Although high cards count more, a good player varies the cards they discard in order to make the discards less predictable and give less of a clue to what they are saving. from the king down) will soon teach the opponent to save pairs of high cards in the knowledge that the matching set of a run will soon be discarded. Constantly discarding 'from the top' (i.e. Once again, aces, although they have a low point value, can only form a run with a 2-3 combination, whereas a 7 can be used with a 5-6, 6-8, or 8-9, as well as longer runs. The 7 can be used in more combinations than any other value in the deck. Middle cards are far more strategically important than low cards or face cards as they can be used in far more sets and runs.

This makes establishing a set of aces virtually impossible except by the luck of the draw. For example, although aces are generally desirable cards because of their low point count, taking one ace with only one in hand (called 'speculating') warns the opponent not to discard any others. Generally, a card should not be taken from the discard pile unless it completes a set or run.

Gin rummy discard rules