Conventional Gin.

Analyze your own game to determine whether you rely on too much offense or too much defense.

* If you consistently lose large counts, you should pay more attention to defense.

* If you are losing small amounts consistently, you may need to gear up your offense.

Conventional Gin is a lot of fun, especially if you are not playing for money. However, most players prefer to add to the excitement, and the majority of Gin Rummy games involve sums that vary from a few dollars to thousands of dollars.

I have a friend who plays Conventional Gin with his wife constantly. They keep a running tab on how much is owed. At this point, he owes his wife $6,220.00 (playing at five cents a point). When asked for advice, the best I could offer was for him to continue playing Gin with his wife and avoid country club games.

Conventional Gin is a good way to get started as a beginner. It helps you get the feeling of making melds and understand the thrill of saying, "Gin Rummy."

After a short time, you will begin to get a "feel" for a "hot" card (any card you hold that would probably be used by your opponent). You will also learn to speculate at the right times. Speculating is taking a card from the discard pile, not to make a meld, but rather to provide you a better chance to draw a card that will complete a set. (Read on there's more about this later.)

As you gain experience, which can only be achieved by playing the game, Gin Rummy will become more exciting to you. Actually getting into playing action will teach you more than you can hope to discover from all the books ever written about Gin Rummy. And the people with whom you choose to play can make a decided difference in your Gin Rummy education.

I'll never forget my dear friend Ancel Chepnik who helped me develop into a quality player. Ancel, now deceased, was an excellent Gin Rummy player and I was a novice who had difficulty winning a game.

Fortunately for me, we only played for 1/2 cent a point, which made an average game only $8.00. Unfortunately, most of the Online Casino games were not average and consisted of blitzes (losing without scoring a point). This makes the games much more expensive.

I agreed to play Ancel if he would explain my mistakes as I made them. Before I began to make a turnaround, I had lost almost $1500.00 – that turned out to be an investment that paid dividends in later years as I became a consistent winner.

To learn more and progress faster, sit down with better players. It may cost you some money, but a good education is worth all that you may pay.