Rummy School - Lesson 13: Important Tips for the Oklahoma Gin Game

The Oklahoma Gin game is played with a single 52 cards deck with no jokers so every card appears only once. This means that if a player draws a card or discards a single card which other player needs and is not able to get it, he doesn't have a chance to have this card in any stage of the game. This is why he must change the game strategy and play differently. By changing the strategy you don't wait to the card you just lost and then other options will be opened for other cards which still didn't show.

Drawing a card in the Oklahoma gin game can be a very important strategy during the game. If you focus in drawing your cards from the deck pile only and not from the discard pile, you will remain more mysterious to the rest of the players and they will never know which cards  you are counting on.

With time and as the game progresses and you still draw cards from the deck pile and not from the discard pile, your opponents will find it difficult to analyze your game and this is why it's better to draw from the deck and stay mysterious to the other players.

If and when the cards that appear on the top of the discards pile are cards which your opponents don't need, this can in many cases, prevent your opponents to meld and reveal their hands.

When you discard a card, it's better to discard one that you don't need and doesn't match any of the other cards in your hand to build series. You should also pay attention to the cards your opponents discard and try to discard the same cards and by that prevent them from using cards you discarded. It's very important to keep track and remember which cards have been discarded. Most of the players playing Oklahoma Gin tend to discard high value cards first to get rid of the extra points which are high and in their hands. One of the ways to take advantage of that is trying to create high value series so that you will have a better chance to get the cards you need from the other players.

Of course, as the game progresses you must be careful not to remain with high value non matching cards in your hand get rid of them as soon as you can.

In the Oklahoma gin game it's very important to pay attention to the cards your opponents discard. Every card which is revealed must be memorized by you and this way you can adjust your game strategy.

Since the Oklahoma gin game lasts until you reach at least half of the deck pile cards, it's important to notice when you get to the final stages of the game, because if you feel you don't stand a chance to win the game and one of your opponents is close to performing a knock or a Gin, get rid of the high and non matching cards as soon as you can and replace them if needed with low value cards which are discarded to the discard pile, even if you don't need these cards, because at the end of the game when the points are counted you will stay with as less negative points as possible.

When you reach the final move, it's important especially in tournament to perform the knock move as soon as possible and don't wait till you can perform the Gin move. Don't forget that in the tournament you accumulate points until the players are disqualified. This is why it's dangerous to wait to the Gin move.

In a single game, performing the knock move can be much more relevant in the first stages of the game, this is something which gives you the element of surprise over your opponents and the lack of enabling them to build a good hand. If you don't have the possibility to performing the knock in the early stages of the game, you should wait to the Gin move because in the single game the negative points are not counted and it's over once a player wins.

During the game before melding it's important to know which cards are better to discard and which are for keep. If for example you have in your hand the following cards: 6 hears, 7 hearts and 4 diamonds, it's better to get rid of the 4 diamonds which doesn't give you any option to build any type of series and stay with the other cards which gives you more possibilities.

Back to Rummy School