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With six hands in play, the average share is one winning deal in six, and even a strong player loses far more deals than he wins. Most deals are therefore about losing as few points as possible. That is why rummy strategy is mostly about two decisions that have nothing to do with declaring: whether to play the hand at all, and what to throw away.
The table in rupees
Drem’s rummy lobby offers Points and Deals formats for two to six players. When we checked on 13 October 2026 the entry levels were ₹8, ₹20, ₹80, ₹160 and ₹400, and at the ₹8 Points table one point was worth ₹0.10. A Coins section uses play coins instead of cash, which makes it the place to practise.
Eighty points at ₹0.10 is ₹8, so the entry matches the customary 80-point cap on a single deal: it is the most one deal can cost you. The penalties for dropping are set in each table’s rules. The customary values are 20 points for a first drop and 40 for a middle drop, and the table below uses them. Confirm the real ones before you sit down.
| Outcome | Points (customary) | Cost at ₹0.10 a point |
|---|---|---|
| First drop, before drawing a card | 20 | ₹2 |
| Middle drop, after at least one draw | 40 | ₹4 |
| Losing with a tidy hand | about 25 | ₹2.50 |
| Losing with no pure sequence | up to 80 | up to ₹8 |
The first decision: drop or play
Sort the hand and ask three questions. Is a pure sequence made, or one card away? How many jokers are there? How many unconnected cards are worth ten points?
| Opening hand | Decision |
|---|---|
| A pure sequence already dealt, plus a joker | Play |
| No pure sequence, but two same-suit connectors such as 5♠ 6♠ and 9♥ 10♥, plus a joker | Play, and review after three or four turns |
| No same-suit connectors, no joker, five or more ten-point cards | First drop |
| Jokers, but nothing close to a pure sequence | Lean towards dropping: a joker cannot make a sequence pure |
Why a first drop is cheap
Suppose you play a weak hand, win it one time in twenty and otherwise lose 50 points on average. Nineteen losses of 50 points across twenty deals is 950 points, or 47.5 a deal. A first drop costs 20. Even if the average loss were only 30 points, playing would cost 28.5 a deal against 20. Playing a weak hand beats dropping only when you expect to lose fewer than 20 points on average, and a hand with no route to a pure sequence does not pass that test.
The middle drop
A middle drop costs twice as much, so it needs a firmer reason. Remember that without a pure sequence every card in the hand is counted, up to the cap. Use the middle drop when several turns have passed, you still have no pure sequence, and an opponent has taken two or three cards from the open pile, which suggests a hand close to declaring. If you already hold a pure sequence and a second sequence, and your loose cards total less than 40, play on: finishing the deal now costs less than leaving it.
What to discard, in order
- Unconnected ten-point cards. An ace, king, queen or jack with no same-suit neighbour goes first.
- Cards far from anything you hold. A lone 2 or 3 is cheap to keep but rarely useful.
- One half of a weak pair. If a pair of high cards has not found its third after three or four turns, break it.
- Late in the deal, the most expensive loose card, whatever it is. When someone is close to declaring you are no longer building; you are cutting the bill.
Keep middle cards longer than high ones. A 7 can join 5-6-7, 6-7-8 or 7-8-9; a king can join only J-Q-K or Q-K-A. More ways to connect means more draws that help.
Reading the open pile
- A card an opponent picks up tells you what they are collecting. If they take the 8♥, hold back the 7♥, the 9♥ and the other eights.
- A card they throw tells you what is safe. Cards of the same rank, or next to it in the same suit, are less likely to help them.
- Taking from the open pile gives the same information away about you. Do it to complete a group, not to start one.
A worked hand
You are dealt 9♥ 10♥ J♥, 4♠ 5♠ 7♠, K♦ K♣, Q♠, A♦, 8♦, 2♣ and a joker.
- 9♥ 10♥ J♥ is a pure sequence, so the hand is worth playing.
- 4♠ 5♠ 7♠ with the joker in the gap makes the second sequence. From here only loose cards count against you.
- The loose cards are K♦ K♣ Q♠ A♦ 8♦ 2♣: 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 8 + 2 = 50 points.
- Q♠ is the first card to go: ten points and no partner. A♦ is next; it joins K♦ only if the Q♦ arrives.
- Keep the kings for three or four turns. If no third king comes, break the pair.
Swap the queen and the ace for a drawn 3 and 5 and the loose count falls from 50 to 38 without a single new group being made. That is the game in miniature: secure the sequences, then make the rest cheap.
Before you declare
- Thirteen cards, every one in a group.
- At least two sequences, one of them pure.
- Jokers only in the impure groups.
- Counted twice: a wrong declaration is customarily charged the maximum for the deal.
At Deals tables the scoring runs over a fixed number of deals, so a drop is weighed differently; the table rules explain how. The terms used here are in the glossary, stake sizing is on the bankroll page, and the limits that matter most are under responsible gaming.
