First-to-Knock

Strictly speaking "First To Knock" isn't Gin Rummy at all. It's very fast and there's a lot more luck involved in the outcome between two players. Even a new player can beat a veteran player if they receive good cards. It's also the quickest way to play our version of Gin Rummy online taking less than one minute to play just one hand of cards.

The first player to reduce their deadwood cards to 10points or less can knock and win the hand, the entire game and the real money at stake. If you're short on time or intimidated by some of the more skill players online, playing "First To Knock" is a great introduction to the other ways to play Gin Rummy online.

First-to-Knock Scoring

Scoring game points is very straightforward: There are no game points! You only have to win one hand of cards, so the concept of accumulating game points become irrelevant. Deadwood is still calculated as normal and the player with the least deadwood (generally the first player to knock) wins the game. Note that it is possible for a player to knock first and lose if the opponent has a fairly low score and has cards which can be ‘laid off’ against the melds of the player who has knocked, thus bringing the opponent also below 10 deadwood. If that same player has lower deadwood, they would be deemed to have undercut the player who knocks and thus win the game. This is fairly rare, however!

MatchPlay

Playing "MatchPlay" requires several hands of cards between the players. MatchPlay to 50points means the first player to accumulate 50 game points or more is declared the winner on the "first past the post basis". The winner receives their stake back together with their opponent's stake less a small rake paid to the house. The losers surrenders his entire stake.

Matchplay Scoring

Unlike First to Knock, there are some rules relating to scoring game points in MatchPlay. Game points are calculated at the end of each hand as the difference between the winner's deadwood points and the loser's deadwood points. In additional, if the winner has knocked with a perfect zero-deadwood hand of cards, they receive an extra 25 game points.

Also, if the player who knocks to end the hand is "Undercut" by the opposing player's Deadwood score the player who knocked will lose and the undercutting player will be deemed the winner of the hand and receive an extra 25points. To knock or not to knock, that is the question!

MoneyPlay

The most sophisticated way to play Gin Rummy online (and also the most popular when playing offline for real money). Like MatchPlay these games are played out to several hands of cards. Before you start the game, you agree with your opponent how much money to stake per-point difference between your score and your opponents score at the end of the game.

You also agree how much money each players brings to the table and places at risk. This is called the "Buy In". You then play the game in order to win as much of your opponent's BuyIn as possible. The game ends and a winner is declared when one player accumulates 100 game points. All or part of the loser's BuyIn is then passed to the winner based on the scoring calculations.

MoneyPlay Scoring

Scoring follows matchplay scoring for the cards played, i.e. deadwood differences are accumulated throughout a game. In addition, there are certain end of game bonuses which are added to the deadwood differences which count towards the amount of money transferred between players. For example, in this game, if the buy in is £0.10 per point (with a buy-in of £20.00), the money transfer works as follows:

Dalek1 wins by 142 points to 0 in three games with his third game taking him over the total required (100 points). In addition to the 142 point difference which would equate to £14.20 changing hands, the winner also gets a line bonus of 75, a target bonus of 100 and a zero point bonus of 100. The total difference is 417 which would normally equate to £41.70 but there is a cap of £20, equivalent to the buy-in on this game.

Bonuses are as follows: each player gets a line bonus for each hand within a game he wins. The first player to reach the target points required (100 here) also gets a 100 point bonus. If a player wins with his opponent scoring no points at all (as in this case below), then an extra 100 points are scored by the winner.

Purse Play

This brand new method of playing Gin Rummy is set to be the most popular of all game types (launching May 2007) as it combines the best of the above. It is identical to Moneyplay in most respects with the exception that you do not need to hit a certain points target.

Purse Play Scoring

In purse-play scoring, only the point difference between players scores on each hand of cards is used for the purposes of calculating the money to change hands. If player A wins a hand worth 43 points of difference and the buy-in is £0.10 per point, then $4.30 is transferred from player B (less the rake). The points of both players then revert to zero.

Oklahoma Gin

Oklahoma Gin is a variant on the standard gin rummy rules which says that the knock value instead of being 10 deadwood points or lower is variable. (If you need more info. on how deadwood is calculated, please refer to the game instructions popup above). The value of the first card which is turned over from the deck (that is offered to the first player) also represents the knock value for that hand. Thus, if a 5h is showing at the outset, then players may only knock if they have 5 or fewer points of deadwood in their hand. The K, Q, J and 10 all represent a 10 knock value whilst the Ace, instead of representing a knock value of 1 actually requires you to knock with zero points (a ‘gin’). All other cards represent their face value for knock purposes. The knock value for a given hand is shown just next to the open pile. The knock button will also ‘glow’ when players are able to knock (though they don’t necessarily need to knock immediately).

All other rules are the same as for normal gin rummy and players can choose our popular first to knock and 100-point moneyplay variations. You can notice that you’re playing Oklahoma not only by the variable knock number but also by the game title in the lobby and the Oklahoma logo on the table.