Pool Rummy: Learn How To Play and Its Variants

Rummy is a well-celebrated game around the world. With each passing decade, the game introduces a new variant. And among such variants, Pool Rummy is worthy of mention. Pool Rummy is a famous Indian Rummy or 13-card Rummy variant where players need to pay an entry fee to play the game. This entry fee is unalterable. This variation of Rummy is very lengthy. The player who wins the deal gets zero points. The winner’s accumulated points are added to the total score of the other players to decide who has lost the most in that deal. If a player reaches the table’s maximum point limit, he/she gets eliminated. Pool Rummy is fun when more than 4 players participate in the game. But, before you start giving away the entry fee, learn how to play Pool Rummy.

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And to know that, continue reading this article. Also, here you will be learning the different variants of Pool Rummy.

How to play Pool Rummy?

Two to six players can play the game of Pool Rummy. It takes one or two piles of standard cards to play this game. Each deck of cards has two printed jokers and 52 cards. To enter the game, each player needs to pay an entry fee which is called the prize pool.

To start the game, a coin is tossed. Each player gets 13 cards to play with. Based on the toss it is decided who will go first. The first card that a player takes from the standard card deck must be kept in the open pile. This indicates the inauguration of the game. The remaining cards are kept in a face-down position in the closed deck.

Like other variations of Rummy, the goal of this game is also to form sequences and sets. Use the 13 cards to create them as fast as possible. A player needs to form 2 sequences to be declared the winner. Out of the two sequences, he/she must make one pure sequence.

Joker cards are quite significant in a game of Rummy. In Pool Rummy, a random numbered card is selected as the wild card joker. It can be used as a replacement for a card to complete a sequence. Players can use wild card jokers along with original joker cards for that round of Pool Rummy.

In Pool Rummy, players can drop at a given round. Though if you make this decision some penalty points can be added to your final score. The points added to the score depend upon the variants of Pool Rummy that you are playing. For instance, fi you are playing 201 Pool Rummy, then the maximum point limit would be 200. If a player reaches 200 points then he/she will be eliminated from the game.

Variants of Pool Rummy

Pool Rummy has two popular variants: 101 and 201 Pool Rummy. Let’s learn about them separately.

101 Pool Rummy

As the name suggests, in 101 Rummy, players can accumulate 101 points. This is the maximum point limit for all the players. When a player reaches this limit, he/she gets eliminated from the game.

201 Pool Rummy

In this form of Rummy, the maximum point limit for each player is 201. So, when a player reaches 201 points he/she is eliminated.

The penalty points that are added to the players are different in both 101 and 201 Pool Rummy. If a player drops out in the 101 Pool Rummy, 20 points are added as a penalty in the first drop. If a player drops out in the middle, 40 points are added to his/her total score as penalty points. On the other hand, in 201 Pool, 25 points are added as a penalty at the first drop and 50 points are added at the middle drop.

Scoring in Pool Rummy

Like other forms of Rummy, in Pool Rummy also the main goal is to get minimum points. So, if you want to be the winner of Pool Rummy, you must make 0 points. Each player is dealt cards and they get points depending on the cards they have. The pointings of every card are different. The face cards (King, Queen, Ace and Jack) in the standard decks carry 10 points each. Furthermore, the cards having numbers have their face value numbers. For eg: a card number 3 carries 3 points, a card number 8 carries 8 points, etc.

A player gets 80 points if he/she completes the game without meeting the goal of the game. If a player decides to quit the game in the first round or in the middle round, he/she gets points according to the Pool Rummy variant they are playing.

Now that you know the variants and how to play Pool Rummy, consider playing this exciting skill-based game on GetMega. It is an online gaming platform where you can play Rummy games as per your ability and win exciting real money prizes.

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Dan Dunn

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Editor and Admin at MarkMeets since Nov 2012. Columnist, reviewer and entertainment writer and oversees all of the section's news, features and interviews. During his career, he has written for numerous magazines.

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