Rummy, is an exciting game that requires a great deal of skill, focus, and concentration in order to be successful and win. However, if you do have a bad hand to begin with, it can put you on the back foot straight away, and more importantly, in a position which you are unlikely to win from. In this scenario, it’s best not to panic, but to always carefully look at the options available to you, and try and take the best one at the best time. Now, in this post, we will dwell on this scenario in detail, and give you some rummy tips on what to do when presented with a bad hand.
So, what is a bad hand?
Before we go any further, let’s tell you what a bad hand is – in general terms, a hand is considered a ‘bad hand’ when the player hasn’t been dealt a joker or a wild joker at the start. Of course, a seasoned rummy campaigner will be able to execute plans and strategies to still win from this position, and turn the game around. That said, if you don’t draw a joker quite early in the game, it should be considered a bad hand.
What do you do with a bad hand?
It’s always quite a tense affair when the cards are being dealt out at the start of the game. In essence, at this stage, skill doesn’t come into it, and luck plays a huge part in determining which player or players has been dealt an advantage, and which ones have been dealt a bad hand right at the start. Now, let’s take a look at what you should do when you’ve been dealt a bad hand, so let’s get to it.
Option 1
Dropping the game: Immediately after the cards have been dealt, do a quick study of the cards in your hand, and if you feel that dropping out may be the best way out, then do it and do it quickly. The sooner the better to reduce your points tally – remember if you have a really bad hand, drop out early, as this will add only 20 points to your total. However, a middle drop will add double the amount of points to your total. So dropping out must definitely be considered as a valid an option. Now, this option may be considered to be overly negative or pessimistic. In reality, however, this could be the best that thing you can do. Who knows, you may be dealt a really good hand in the next game and go on to win it.
Option 2
Going ahead with the game: Now, after a good analysis of your cards, if you think you would like to proceed with the game and therefore go for the win, or in the worst case scenario, try to meld some sequences and thus reduce your points tally, we’d like to congratulate you on your bravery. Furthermore, and more importantly, we’d like to give you some points to consider, when you do decide to go ahead with the game.
- Laser like focus: Throughout the game, and especially at the start, we do advise you to stay focussed and remain focussed. Do not panic. We repeat, do not panic! Panicking will cloud your judgement and will prevent you from making clever and skillful decisions. Instead, concentrate and bring your best analytical skills to bear.
- Look for opportunities: Keep a close eye on the open deck and the discard section, and see which cards your opponents are dropping. This could help you guess or understand what your opponents are up to, and more importantly, could help you make sequences of your own.
- The high card drop: If you think there is no chance of creating sequences with your cards, especially high value ones, then the best thing to do in this scenario is to drop them. This is a sure-shot way of reducing your points’ tally.
- Bait opponents: As mentioned earlier, it’s always beneficial to know what your opponents are up to. Therefore, observe them and notice if they picking cards from the closed deck more than the open deck – this will reveal that they are looking to declare or show imminently. Now, at this time, it would make sense for you to try and bait them by dropping a card, and looking to see if you opponent will fall for the bait and pick it up. If they do pick up your dropped card, this will give you a fair idea of the sequences and/or sets they are trying to make, and you can now block their declaration by holding onto the cards they need.
- Confuse them: As you are studying them, please be sure that your opponents are carefully studying your every move too. Use this to your advantage by trying to confuse them or letting them think that you are indeed about to declare yourself and therefore instigate them fold. You can execute this strategy by discarding low value cards, while also drawing cards from the open deck.
- Learning experience: If you are fairly new to the game of rummy, it’s important to practice in order to get good at the game and to win. Given all this, if possible, you could treat this game (with a bad hand) as a good learning experience which will stand you in good stead for the future.
Now, we do hope you found this blog post useful, and also hope you use the pointers mentioned in here to good effect when you are dealt a bad rummy hand. All the best!
