What is laying off in gin rummy?

Laying off is the defender's chance to fight back after a knock, trimming deadwood by piggybacking on the knocker's own melds.

Quick answer: Laying off is what the defender does after an opponent knocks: you add your unmatched cards onto the knocker's melds to reduce your own deadwood. If they have a run of 5-6-7, you can lay off a 4 or an 8 of that suit. You can't lay off at all when the knocker has gone gin.

How laying off works

Once your opponent knocks and shows their melds, you reveal your hand and can extend those melds with your unmatched cards. A knocker's run of 5-6-7 hearts accepts your 4 or 8 of hearts; their set of three 9s accepts your fourth 9. Every card you lay off leaves your deadwood.

Why it matters

Laying off can rescue a hand. Shaving a few points off your deadwood might swing the score from a loss into an undercut - if laying off drops your total to or below the knocker's, you steal the hand plus a 25 bonus. It's the reason a knocker with borderline deadwood is never quite safe.

The gin exception

There's one big limit: you cannot lay off when your opponent goes gin. Because a gin hand has zero deadwood and all cards melded, the rules block lay-offs entirely - which is part of why gin scores so well. Against a normal knock, though, always look for lay-offs first.

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Related questions

What does it mean to knock in gin rummy?

Knocking ends the hand. You may knock the moment your unmatched cards - your deadwood - total ten points or fewer. You lay down your melds and your deadwood, your opponent lays off what they can, and the player with the lower deadwood scores the difference. Knock too greedily and you risk being undercut.

What is an undercut in gin rummy?

An undercut - also called an underknock - happens when the player who did not knock ends up with deadwood equal to or lower than the knocker's. Instead of the knocker scoring, the defender scores the difference plus a 25-point bonus. It's the penalty for knocking when your opponent was just as low.

What is going gin?

Going gin means arranging all ten of your cards into melds so you have zero deadwood. It's the best way to end a hand: you score a 25-point bonus plus your opponent's entire deadwood total, and because you have no unmatched cards, they can't lay off anything onto your melds.