Gin Fun Facts

Game History: Gin is a modern classic that has superseded all other rummy games in popularity. The game suddenly hit its stride in the 1930’s when Hollywood celebrities took it up. They realized that Gin Rummy was not only simple and fast, but made an excellent wagering game, too. Although much luck is involved, the skill required far outweighs the chance factor, and Gin ranks as one of the most demanding of all card games.

THE TWO GREATEST GIN PLAYERS OF ALL TIME?

Top experts play Oklahoma Gin more often than the standard Gin Rummy, and two of the greatest players of all time were Oswald Jacoby and John Crawford. Jacoby and Crawford often got together for a very high stakes game at Manhattan’s chic Regency Club. Both men also ranked among the greatest bridge, poker, and backgammon players as well, for they had great powers of concentration and each was supremely gifted at games. Jacoby was a brilliant mathematician who could multiply two four-digit numbers in his head, and he could memorize the order of all 52 cards of a randomly shuffled deck after looking at the cards for less than a minute! Crawford’s edge was that he had a certain table presence that was cunning and at the same time

Strategy

In John Crawford’s "How to Be a Consistent Winner in the Most Popular Card Games," he gave many valuable pointers for winning at Oklahoma Gin. Among them were the following:

1) Always remember the knock card number.

2) The first object is to get on score (so there is no chance of being schneidered).

3) With a high knock card (10, 9, or 8), play for two melds and a quick knock.

4) With a low knock card (5, 4, 3 or 2), aim for three melds.

5) With a low knock card, discard a lot more freely.

6) On a must-gin hand, remember kings and aces are the least valuable cards.

7) With a low knock card it often pays to block your opponent by breaking up your hand