How to Play Rummy Online: Step By Step Guide for Beginners
Many players have played Rummy card games. Perhaps you did too, in childhood or teenage years before the internet replaced table and card game evenings.
Rummy games are often modified but the goal is similar in all of them. You match cards to get rid of them. You win if you get rid of all your cards before the other players do.
When you play Rummy at online Casinos, you don’t play against other players. Thus, the rules change a bit.
How to play Rummy online then? This article will have you covered.
How to Play Rummy at Online Casinos
The most popular Rummy game online is the Three Card Rummy. You can play the game both for free (here) and for real money (here).
The gameplay of the Three Card Rummy resembles Casino Poker games:
- You place your ante bet
- You get your three-card hand
- You decide whether to raise or fold
- You see the dealer’s hand and whether you win or lose
Of course, the devil is in the details. So let's get to it.
The Ante Bet
First, your ante bet.
It’s a compulsory bet to make in order to join the game of Three Card Poker.
No ante bet = no cards for you, pal
The minimum bet is $1 and the maximum bet is $100. You choose what wager suits your bankroll the most.
Your 3-Card Hand
When you place your ante bet, the dealer gives you three cards.
In the classic Rummy, you’d get a lot more cards. And the game would last until one of the players gets rid of all of them by taking new cards and discarding the sets of three matching cards.
Since the Casino play is fast-paced and requires wagers every step along the way, the rules are modified to suit just that.
You get three cards and you have the highest chances to win if they are matching. But let’s be honest, that won’t happen most of the time.
So, instead of looking only if your or dealer’s cards are matching, the points are assigned to your hand. Much like Blackjack.
| Cards | Hand Value |
|---|---|
| 2 to 10 | Their face value |
| Jack, Queen, King | 10 points |
| Aces | 1 point |
| Any Pair1 | 0 points |
| Any Triple (Three of a Kind)2 | 0 points |
| 2-card suited Run (Straight)3 | 0 points |
| 3-card suited Run (Straight)4 | 0 points |
1 Pair - two cards of the same face, e.g. 2♣2♠5♠, 4♥Q♣Q♠
2 Triple (Three of a Kind) - three cards of the same face, e.g. 2♣2♠2♥, Q♥Q♣Q♠
3 2-card suited Run (Straight) - two consecutive cards of the same suit, e.g. A♥2♥Q♠, A♥5♠6♠
4 3-card suited Run (Straight) - three consecutive cards of the same suit, e.g. A♥2♥3♥, 4♠5♠6♠
As you can see from the table, the more your cards are matching, the fewer points you have.
And that’s a good thing.
Your end goal is to have fewer points than the dealer.
The Raise Bet
When you see your hand (and its value), you have a sense of whether your hand is strong or weak. In other words, if it can be a winning hand (beat the dealer) or not.
Based on this judgement, you make the following move: raise or fold.
If you raise, you place one more bet. It’s equal to your ante.
For example, if your ante is $1, your raise bet will be $1, too. Thus, your total bet, in this case, is $2.
If you fold, you lose your ante bet and the game ends.
The Finale
If you fold, you still get to see the dealer’s cards.
You know, to get that sense of regret in case you folded when you would have won. Or relief after you see you would have lost and the folding was the right choice.
If the dealer qualifies, you win more
If you raised, though, you yet to see whether you win or lose.
The dealer flips their cards face up and you compare your hands. The one with fewer points wins.
If the dealer qualifies, that is.
Again, like in Poker, the dealer needs to qualify. In Three Card Rummy the dealer qualifies with 20 or less.
The dealer qualifying (or not) affects the outcomes of the game.
| Dealer qualifies | Your hand has fewer points | You win even money on the ante and win raise bet (payout depends on your hand) |
| Dealer qualifies | Your hand has more points | You lose both ante and raise bets |
| Dealer doesn’t qualify | Your hand has fewer points | You win even money on the ante and the raise bet is a push |
| Dealer doesn’t qualify | Your hand has more points | You win even money on the ante and the raise bet is a push |
In case the dealer qualifies and your hands have the same value, both ante and raise bets are a push.
Bonus Bet
There’s one more bet you can make at Rummy games. It’s a bonus bet, thus, an optional one. That’s why I left it for the end.
Make the bonus bet in Three Card Rummy only if you strongly believe you will get a really good hand.
The good hand being anything with 12 points or fewer.
Obviously, you can make it only before you get your first cards, so, along with your ante bet.
The better hand you have, the bigger is the payout for the bonus bet.
For example, in case of suited Run Ax2x3x, you get pay of 100 to 1.
The Payouts of Rummy Games Online
While the ante bet always pays even money (1 to 1), the raise and bonus bets have paytables based on your hand value.
Raise bet paytable:
| Value of Your Hand | Payout |
|---|---|
| 0 points | 4 to 1 |
| 1 to 5 points | 2 to 1 |
| 6 or more points | 1 to 1 |
Bonus bet paytable:
| SuitedAx2x3x | 100 to 1 |
| 0 points | 25 to 1 |
| 1 to 6 points | 2 to 1 |
| 7 to 10 points | 1 to 1 |
| 11 to 12 points | 4 to 1 |
| 13 or more points | Loss |
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