Gin Rummy

LET ME SEE .....The search for a subject to write each month as my contribution for our web site has always been a brainstorming experience for me ever since I began writing for tunku.org. It has not at all been easy because almost always whenever I start to write, my thoughts keep going back to events and things that I might have dealt with in one of my earlier articles. Hence the reservations that I might be repeating things which could prove very boring to my readers, who I can only assume should be growing by the day, although judging from the very few comments that appear on past articles, there do not seem to be that many after all ! However we do get some odd ones every now and then coming from strangers wanting to know certain information on the family history or personalities they have lost trace of or possible inclusions to our family tree, which makes it all very encouraging that there are people out there reading our web site after all !

The lack of contributors by way of written articles or even suitable photos for tunku.org is another glaring factor when almost all activities that are produced for the readers, have come from six persons only namely Farahat, Aida, Akasyah, Farah and John , Aisya Iman, Ainul, Maisarah and now the latest Izzat , and yours truly, which to say the least is not disappointing because they have helped keep our ship afloat but would have been more inspiring if others of our family could come up to do their bits for our web site. Will this be asking too much of you all out there ? Your contribution, no matter how small by way of article's length or the photos, would be greatly appreciated by the "guardians" of our tunku.org. When it comes to photos, they are welcome because as the saying goes "pictures speak a thousand words". So, let's do it for our website !

These past weeks the gin rummy gang, consisting of die-hards Sabri and Nuruaini, Mahatun and Fadzlinatun, Ainul and I , never fail to meet at least four to five times a week, which by all reckoning in terms of time used, is certainly quite considerable. The sessions will normally begin just before lunch and ends almost always after eleven at night. Our neighbors must be wondering just what we are doing each time when they hear laughter and arguments which sound very serious, accompanied by grunts and shouts and the banging of tables etc. Indeed we are very serious players simply because no one likes losing more especially when loosing repeatedly for days on end. The skill in this game is very much wanting and yet despite all the experiences we all have had since we play this game together some three years ago, none of us can say that he/she has fully mastered the game and in full control to ensure winning every time. Lady Luck still plays the major part of the game.

How often have I experience having seemingly excellent deck cards that lack only one more to make it a gin, when all of a sudden someone calls out "gin" and I am washed out for the grand slam ! Repeated occasion for similar type of excellent deck cards will see me waiting almost to the end waiting for the winning card that never even shows up. Of course there is the unexpected when I almost give up waiting but stubbornly stick to my decks line up in the hope of getting that winning card, when at the point of giving up when all the others have laid down their cards, then out of the blues the winning card shows up, and "bang" it's a gin for me ! Such excitement to me and the disappointment to the rest that their winning hope is dashed, is what makes gin rummy very interesting, stimulating and somewhat addictive. As I mentioned in my past articles, the players most addictive to gin rummy are Sabri and Nuruaini. For Sabri, his missed opportunity to play golf regularly is due to the lack of suitable partner who will turn up for the game instead of making an excuse to postpone or call off the game. As a result he is left totally without anything exciting to while away his time to relax after a hard days work at his clinic in SJMC ( Subang Jaya Medical Centre ). As for Nuruaini she is an obsessive player who must always try to win at no cost. Of course there is no denying , the couple thrills at winnings, just like all of us anyway ! Needless to say, we are all addictive to gin rummy.

Sometimes I wonder just how is it that we could manage to sit at the table for hours on end playing gin, like a couch potato. Little wonder that we all seem to develop our tummy instead of lean muscles ! The occasional breaks that we do have are for lunch, tea and dinner and of course the daily prayers, which of late we all pray together or "jemaah" with Sabri as our Imam .Initially Sabri was pretty nervous as the Imam especially when it comes to the "do'a" at the end of the prayers when he somewhat faulted a bit. But now he is all confident, which is good for him as he recalls, the very first time he became the Imam was at the Ka'abah when I asked him to be the Imam. Since then he gradually build up self confidence.

Here's a typical gin rummy game that we play. We now have a regular, indeed, a permanent score keeper in Mahatun. She keeps very good score keeping although at times I just like to tease or create something to tickle or upset her over her score sheets by accusing her of wrong entries etc. Despite my "aggression" she manages to keep her cool but find her own way to give back something to me whenever I happen to be the loser for the day. We find her the live wire for the sessions with her occasional missed - spelled words or English mistakes and expression. She can be pretty sneaky when it comes to good cards in hand, often putting up expressions as if she is not holding any good cards and then all of a sudden announces it is gin ! The person who shuffles the cards will often have the privilege to start the game. More often than not, it is always Mahatun that does it and hence she begins the game. Now that the cards are dished out, it will take some time before everyone settles down to throw the first unwanted cards. I usually take a long time to sort out my cards and purposely delay it to create a minor upset to the others ! In fact I do these delays quite often throughout the game. It is amazing that this group could tolerate my "nonsense". To that I give them credit for patience. Little wonder they all rejoice each time I end with bad play. Sabri keeps his cool and in fact when he is silent or when he hums unrecognizable tunes, it is usually the sign for good deck in hand and he is about to gin. The more dangerous of our players is N uruaini who is complete silent when she has good decks but makes a lot of fuss when anyone seems to make slight mistakes in card readings or presentations. She is not sympathetic to anybody when it comes to trying to win the game, which often leads Sabri to comment that his wife only cares for herself and bears no sympathy to him in the game. There is no denying that she is a good player and very lucky at the cards. Fadzlinatun is another interesting player to watch. She is cool though excitable at times and she moves fast with her cards. She is always the one that gets the others attention to whenever I over-contemplate my moves. She has good cards luck too at times. Like her mother she is of late our semi-permanent cards shuffler. Ainul on the other hand can create sup rises with her decks although these come far in between. like me, her cards luck is not so good but when it comes to placing active cards on others, she is very sharp in her observations.

Each game lasts for almost fifteen minutes although at times it could even be in just a minute or two when someone says "gin" and catches all of us with a straight flush and double penalty points for all the losers. The most suspenseful game is when towards the end of the night we decide on three royal flush, meaning no opening of cards until a flush is achieved. Nuruiani was the first to initiate this royal flush when we first started the game a long time ago. It all started when she was losing for the night and wanted badly to improve or win the game outright. Hence at the point when she was slightly down in points, she devised the royal flush Strangely though, due to her 'lady luck' with the cards, more often than not, she ends up with the winner for the night. It is on those occasions when she loses several times that she would perhaps 'force' Sabri to get everyone for a session even if it is for just a short game. We have now more or less fine tuned our in house rules on the game and someone is quick to point out if anyone obstruct or break the rules.

What of the other players that occasionally join in with us. There is Katherine the Indian-Eurasian friend of Mahatun who used to play with the group. She is quite good but rather too chirpy at times - the antics of which somewhat upsets us greatly. Syazrina has the winning streaks, like her mother Nuruaini, just as Akasyah too whenever he obliges to join us. Mazuin is an accomplished player and most definitely with the best luck in the game. She seems to have the uncanny way to keep her score low on almost every round of play by counting fast and throwing her cards on the general piles fast. Maisarah seems equally adept at the game too and like her mother, she seems to have very good cards luck. Faiq seems a good player too, although Zali Nichols lacks the luck at it. On the occasional time when Farahat joins in, he is a good player and with good cards luck too. The same goes to Ranthy and Farazil and not to miss out also Yasmin. Of course we cannot ignore the 'professionals' in the like of Dr.Aini, Hindun and Azizah (Aida's mother). Lately when Izzat decided to play a round or two with the group although I happened to be away at the time, Sabri was quick to remark that Izzat should not be invited to play anymore since he appears to be a professional and he wins with ease. In the presence of all these others the group feels dwarfed ! Of course we cannot forget the amateurs in the likes of Jalnah, Sharifah Faridah and her sister Tun Tam, whose rare presence provides breeze for us and thrills at their 'fear' of my occasional confrontations and shouts of despair. The players that we miss a lot are John and Farah who between the two of them provide great funs in the game. In short, gin rummy is really the game for the retirees because it helps to stimulate the brains, the eyes, the ears and most certainly the appetites at meal times. Eating in company as they say is when we find any food interesting and appetizing. Sabri always equate our house to a resort of sorts since we make available for them sufficient food and drinks and corners to relax. For Ainul and I we cannot do without visitors because that is what it has always been with our house wherever we are.

We really do not know how it is going to be during and after Sabri's open heart surgery. Without Sabri around , an absence which we think will be for some time to allow him to fully recover from the operation, our gin rummy will be put on hold, although Sabri says the game will be about the safest for him to play post surgery. To us it is the company that counts and right now , we have such an amicable company that is hard to find in terms of temperament and tolerance for the occasional nonsensical arguments and shouting of sorts. We are going to miss our gin for quite some time soon !

And so, to you out there, why not make your way to our place some time and join in the fun at our gin rummy sessions ! We play for fun and no other stakes except our reputation not to lose all or almost most of the time ! Can we hope to see you soon ?

written by Tunku Farid