The Aggresive Gin Rummy Player
In Gin rummy, the definition of an aggressive player is one that tends to go for gin every time as opposed to knocking. These players would rather take the chances to have the opportunity to go Gin or have the possibility of under knocking their opponent. The one downfall to a player that is aggressive is that they struggle in situations when they are trailing.
However, there is a time when aggressive play is not only needed but it is imperative. This is based primarily on the condition in which the game is in, including the score and what cards are running. You need to ask yourself if the points available to be won on a hand mean more to you than your opponent, this is when you need to play aggressively. However, if you have a lot more to lose than to gain from staying in the hand, it would be in your best interest to not play as so aggressively. Your goal at this point you should be to prevent your opponent from winning sometimes and this is when it is not a good idea to be aggressive. However, it is important to remember that you will not win consistently by being a completely defensive player.
A strategy that an aggressive player will often use is trying to figure out what their opponent will do and then use a reverse pattern of play. For instance, if you think that your player will throw out higher ranked cards in order to play defensively, you should try to play going for higher combinations because your opponent is throwing these cards away for your use. An aggressive player is also one that is able to spot another aggressive player very early on a game because of their similar nature.
Being aggressive is a very important part of Gin; however the best players know when they should be defensive and are not aggressive all of the time. An completely aggressive player has a definite tendency to lose more than they win, because they are always concerned with their hand and not looking at the big picture of the entire game and not focusing on building their points up slowly and certainly does not pay attention to their opponents play either.