Rummy 500 strategy

Read the pile

Every card in the pile can still be taken, so look at all of it, not just the top. A card you need three places down may be worth taking with the two above it — but every card that comes with it is points against you if someone else goes out.

Two or three passengers for a card you can use is usually fine. Eleven is rarely worth it unless you can meld most of them.

Discard with the pile in mind

A card you throw is not gone: it sits in the pile for everyone, and any player who can use it can take it later along with everything above. Throw cards that fit nobody's melds, and remember what the others have laid down.

A card that would extend an opponent's run is a card that scores for them.

Lay off on everybody

A card laid onto any meld scores for you, wherever the meld is. Every turn, check whether something in your hand fits the end of someone else's run or completes their set.

It also empties your hand, which is the other half of the score.

Be careful with aces

An ace is 15 points: the best card to lay down and the worst to be caught with. If you cannot see a meld for it soon, it may be cheaper to throw it than to hold it.

Court cards are 10 each, so a hand caught with three of them costs thirty.

Choose when to go out

Going out ends the hand for everyone, and they lose what they hold. If you are ahead and the others are holding a lot, go out as soon as you can.

If you are behind and the pile is full of cards you can use, it can pay to play one more round and lay down more before the hand ends.