Why is Gin Rummi a game of skill

24/08/2007 by Alex.

I think this is a really interesting question particulary because I am a poker player and that hasn’t been passed by law as a game of skill but gin rummi has, which means I can gamble on rummi in the USA legally but not poker.

Gin rummi was officially passed as a game of skill back in 1965 by the US District Court of Las Vegas based on tesimony from experts ranging from some of the best players around at the time through to statisticians. 

But why did they pass this leglislation? Firstly in Gin Rummi there are a total of 15,820,024,220 possible ten-card hands and because of this no player will play the same game consistently plus players can actually choose to play with the cards they “catch” in different ways which is where the skill comes in. Remember as you get better the idea of rummi is to force your opponents to play the cards you want them to play - I will go through this startegy in another artcile soon, but first back to the stats that make rummi a skill game:

• In Gin Rummi there are 52 three-card melds of three of a kind — three jacks, three fours, etc.
• There are 44 melds of three cards of the same suit in sequence 3-4-5 of diamonds, 9-10-Jack of hearts, etc.
• Once you have achieved a three-card meld in Gin Rummi, the chances of extending three of a kind are twice less likely than extending a running sequence.
• Most sequence melds can be extended at either end, however three of a kind can only be added to by one card. 
• A Sequence meld of four cards can grow into a much higher number by adding cards to the sequence, but four of a kind have no further possibilities.

So there it is - I still don’t quite get it but according to the facts these were the stats presented in court to prove this is rummi is a game that you can win through skill and strategy.

Keep reading this blog and you will learn more and more and of course win even more! I am learning everyday and it is showing in my winnings! I will update you on my rummi diary in the next few days once I have got the numbers up a bit more!

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