gives nothing away.

4. Knock Early Rather Than Late

The most common mistake at the kitchen table is waiting too long to knock. Early in a hand, your opponent usually has 40 or 50 points of deadwood. A knock with 8 on your third or fourth turn will often win 30 points or more, and the chance of an undercut is small.

Later in the hand things change. By the time the stock is half gone, your opponent has had plenty of turns to build melds and lower their count. Now a knock with 9 or 10 is risky, because they may lay off a card or two and undercut you for 25 extra points. Late in a hand, knock with a low count, or keep playing for gin.

• First third of the stock: knock as soon as you can.
• Middle: knock with about 6 or less, or when your opponent has picked up little from the pile.
• Late: knock only with a very low count, or play on for gin.

The Hard computer in our game follows this kind of thinking. Tap Why? after one of its moves and you may see it say it could have knocked but chose to play on.

5. Don't Leave Easy Layoffs

When you knock, think about what your opponent might lay off. A run of 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ invites the 3♥ and the 7♥. If you have the choice of two arrangements with the same deadwood, prefer the one with melds that are harder to add to, such as a set of four, or a run that ends on an ace or a king.

6. When to Play for Gin

Gin is worth 25 points plus all of your opponent's deadwood, with no layoffs and no risk of undercut. It is worth chasing when you are one card away with several live chances, especially late in a hand when a small knock would be risky anyway. It is not worth chasing when your opponent is clearly close, for example after they have picked up two or three cards from the pile. In that case take the sure points now.

7. Watch the Score

Near the end of a game, the score should change your choices. If you need only a few points to reach 100, a small knock wins the game; take it. If your opponent is close to 100 and you are far behind, you need big hands. Play for gin and let a cheap knock go.

Practice Makes It Easier

The best way to learn these habits is to play. Our game sorts your hand into melds, shows your deadwood, and offers a Hint whenever you're unsure. At the end of each hand you see both hands laid out and the scoring spelled out, which is a quick way to see what went right and what didn't.

Play gin rummy now, or try the house rules on the variations page. For another two-player classic, try Cribbage.