Hi my name is Hope Heresko and I have been a dealer in Tunica Mississippi as well as Saint Petersburg, Florida Dog Track. Today we are going to learn the basics of playing Rummy. There are many variations to the game of rummy, but basic strategy works in all of them. The game I am going to show you today is called Hollywood rummy. The dealer is going to give ten cards, the person not the dealers gets an extra card that person gets the 11th card. The reason they get 11 cards is because they are going to play their cards first.

The object of this game is to get sets of three or four or runs of three or four. When I open this person's hand they have two kings, they already have a set of three queens. They have a set of three deuces, and two nines. They are in an excellent position to start. In this game ace is always low, in rummy ace always counts low. When I open my hand the dealers hand, I find I have three jacks, I have two eights, I have a six, seven of diamonds if I could get as a run if I had an eight or a five. The king I could possibly use over here, but to keep it simple we will just do it like this to start.

The person with 11 cards the non dealer is going to play first. The ace even though it's a low card, and might be beneficial later does not fit anywhere in this hand. So they would throw it away. It is now my turn to go. The ace does not fit in my hand. So therefore I withdraw from the deck receiving a deuce. It also does not fit in my hand, but I would want to get rid of a card that has more point count. So I would throw a king. This person has two kings you need three or four to make a set. So they would take my king and put it there, now they have three sets, at this point they have a decision to make. They can either knock throw one card down and knock with nine points, or they can keep playing and hope to get Gin. At this point because the game is early, that person is going to elect to go on and try to get Gin.

So they will throw a nine away, again the nine does not help my hand. So I will draw again. This time I get a three, the two and the three could go together if I got four, but I don't need this ten and it's a high point card. So I would throw it away. Looking at the other hand they cannot use that ten so they will draw and they will draw a five.

Five being lower than nine and nine not being of any use to them they will throw it away. Nine does not go in my hand so I will draw again this time I have gotten an eight. Now I have a decision to make, because I can use the eight to go with an eight, seven, six, or I can use an eight to make three eights. I think I'll just play and see what happens. Maybe I can get the five. So I will keep these cards and throw away this six. Again it is of no use to hand b, they draw a ten they really don't want that ten, so they will throw it away. Another ten has been drawn and thrown. It's up to hand b. They have gotten a four. Well four is less than five so they are going to throw the five away because it doesn't fit in their hand.

Now I have another decision to make I have two threes, I could go for a set of threes. I think that's what I will choose to do. So I will throw this two away wow, look at hand b, they will take my two to give them Gin throwing this card away. They have caught me good. I am caught with 13, 16, 19 points. This person has a Gin I have 19 points, which I would then write on a pad when the game gets to a 100 the person who has the 100 is the loser. I hope you have enjoyed learning some of the basics of playing hollywood rummy. In the next segment we are going to go on to different types of solitaire.