RUMMY
RUMMY, or Rum, as the name is frequently truncated to, is one of the most popular of all card game. Derivatives to be found elsewhere in this book include Gin Rummy and Canasta. Coon Can is another game of the type but that predates even Rummy.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS
Any number upto six may play. More than six should prefer Coon Can.
CARDS
The full pack of 52 cards is used. They rank from King (high) to Ace (low). Ten cards are dealt to each player if only two play; seven cards if three or four play; and six cards if five or six play.
The rest of the pack (the stock) is placed face downwards in the centre of the table, and the top card of it is turned face upwards and laid alongside it to start discard pile.
THE PLAY
The object of the online poker game is to make sets of three or more cards of the same rank, or sequences of three or more cards of the same suit (the Ace being low) and declare them by exposing then on the table, after drawing a card from the stock or discard pile and before discarding a card from the hand.
At the same time a player may add one or more proper cards to sequences and sets already either by himself or the other players.
Each player in turn, beginning with the one on the left of the dealer, must take into his hand either the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile, and discard a card from his hand, but if he has drawn the top card of the discard pile he must not discard it in the same turn.
If the stock is exhausted before any player declares all his hand, the discard pile is turned face downwards and becomes the stock.
The player who is first to declare all his cards wins the hand, and the other players pay him ten points each for every court card left in their hand, one point for every Ace, and its pip value for every other card.
If a player declares all his cars in one turn he scores rummy and is paid double. Rummy is a simple game that has acquired a number of improvements.
BOATHOUSE RUMMY
In this version, a player may draw the top card of the stock; or he may draw the top card of the discard pile and then either the top card of the stock or the next card of the discard pile. He may, however, discard only one card.
In a sequence the Ace may be either high, low, or round the corner. The play does not come to an end until a player can declare his entire hand in one turn. A losing player pays only for the unmatched cards in his hand but Aces are paid for at 11 points each.
CONTINENTAL RUMMY
This variation of the parent game is suitable for any number of players up to 12. If two to five play two packs with two Jokers are used; if six to eight play three Joker are used; and if nine to 12 play four packs with four Jokers are used.
Each player receives 15 cards. A player may not declare until all 15 of his cards are melded either in five three-card sequences, or in three four-card sequences and one three-card sequence, or in one five-card, one four-card and two three-card sequences. Sets of three or more cards of the same rank are of no value.
A Joker may be used as any card. The Ace may be high or low, but No-Trumps round the corner.
There are many ways of scoring, but generally the winner collects from all the other players one unit from each for winning, and two units from each from winning, and two units from each for every Joker in his hand.
GAMBLER’S RUMMY
This version is so called because it is the variation of the parent game that is most frequently played for high stakes.
Only four players take part and each is dealt seven cards. The Ace is low and, as in the parent game, counts only one point in the settlement. A player is not allowed to declare all his hand in one turn.
He must declare it in at least two turns, but he is No-Trumps debarred from going out second turn even if on his previous turn he played off only one card on another player’s declaration.
The stock is gone through only once. When it is exhausted the players must draw the top card of the discard pile, and the poker game ends when a player refuses it.
KNOCK RUMMY
This version is also called Poker Rum, and is played in the same way as the parent game, but a player does not, declare his sequences and sets by the exposing them on the table. Instead, after drawing a card, he knocks on the table, and then discards.
Play comes to an end. The players separate their matched cards from their unmatched ones, and each announces the count of his unmatched cards, as reckoned in the parent game.
The player with the lowest count wins the different in counts from all the other players. If a player ties with the knocker for the lowest count he wins over the knocker.
If the knocker does not have the lowest count he pays a penalty with the lowest count. If the knocker goes knock rummy (has all his cards matched when he knocks ) and wins, he receives an extra 25 points from all the other players.