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Understanding the Basics of Gin Rummy

Gin Rummy is one of the more famous variations of the rummy games. It is commonly a game between two players, each getting ten cards. A traditional deck of 52 cards is utilized.

The starting dealer is randomly chosen, and dealing rotates among the players. Ten cards are given individual players, one card at a single time. The twenty first card is placed facing up to begin the reject pile and the remaining cards from the pile is placed facing down beside it to make up the stock. The players view and arrange their cards.

The aim of the game is to accumulate a hand where all or majority of the cards can be mixed into groups and runs and the amount of the points of the non-matching cards is low.

*a run or sequence is made up of more than three cards of like suits in consecutive arrangement. *a set or group consists of three to four similarly ranked cards

One card can be a part of a single combination in a single time - similar cards cannot be used as a component of the two groups of identical cards and an order of successive cards.

Bear in mind that in Gin Rummy the Ace always has a low score. A-2-3 is a legitimate order but A-K-Q is an illegal sequence.

Individual players scores the total amount of their unpaired cards. When the count of the cards of the knockers is lower, the difference between the two values is scored.

When no gin is obtained, and there are similar counts, or the count of the knocker is higher than the opponent's, then that card has been undercut. When this happens, the opponent's knocker accumulates the difference among the counts and an extra 10 points.

In other games, players start the game in a different manner: the dealer gets a total of 10 cards while the non-dealers gets 11 cards, with no cards facing up. Basically, the initial move of the non-dealer is to dispose of a card, afterwards the dealer makes the usual turn, picking the discarded card or from the pile, and the usual rotation commences.

Different variations have different scoring systems: in some a gin is worth 25 points (instead of the usual 20) and the undercut bonus is equal to 20; in others, the score for a gin is 25 (instead of 20) while an undercut is worth 20 (instead of 10); some others give similar 25 points for a gin, undercut and box bonus.

In some games, when a loser does not obtain a score throughout the entire game, the total score of the winner is doubled (200 instead of the usual total of 100).

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