Royal rummy rules

Royal rummy rules

Royal rummy is also known as Michigan rummy. This is another variation of the popular game and has a similar objective and concept. The game is played in three stages, the first being to collect the relevant stakes, second is similar to poker and the third similar to Boodle or Michigan.

How to play royal rummy

The game usually consists of 4 to 7 players but can also accommodate up to 9 players. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards with the sequence being followed as in the natural order - 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A. In royal rummy chips are used for betting purposes and a board is usually marked out for various stakes. There are nine labels marked on the board, namely - of hearts, king of hearts, queen of hearts, jack of hearts, ten of hearts, king-queen of hearts, 8-9-10, kitty and pot. Players start by placing their chips on the board. In total nine chips are placed, with one being placed in each labeled slot. Some of the slots may already be populated with unclaimed chips from earlier deals. However new chips are added to these slots. Royal rummy commences with each player being dealt cards to form one hand in addition to an extra spare hand. This spare hand does not belong to any particular player.

It may happen that some players have one extra card as compared to others. The dealer has the option to swap his existing hand for the spare one. However one prerequisite of royal rummy is that the dealer isn’t allowed to look at the spare hand before swapping. Therefore this is quite a gamble of sorts. In case the dealer is happy with his current hand, he may auction this spare hand to the highest bidder. The player who bids highest gets to purchase this spare hand in exchange for the required number of chips. The player will pay the dealer the chips and lay his existing hand face-down. Once the spare hand is exchanged or bought, it cannot be exchanged back again. This is an important rule of royal rummy. In all the three stages of the game, the players have to retain the same cards. Thus there is no new deal in the game.

First stage of royal rummy: collecting stakes

As mentioned before, the game comprises three sets. The first set deals with collecting stakes for pay cards. If a player has any of the corresponding cards as mentioned on the labeled slots, he gets to collect all the chips placed in that slot. For example, if the player has a queen of hearts card, he can collect all the chips placed in the same slot of the royal rummy board and so on.

royal rummy

Second stage: Poker

The next stage of royal rummy is similar to a poker game. From their existing hands, each player will select 5 cards each and place the remaining cards aside face-down. The poker bets will then be placed in the slot labeled as ‘pot’. Betting continues until either all except one of the players has folded or else those who have not folded put in equal stakes.

Third stage: Michigan

The last and final stage of royal rummy is similar to Michigan. Players will put back their 5 poker cards back along with the remaining cards of the hand. The winner of the poker stage will begin the third round by placing a face-up card on the table, thus leading the last round. The objective is to discard all cards and winner is one who has no cards left.

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