Want to make a profit from playing Rummy? Then this article is just for you. We have gathered all of the best expert tips that will help you master the game. We have also shared valuable tricks that will minimize your losses and maximize your earnings.
Winning in Rummy is not only about playing the perfect game. It’s also about making use of bonuses and reducing pot fees by playing at the right Rummy site. Let us tell you all about it!
Please note that there are many variations of Rummy and that this guide is based on the most popular one in India – 13 Card Rummy, also known as Indian Rummy.
To win in Rummy you want to master the game by:
To make money from Rummy you also want to maximize profits by:
To make full use of this winner’s guide, you need to know the rules of Indian Rummy. If you don’t, check out our full guide on how to play the game.
Winning in Rummy and making a long-term profit, it’s extremely important to minimize the points you receive when you lose. There’s a lot of luck involved in the game which makes it hard to affect the number of game rounds that you are able to win. It’s much easier to control the points that you gain if you lose and at the end of the day, the player that receives the least points is the one that makes the most profit.
Don’t get us wrong. You do, of course, want to win every Rummy round that you can. However, minimizing points is just as important as winning and this is often neglected by inexperienced Rummy players.
One way to minimize points in Rummy is to discard cards that are worth a lot of points. In other words, getting rid of face cards and aces. If you have several cards that you are able to discard, always consider going with the highest valued ones.
Just don’t ruin your chances of winning a Rummy round by discarding cards that you actually need. If you’re only given high-valued cards and you have a good chance of winning, you have to go for the win. You also don’t want to give your opponents any cards that are valuable to them.
If someone wins a Rummy round and you don’t have two sequences ready (with one of these being pure), this will cost you a lot of unnecessary points. As you should be aware of from knowing the rules of the game, all or most of your cards will generate points if you don’t have your sequences. This can be devastating.
Therefore, it is very important to finish your two sequences as quickly as possible. Do this before thinking too much about sets and you’ve set yourself up for a long-term profit.
To win in Rummy, a good overview of your cards can be very important. This goes hand in hand with finishing your sequences quickly. Sorting your cards by suit is the recommended way as this will give you the best overview of sequences. Many pro players also like to alternate the colors of the suits to further facilitate the sorting (like spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds).
As important as it is to make a full arrangement of your cards, you also need to prevent your opponents’ from finishing their hands. To do this, you need to keep track of what they’re drawing from the open deck.
Since sequences are the most important hands to make, it is good to assume that any card that is drawn from an open deck is to be used in a sequence. If player A is drawing 4 of hearts and Player B is drawing Jack of spades, it is best to avoid discarding any low hearts and any high spades.
It is most important to keep track of the opponent acting right after you since that player will be the one that gets to draw your discarded card. However, if this player drops out, the next one will have a shot at your card. Therefore, it's a good idea to keep track of this opponent as well.
If you have to discard a card that a player might need in order to make your own arrangement, you must of course do it. But try to avoid giving other players cards that they required. If you find it hard to keep track of cards, take notes by using a piece of paper or a text document.
To avoid giving an opponent a card they might need, the best you can do is discard a card that was already discarded by that opponent. Therefore, you should try and keep track of all discarded cards as much as possible – especially from the player acting after you.
If the player that is acting after you has discarded 5 of spades, 10 of hearts and king of clubs, you know that these three cards are good to discard. If you have them and don’t need them, these are great cards to get rid of.
Again, a piece of paper or a text document that you take notes in can help you keep track.
Jokers are the most powerful cards in Rummy but aren’t always used to their full potential. There is no universal answer to how you should use your joker cards, but there are two things that you should consider:
These are two ways to use jokers in a clever way as it can help you minimize points if you lose, as well as confuse your opponents by discarding low instead of high-valued cards.
While it may not be as important as our other Rummy winning tips, you never want to put yourself in a position where you’re waiting for a specific card or a joker to finish a full arrangement. If it can’t be avoided it can’t, but try to arrange your cards in a way that gives you several possibilities of winning. With everything that needs to be kept in mind, this is, of course, easier said than done.
As much as you are learning valuable Rummy tips, a good Rummy player will already know about these. This takes the game to a new level as you have to get inside of your opponents' heads if you want to beat them.
While bluffing is limited in Rummy, there is a way to trick your opponents into giving you cards that you need in order to finish your arrangement:
If you have two identical cards, this can be easily done to trick your opponent. Just get rid of one. It can also be done by discarding a card that is outside of your planned sequence, but close to it. By doing this, your opponents may think that you don’t need a sequence in that particular suit and throw away a card that you need.
A similar strategy also works when saving for a particular set. For instance, if you feel good about your sequences and require a King to finish a set, you could throw away a Queen. Your opponents may then think that the Queen belongs to a sequence that you don’t need and discard a King in the same suit.
All Rummy players are different and at their own skill level. If you play against professional Rummy players, they will probably try to confuse you as much as you will try to confuse them. However, playing against beginners, it isn’t likely that they will pull any tricks like these.
If you want to take your Rummy game to the next level, you need to know who you’re playing against and adapt. There’s unfortunately no easy way of doing this. Playing against the same opponent several times to learn his or her style and taking notes is the way to go.
For low and medium-stakes players, this might be too much of a hassle as the number of online Rummy players can be huge. However, at the higher stakes where you are more likely to meet the same players over and over again, it is of much greater importance.
Nobody wants to be a quitter, but if you want to win in Rummy and make a long-term profit, this is sometimes required. If you’re given a hand that’s all over the place with all four suits and no good connections, dropping out at once may actually save you points.
If you drop out before drawing a card, this will cost you 20 points, but if you lose without having two sequences made, this will cost you 50 points at best and could easily give you a full count of 80 points.
Dropping out in the middle of a game round isn’t as common of a strategy as dropping out early as this will cost 40 points. If you didn’t drop out at once, your hand is probably good enough to make at least two sequences and if you do, it isn’t likely that it’s worth taking a 40 points penalty.
However, there are always exceptions to the rule. Even if you have two sequences made, you could be sitting on anything from 35 – 70 points. If round after round goes by and you aren’t able to reduce your points value by getting rid of high cards or making more sets and sequences, it may be worth pulling the trigger and drop out.
The vast majority of Indian Rummy sites will offer you a bonus on your first deposit. This is usually extra money that is added to your account in different chunks as you wager money on Rummy games. Many sites are also running various promotions, such as competitions and additional deposit bonuses.
Taking part in these promotional offers is always highly recommended. They will give you an added value, which will help you make money from Rummy.
In addition to bonus offers, it’s common to across freeroll tournaments. These are Rummy tournaments that are free to participate in but still come with real prizes. At some sites, you can win up to ₹3,500.
While the tournaments may not be for everyone, those on a smaller budget can surely make use of them to boost their Rummy earnings.
No matter where you go to play Rummy, the players that win will be charged a fee on their earnings. This is known as a rake and is something that exists in order for the Rummy sites to make money.
While it isn’t possible to avoid the rake completely, some sites charge a higher one than others. You can find sites with a fixed rake of 5% as well as sites with a fixed rake of 10%. Then you also have platforms where the rake varies depending on the level you play at. For instance, where micro stake players have to pay 15% rake and high rollers have to pay 8% rake.
If you want to settle with a single Rummy site to play at and make the most money from your Rummy experience, it’s a good idea to compare both bonuses and rake. Both of them play an important role in your long-term Rummy profits.
