If you wish to be an ace rummy player, you should have a few tricks up your sleeve. Applying rummy tricks has always been an important part of them. Your chances of winning depend on them. The more tricks you use, the likelier you are to win. These tricks are nothing but strategies that help you improve your winning probabilities. You can trick your opponent and give yourself an advantage over them. Use the following tricks to improve your rummy gameplay:
Keep a close eye on the Discard section
If you ask any good player playing rummy games, they closely watch the cards that their opponents discard. The idea is not to discard a card that your opponent would find useful. This is the reason why it is a standard trick in the rummy game to make use of the discard section for analyzing every card that the opponents discard. Before you discard any card, you should always check the discard section. That way, you can avoid discarding the wrong card.
For instance, if your opponent has picked 5 and 6 from the discard section, you shouldn’t discard cards such as 7 and 8 as it can form a sequence for them. If you do discard such cards, your opponent is likely to pick them up and form a pure sequence. A small mistake like this can end up costing you the game.
Discard cards that are closer to Joker
This is one of the classic rummy tips involving the Joker, which is a game-changing card. Typically, players don’t like using Jokers for making a pure sequence. This is because they can be utilized as the trump card for forming an impure sequence and finishing the game. Hence, an easy strategy would be discarding cards that are close to the Joker. This forces your opponents to not pick those cards.
For example, if the wild Joker is 2, you can discard cards that are close to the Joker, such as 2, 3, 5, and 6. Your opponent wouldn’t want to waste the Joker for forming a pure sequence. Hence, there is a good chance that your opponent wouldn’t pick the discarded cards. This classic Rummy strategy is used by expert players to avoid their cards from being picked by opponents. Having said that, before you use this trick, you should observe the pattern of cards that your opponent picks.
Use baits of high-value cards
During the initial moves, most good players look to discard high-value cards for reducing the burden of points. If your opponent picks up the high-value card you discarded, it is likely that he/she is going to form or has already formed a sequence. With that, your opponent has taken your bait.
For instance, if you discard Q and your opponent pics it, you can predict that your opponent has at least partly formed a set of Qs or a sequence of Q J 10, K Q J, or A K Q. Thereafter, you shouldn’t discard any cards that are close to Q, such as A, 10, J, and K, as it would allow your opponents to continue forming their sequence. If you keep discarding such cards, your opponent will win the game within a few moves. However, you can still safely discard another Q as there is a lower chance of a set of Qs being formed. A standard rummy trick like this should always be kept in mind while playing rummy game.
Reverse the common rummy tricks
Sometimes, in order to win a game of rummy, you need to think out of the box. The situation might demand you to improvise and adapt the existing standard rummy tricks to create a trick of your own. One of the best strategies you can use is reversing the rummy tricks that are commonly used.
For example, one of the most common rummy tricks is discarding high-value cards during initial moves. You may reverse the trick during your initial moves by not discarding high-value cards. You can keep these cards for 3-4 moves and the chances are that your opponent has discarded high-value cards during opening moves. If you need a high-value card discarded by your opponent, you can use it for making a sequence or set with the cards in your hand. This is an example of reversing a common rummy strategy and tricking your opponents into discarding the card you require.
Calculate the probabilities
In any card game, calculating the probabilities is important to get the desired cards. During your rummy game, you must keep track of the cards appearing in the open deck and the cards that have been dealt with. For example, if you are dependent on the Jokers for finishing the game, you need to calculate the number of Jokers left in the closed deck. If there are lesser odds of getting a Joker, you must change your strategies and try finding other options. In a similar manner, calculating the card colors, i.e., back and red, you can find how many Hearts and Diamonds or Spades and Clubs are remaining in the closed deck. You can also calculate the total number of particular cards and use probabilities to find the high cards and connecting cards.
Maintaining the practice of calculating probabilities keeps you prepared for countering the moves of your opponents, allowing you to eventually win games. In rummy games, winning is all about applying simple mathematical concepts. That is the only way you can control the factor of luck to a certain extent. By applying mathematics, you can effectively execute your plans, and calculating your winning odds at each step provides you a better command over the game.
Now that you have learned the standard rummy tricks, you should try using them as frequently as you can. Through regular use of these strategies, you can improve your overall skills. Once you get good at using these tricks, you become a real master of the game!