I am losing too many games. What should I do?

Nobody likes losing games, and losing continuously definitely leaves a bad taste in a player’s mouth. The good part is that there are often very small fixes one can make to turn their game around. You could be losing for various reasons, and they are mostly caused by a lack of knowledge or lack of practice. In this blog, we will talk about the common mistakes many players make without realising, and how to avoid making them. This blog will also talk about tips and tricks that can help you up your game. Rummy is a game of skill, so buckle up!

Practising more can help

Knowing the rules of rummy is half the battle, the other half is practice. Like any other aspect of life that requires you to sharpen your skills, from math to sport, rummy too requires consistency and practice. On the RummyCulture app players can play unlimited practice games and free games before entering real cash games and tournaments. This will help you build confidence and get a realistic idea of how to strategise for a particular format, keep an eye on your opponents, and adapt to situations quickly. We recommend trying all formats of rummy on RummyCulture as every format offers a different kind of challenge. If you want to know more about various rummy formats, you can read about them here.

Brush up on the rules

Sometimes, you may know the rules, and still not really know them. You may be aware of the terms but not understand them in practical usage. Minor misses here and there can cost even pro players their games. So, take a deep breath and let’s brush up on some important rules.

Check that you have a pure sequence

You can absolutely NOT make a valid declaration without a pure sequence. When you’re dealt a hand, it is important to first and foremost check if you have a pure sequence. Many players choose to drop out of a round if they don’t have one, potentially saving them from a high penalty. You can still continue playing if you don’t have a pure sequence in hand and expect to build one soon with your current cards, but it is not always advisable and quite risky. Remember, if you don’t have a pure sequence, none of your other melds/groups would matter.

Look for a second sequence immediately

In a rummy game, there is a concept of first and second hearts. The first ‘heart’ in a rummy game is unlocked when you make a pure sequence. It’s only after a pure sequence that your other groupings would be deemed valid. A second heart unlocks upon making the second sequence, which can be pure or impure. After this, one can make more sequences or sets, there’s no rule.

Once you have a pure sequence, your immediate next task is finding the second heart, i.e. making a second sequence. Joker cards (printed or wild card) become very essential in this. If you can’t make a second sequence, all your cards aside from those in the pure sequence will add to your points.

Don’t drop middle cards

Middle cards, as the name suggests, are those that can come in the middle of multiple sequences in any order. Let’s say you have 5♣, 6♣ and 8♣. In this case, you would want to save 6♣ because it can help with sequences on both sides:

5♣, 6♣, 7♣

or

6♣, 7♣, 8♣

It is also important to remember that an Ace is NOT a middle card. That means, you can’t use an Ace card like this:

2♥️, A♥️, K♥️

Keep an eye out on the wild card joker

Sometimes new players on RummyCulture get used to playing practice games and think a wild card Joker always has a distinct marking. That’s not the case in a real cash game. You won’t see a blue triangular mark on all wild-card Jokers, which is why players often discard them in a real cash game. Both kinds of Joker cards, printed and wild, are extremely useful in a game. Just paying a little attention to this can make or break your game

Drop if you don’t feel confident

It is completely alright to drop off if you’re not confident with your hand. In fact, this is a strategy used by many pro players to reduce their points. Dropping is penalized with a set number of points, but if you have too many ungrouped high-value cards, dropping will be a much better option than simply losing 80 points in one go. Based on when in the game a player decides to drop, different amounts of points are added. You can read more about penalty points for dropping in the RummyCulture app on the Rummy Rules page.

Check that you have a stable internet

This feels like a no-brainer, but playing online means you must ensure a stable internet connection throughout the game. Players can have the best of cards but if their connection is slow, they may get dropped out of the game for missing their turn(s). We can’t really give you a solution for this problem; if this happens it is between you and your internet provider. Jokes apart, you can try checking your internet speed before starting the game, and see if you’re able to play online videos without buffering. That should most likely ensure you are connected throughout the game.

We hope this article helped you identify the potential problems in your game. Rest assured, losing isn’t forever in a game of skills like rummy. It is also a good idea to revise some tips and tricks that can help you better your game.

If you think you got the basics right, then try this Rummy Skill Test on rules page