Often time many amateur as well as seasoned Rummy players do not realize that they have been waiting for a particular card to complete a specific sequence in their hand for a long time. It is important to remember that in a standard rummy game format, there are only two decks, i.e. a total of 108 cards (52 cards + 2 jokers in each deck). Each card, is thus, present in play only twice in the Game.
While waiting for a particular card one has to consider the following possibilities:
- Is the card in the Burnt Cards in the Open Deck?
- Is the card in the hands of the Inactive player who have folded?
- Is any of the opponent player holding the card you desire and composing his sets around it?
The Open deck would get reshuffled and added to the Book only once the book runs out. For most practical purposes, thus, the cards have been burnt. The only rare scenario here is when the game goes into a deadlock, i.e. two or more opponent players are vying the same card and the card is not available with any of the in-play opponents. In such a case, the game might stretch into a deck reshuffle and the burnt cards might become available to the waiting players.
However, in all of the aforementioned scenarios, it is advisable to consider breaking your sets and start building back-up sets once you sense a possible situation of deadlock.
