Five Card Rummy
Contributed by C2K (cc023351@student.paisley.ac.uk)
Editor's note: Although it was invented independently, this game is coincidentally quite similar to the traditional game of Knock Poker, which is described in some card game books.
Introduction
5 Card Rummy is a Rummy-style card game that uses Poker-style hands.
In my opinion, Poker and Gin Rummy are the best card games ever invented.
5 Card Rummy is a game that combines the best areas of both games.
Deck
5 Card Rummy uses a standard 52-card deck of cards.
Dealing
The dealer deals 5 cards to each player, dealing clockwise, starting with the player on his/her left.
For each subsequent hand, the dealer is winner of the previous hand
Hands
The hands used in 5 Card Rummy are mainly the same as Poker but with a few extra.
These are Sequence of 3, Sequence of 4 and Full Set.
Note: In 5 Card Rummy, aces can be high or low.
Also: Wrap around is not permitted
All hands and explained below
Pair
Any 2 cards of the same rank.
e.g. 3 of hearts, 3 of spades.
2 Pairs
A Pair plus another Pair.
e.g. 5 of spades, 5 of diamonds, 10 of spades, 10 of clubs.
Sequence of 3
Any 3 cards of the same suit with successive ranks.
e.g. 8 of clubs, 9 of clubs, 10 of clubs.
3 of a kind
Any 3 cards of the same rank.
e.g. queen of diamonds, queen of hearts, queen of clubs.
Straight
5 cards of any suit with successive ranks
e.g. 4 of hearts, 5 of spades, 6 of diamonds, 7 of spades, 8 of clubs
Flush
5 cards of the same suit, with any rank
e.g. 3 of hearts, 4 of hearts, 7 of hearts, 9 of hearts, king of hearts.
Sequence of 4
Any 4 cards of the same suit with successive ranks.
e.g. 9 of clubs, 10 of clubs, jack of clubs, queen of clubs.
Full Set
5 cards: 2 forming a pair plus 3 forming a Sequence of 3
e.g. 5 of hearts, 5 of diamonds, 7 of hearts, 8 of hearts, 9 of hearts.
Full House
5 cards: 2 forming a Pair plus 3 forming 3 of a kind
e.g. 2 of spades, 2 of hearts, 3 of clubs, 3 of spades, 3 of diamonds.
4 of a kind
4 cards of the same rank
e.g. jack of clubs, jack of spades, jack of diamonds, jack of hearts.
Straight Flush
5 cards of the same suit with successive ranks.
e.g. 9 of spades, 10 of spades, jack of spades, queen of spades, king of spades
Royal Flush
The highest ranking Straight Flush possible, i.e. aces high
e.g. 10 of diamonds, jack of diamonds, queen of diamonds, king of diamonds, ace of diamonds.
Aim
The aim of 5 Card Rummy is to gain 100 points.
Scoring
Scoring in 5 Card Rummy is as follows:
| Hand | Points |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 100 |
| Straight Flush | 80 |
| 4 of a kind | 50 |
| Full House | 40 |
| Full Set | 35 |
| Sequence of 4 | 30 |
| Flush | 25 |
| Straight | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 15 |
| Sequence of 3 | 10 |
| 2 Pairs | 5 |
| Pair | 2 |
Gameplay
The first player is the player to the left of the dealer and play rotates clockwise, the dealer playing last.
After the cards are dealt, the dealer places the remaining cards in the centre. This is the stock.
The first player draws the top card from the stock.
He/she then either accepts that card or rejects it.
If the card is accepted, then the player must reject one of his/her existing cards.
The rejected card is placed, face up, next to the stock. This is the discard pile.
The players then take it in turn to either accept the top card in the discard pile or take a new card from the stock.
In either case, the player must reject a card to the discard pile.
If play is continuing when the stock is depleted, then the discard pile should be replaced by only its top card and the remainder shuffled and placed face down to become a new stock.
Play continues until one player declares the hand they have.
This should be done by announcing the name of the hand.
This can only be done at the start of the player's turn:
if he/she has accepted and rejected a card then he/she must wait until play returns to him/her.
The first person to call provisionally wins the hand and the points associated with it, regardless of hands other players may have, subject to the results of the laying off process
If a winner's opponent can lay off two or more cards in his/her hand to the winning cards in the winner's hand, so that a higher hand is formed then 0 points are awarded for that hand.
However, if a winner's opponent can do the above with just one card then he/she gains the points for the extended hand
This overrules the previous laying off process.
If more than one player can do this, the person forming the largest hand gets the points.
After each hand, the new dealer should take all the cards, including the stock and discard pile and shuffle the whole deck before re-dealing.
The first player to achieve 100 points or more is the winner
Comments
Comments can be addressed to me at cc023351@student.paisley.ac.uk