Gin Rummy’s “freak” hands strategy
It’s not a secret that winning in Gin Rummy depends on player’s skill even more than in other games. The winner in most cases is the player who can put tricks and make an opponent do whatever he wants. If you play advanced gin, gaming skills are just vital as only in this way you are able to create opportunities to win the game and trick your opponent dictating your gaming style.
Certainly, game skills are important on all stages of the game from the very beginning and up to the late play, but opening play sometimes has a decisive meaning, so it requires all your skills.
There are two main types of Gin Rummy hands that are called regular and freak hands. While regular hands are those you can also call average, which means these are the majority of hands you play, freak ones are rare and require aggressive or even offensive play. Freak hand is a great opportunity, but you must know how to use this opportunity.
Offensive strategy is just perfect for those freak hands when you have nine melded cards or you have no melds at all or just 1 meld, but all cards in your hand match. These combinations do not occur often, but if you get it, you should quickly decide whether you play for a knock or for a gin.
Another strategy is called a defensive one and it’s applied in case you have no matched or related cards. In this situation you must apply all your skills and develop a good hand. This means, you need to play almost to the bottom of the deck trying to collect the best hand possible and at the same time to prevent your opponent of doing the same.
When you consider the type of strategy to play, try to take into consideration your opponent as well as there is always a chance he’s got a freak hand too. It would be useful to try analyzing his strategy and determining what kind of hand your opponent may have.