Yes, you read it right. If you are a regular rummy player then you might laugh at me but this is what happened with me. I lost in-spite of getting 4 Jokers.
A Joker too many can become an expensive joke!
The essence of rummy is in forming perfect melds as required with all the available cards keeping in mind the mandatory requirements of two sequences of which one has to be pure. But things can go haywire if you land up with more jokers than you can handle.
Just to give you the background of that 13 cards Indian rummy is played with two decks of cards of 52 cards each. Apart from these 52 cards, each deck also has a printed joker. Now when a rummy game begins, a card is randomly selected that becomes the joker for the game.
The card that becomes the joker is placed upside down so you cannot use that card and therefore there are 9 jokers for any game (7 normal jokers + 2 printed jokers).
So, out of the 106 cards the probability of joker in the 13 cards doled to you is pretty good, you may get one or two jokers doled to you and that is fine, for you can put them to best use by melding incomplete sequences and sets once you are done with the mandatory Pure Sequence.
Getting off tight corners smoothly
But there are times when a game can set you in a tight corner when you get more jokers than you can handle.
The excess of jokers becomes a hindrance to the goal of the game i.e. to form a pure sequence. Now you should know that if you form a pure sequence then you don’t get 80 points i.e. the full hand even if you lose.
The catch situation that occurred with me was that when the cards were distributed, I got 4 jokers but not a pure sequence. The cards that I got were close to each other i.e. Jack and King and a queen and Ace. But a pure sequence was still missing.
I played that rummy game and lost.
The usual rummy tricks would tell you to drop the game if you don’t get a pure sequence but since the cards were closely placed; I decided to play the game and eventually lost and got the full hand.
If you face such a situation then here are a few tips that can help you get through the tight situation.
- Need not adhere to the general trick about not to use up a Wild Card Joker to make a pure sequence, however, if you have excessive Jokers, just go ahead and make a pure sequence if you need to. You can use the other jokers to complete the other sequences and sets. i.e. if A ♥ is a Wild Card Joker do not hesitate to form a sequence of A♥ 2♥ 3♥ or A♥ K♥ Q♥
- Also, use wild cards/jokers and printed cards, alone or in combination together to form a set of three or four cards.
- Do not hesitate to discard a Joker or declare with a Joker in hand – the main goal of the game should not be lost if you encounter Jokers too many.
Build strategy as game moves
There is no charted and fixed strategy for using Jokers, players should build their own strategy while playing the game.
The essence of Rummy is in using the Jokers wisely to make a quick show. Too many jokers can be a hindrance or a blessing, it solely depends on how you make your moves in the game.
I still stick with my strategy of playing that game where in-spite of getting 4 jokers and not getting a pure sequence, I played that rummy game and lost.
Finally, funny it may sound but I have seen players discarding a joker too.
So getting too many Jokers should neither frighten you nor drive you crazy – in fact, that’s the time for you to play a game with more attention to your moves and build your strategy likewise.
