Oklahoma Gin Rules

Oklahoma Gin Rules

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Oklahoma Gin is designed for up to four players. Unlike other Rummy games such as Kalooki, Rummy 500 or Traditional Rummy, Oklahoma Gin is played with only one standard deck of cards without Jokers (52 cards).

The four suits

Oklahoma Gin Card suitsOklahoma Gin Card suitsOklahoma Gin Card suitsOklahoma Gin Card suits

 

 

 The cards and their values

 

Oklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card Values

1 point 2 points 3 points 4 points 5 points

Oklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card Values

 6 points 7 points 8 points 9 points 10 points

Oklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card ValuesOklahoma Gin Card Values

 10 points 10 points 10 points

 

 

In a 2 player game every player is dealt ten cards. In a three to four player game each player is dealt seven cards. The remaining cards form the deck, and one open card is used as the discard pile.

The object of the game is to form as many melds from the cards in hand. A meld can be either a set or a run.

A set consists of 3 or more cards of the same rank

Oklahoma Gin Legal SetsOROklahoma Gin Legal Sets

 

 

A run consists of 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit

Oklahoma Gin Legal RunsOROklahoma Gin Legal Runs

 

 

Apart from forming melds, players must try to reduce their deadwood count, or in other words to minimize the values of the cards that do not belong to any meld.

The Play

A turn in Oklahoma is divided into two parts that make up a standard turn, except for the last turn of a hand/game.

  1. Drawing from the deck or the top card of the discard pile.
  2. Throwing a card to the discard pile.

This rummy game can end in one of three ways:

  1. Gin - players lay down all the cards in their hand in valid melds, and throw the last card to the knock area. When a player Gins other players cannot add cards to that player's melds.
  2. Knock - a player lays down valid melds and has a deadwood count that's equal or lower than ten. In this move as well the player throws a card to the knock area.
  3. Undercut - when a player knocks his or her opponents can lay down their melds and also add cards to the knocker's melds (but only to that player's original melds).

For example: a player knocked and laid down.

The knocker goes down with:

Cards used for knockingCards used for knockingCards used for knockingCards used for knocking

 

The person playing next added 6H, meaning that the player who plays third will not be able to add 5H.

Through adding cards players can reduce their deadwood count, and therefore are rewarded for keeping the cards that the Knocker needed for his own melds.

The player who's next in line can lay down two melds and has JH and 6H and two 4s. In this case the opponent can add his cards to the appropriate meld, thus lowering the number of penalty points from 24 to 4!

Undercut - if one of the player knocks, and an opponent has a lower deadwood count, that opponent will win while the Knocker will be penalized by 25  points.

If only 2 last cards are left in the deck, the discard pile is reshuffled and used as the new deck.

Defeated (Penalty Points)

Ginning    Sum of deadwoods + 25 penalty points.

Knocking Sum of deadwoods minus knockers deadwoods.

Undercut Sum of deadwoods minus undercutter's deadwoods. Knocker recieves 25 extra penalty points.

 

The difference between Gin Rummy and Oklahoma is this: In an Oklahoma game the starting card determines the maximum deadwood a player can have in order to knock. The number is taken from the card's value in penalty points, where face cards (K, Q, J) are worth 10, and a starting ace will set the knock value to "Gin only", making it impossible to have even a single point as deadwood.

Official Prize distribution in Oklahoma games

The winner receives 75% of the pool prize (minimum), and the rest is divided between the other players. Players' win percentage is calculated according to their penalty points and the winner's, as long as they have less than 50 penalty points than the winner.

Click here for an example

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