Shanghai Rummy Discard Strategy: Which Cards to Keep and Throw Away

Shanghai Rummy discard strategy is the selection of cards to retain or discard according to the requirements of the contract, the probable needs of opposing players, and the value of cards left in hand. Each discard reduces the discarding player's hand and makes a card available to another player. A card of little use to its holder may therefore be of considerable use to an opponent.

The object is to complete the prescribed sets and suit sequences, called melds, and subsequently to go out by disposing of the remaining cards. The pattern required for a player's initial meld is called the contract. Any cards left unmelded in a player's hand at end of play count as penalties.

The following principles concern the seven-round form used here. Rules are subject to local variations, particularly those governing buying, laying off, and the Shanghai call. The usefulness of a card also changes during play; a card retained while the contract is being assembled may become an appropriate discard after the initial meld has been made.

The contract

Before selecting a discard, the player separates completed melds, incomplete combinations, and cards having no immediate place in either. This arrangement indicates what the latest draw has changed. A new card may complete a natural set, release an unmelded joker for another purpose, or permit a different suit sequence.

Card value and usefulness

A high-value card is not necessarily an undesirable card. For example, A♥ completes J♥, Q♥ and K♥ as a four-card sequence at the upper end of the suit. An isolated 3♣ carries a smaller penalty but contributes nothing to that particular requirement. Discarding the ace on account of its value would break the completed sequence.

Cards under consideration

Completed four-card run

• J♥♥
• Q♥♥
• K♥♥
• A♥♥

A♥: 20 penalty points if retained in hand

Isolated card

• 3♣♣

3♣: 5 penalty points if retained in hand

These cards only. They are not a complete hand, and the contract is not shown as complete.

The converse applies to an ace having neither matching aces nor neighbouring cards of its suit. Such a card may warrant less prolonged retention than a lower card that completes a required combination. The first consideration is the card's function in the contract; its penalty value is considered in relation to the likelihood of completing that contract before another player goes out.

Alternative sequences

Incomplete sequences differ in the number of cards that can complete them. For example, 5♣, 6♣ and 7♣ can be extended into a four-card sequence by either 4♣ or 8♣. The combination 5♣, 6♣ and 8♣ instead requires 7♣ to fill its internal gap, unless a permitted joker is used or the arrangement is changed.

Two incomplete sequences compared

Two ways to finish

Held

• 5♣♣
• 6♣♣
• 7♣♣

Either card completes the run

• 4♣
• 8♣

One way to finish

Held

• 5♣♣
• 6♣♣
• 8♣♣

Missing natural card

• 7♣

Availability is unknown. Cards already exposed, or taken by other players, may affect it.

This distinction concerns flexibility rather than certainty.

Combinations outside the contract

A pair may be retained in anticipation of forming a set, but the resulting set is useful to the initial meld only if the contract requires one. Where the contract specifies two runs, a pair of nines, for example, does not fulfil either requirement merely because a third nine can be obtained.

Contract: two runs

Held

• 9♣♣
• 9♦♦

A third nine would form a set

• 9♥

Either nine may still be useful in a run of its own suit.

The two nines may nevertheless have separate uses in sequences of their respective suits. Their retention is then justified by those uses rather than by the matching ranks. Progress towards the required combinations generally takes precedence over the collection of unrelated patterns.

Information from other players

Cards taken from the wastepile, or discard pile, provide information about the combinations another player may be assembling. They indicate that a card was useful at the time it was taken; they do not disclose the player's complete hand.

Ranks and neighbouring cards

A player taking 8♥ may be collecting eights, assembling a heart sequence, or acquiring a card that can be laid off to an exposed meld. Another eight and neighbouring hearts consequently deserve attention when a discard is selected, although they are not necessarily equally useful to that player.

What a pickup indicates

One pickup

Taken from the wastepile

• 8♥♥

Remaining hand

Possible set · possible heart run · possible layoff

Two related pickups

Taken in order

• 8♥♥
• 9♥♥

Remaining hand

Stronger indication of a heart run

Two matching ranks

Taken in order

• 8♥♥
• 8♣♣

Remaining hand

Indication of matching ranks

No inference here is certain. The opponent's remaining cards are unknown.

Taking both 8♥ and 9♥ before laying down suggests an interest in a heart sequence; taking eights of different suits suggests a set. Such observations support a comparison between possible discards but do not establish the contents of an unseen hand.

The next player and buying

The next player has first choice of a discard as the normal draw. If that player declines it, another eligible player may buy it, subject to priority and the number of buys remaining. Buying also requires the buyer to take two cards from the stock.

Two alternative outcomes for one discard

Next player takes the normal draw

From the wastepile

• 7♠♠

No additional cards are taken.

Next player declines; an eligible player buys

From the wastepile

• 7♠♠

From the stock

Subject to priority and remaining buys.

The next player is therefore particularly relevant to the choice of discard, since that player can take the card without accepting the additional stock cards associated with buying. Other players remain relevant, however, because a purchased discard may complete a contract elsewhere at the table.

Earlier discards and duplicate cards

A card previously declined is not permanently safe to discard. A player may decline a king, draw another king on a later turn, and then find a subsequent king useful. A player's own earlier discards are similarly evidence of an earlier position rather than a fixed preference.

A player's needs can change

• 1Declined K♣
• 2Drew another king later (hidden from opponents)
• 3A later K♥ may now be useful

This does not imply that a third king must complete the contract.

Two decks contain two copies of each natural card

Already seen

Copy 1

• 8♥♥

Location unknown

Copy 2

• 8♥

The second card is an explanatory symbol, not a revealed card in anyone's hand.

Exposed melds and laying off

Once the initial contract has been melded, remaining cards may be laid off to suitable melds already on the table. Laying off is permitted immediately after the initial meld as well as on later turns.

Two cards laid off before selecting a discard

Exposed run

• 4♣♣
• 5♣♣
• 6♣♣
• 7♣♣

Initial contract already melded

In hand

• 8♣♣
• 9♣♣

• 1Place 8♣ after the seven
• 2Place 9♣ after the eight

Exposed run after both plays

• 4♣♣
• 5♣♣
• 6♣♣
• 7♣♣
• 8♣♣
• 9♣♣

The ends of sequences, the ranks of sets, and any permitted joker replacements are consequently examined before the turn is ended. Looking only for an unwanted card may overlook a succession of legal plays.

The Shanghai call

A player deliberately discarding a card that fits an exposed meld may call "Shanghai" as the card is discarded. The call prevents the next player taking that card or another player buying it during that turn.

For example, 9♦ fits an exposed diamond sequence ending at 8♦. A player whose own contract remains unmelded cannot ordinarily lay off the nine, but may discard it with the Shanghai call. The call applies because the card fits an exposed meld; it does not confer a general right to prohibit the taking of any discard.

With and without the call

Discarded with the call

Exposed run

• 5♦♦
• 6♦♦
• 7♦♦
• 8♦♦

Wastepile

• 9♦♦

Cannot be taken or bought this turn

Held by a player whose contract is not yet melded. Called “Shanghai” on discarding.

Discarded without the call

Exposed run after another player calls

• 5♦♦
• 6♦♦
• 7♦♦
• 8♦♦
• 9♦♦

Random penalty card to the discarder

Another player calls, adds the nine to the run and passes one card at random.

If the discarding player omits the call, another player may call Shanghai, add the card to the meld, and require the discarding player to draw a random card from the caller's hand.

The stage of play

Discard selection changes as the round progresses. Before the initial meld, the principal consideration is completion of the contract. As other players lay down and their hands diminish, greater weight is given to the penalty associated with unfinished combinations.

A pair or partial sequence requiring several favourable draws is less attractive when little time appears to remain. This does not necessarily justify breaking the player's best prospect of completing the contract. Rather, the prospect is compared with the risk of being left holding all the cards when an opponent goes out.

After the contract has been melded, remaining cards must be disposed of through permitted layoffs or discards. Three matching cards do not entitle the player to begin an unrelated additional set.

A card may be retained in anticipation of a further extension. For example, 10♠ cannot immediately join a sequence ending at 8♠, but becomes playable if 9♠, or a permitted joker representing it, is first added.

A card playable only after an intervening play

Exposed run

• 5♠♠
• 6♠♠
• 7♠♠
• 8♠♠

Required extension

• 9♠

In hand

• 10♠♠

Playable only after the gap is filled

Natural card

Fills the gap

• 9♠♠

Permitted joker

Represents 9♠

• Joker★

Requires the destination run to contain no joker already.

Retaining the ten is not invariably preferable to discarding it.

Penalty values

Where two cards offer little help to the holder and appear similarly useful to opponents, the higher-value card is generally the more appropriate discard. Removing it reduces the penalty if another player goes out before the remaining cards can be played.

A joker requires particular consideration because it combines a high penalty with considerable usefulness to other players. A legal meld or layoff is considered before a discard. Neither its value as a wild card nor its penalty alone determines whether it should be retained.

Examples of discard selection

The following examples assume that cards not specified do not provide a better arrangement. They illustrate the relative importance of the contract, information from opposing players, and the cost of cards left in hand.

Retaining an ace required by the contract

The player requires a set and a run. The set is ready, and J♥, Q♥, K♥ and A♥ form the required run. An isolated 2♣ is also held.

Contract: one set and one run

 

Set ready

Run ready

• J♥♥
• Q♥♥
• K♥♥
• A♥♥

Isolated discard candidate

• 2♣♣

Retaining the two at the expense of the ace would break the combination required to lay down.

Choosing between cards of equal penalty

The player is choosing between K♦ and 9♥. Neither card contributes to the hand or fits an exposed meld. The next player has not yet laid down and has recently taken both 7♥ and 8♥ from the wastepile.

Both candidates carry ten penalty points

Next player's pickups

• 7♥♥
• 8♥♥

Not yet melded

Next player's hand

K♦ — 10 points

Preferred discard on available information

• K♦♦

9♥ — 10 points

May help a heart run

• 9♥♥

This does not establish that the king is safe. It identifies a more specific reason for retaining the nine.

Reducing the penalty of an unplayable hand

After all available plays have been examined, the player holds A♣, K♦, 8♠ and 5♥. None fits an exposed meld, and there is no significant information distinguishing their usefulness to opponents.

Comparing the remaining penalty

Hand

• A♣♣
• K♦♦
• 8♠♠
• 5♥♥

20 · 10 · 10 · 5

Discard A♣

Remaining

• K♦♦
• 8♠♠
• 5♥♥

10 + 10 + 5 = 25 points

Discard 5♥

Remaining

• A♣♣
• K♦♦
• 8♠♠

20 + 10 + 10 = 40 points

Assumes no legal plays remain and no information distinguishes the cards to opponents. The discarded card is outside each total.

In the absence of a stronger reason to retain the ace, discarding it reduces the remaining penalty by 15 points compared with discarding the five. The comparison changes if the ace has a realistic immediate use, or available evidence indicates that it would be particularly useful to an opponent. Penalty value resolves an otherwise similar choice; it does not replace consideration of the hand and the table.

You can practise these judgements against three opponents in the game here. See also the scoring guide and the seven tips.