Hand and Foot strategy

Hand and Foot Strategy Tips

Hand and Foot rewards patience and teamwork more than luck. These are tips, not rules: habits that experienced players pass along at the kitchen table. Every one of them has exceptions.

The tips assume the common four-player partnership game with 2 clean and 2 dirty books needed to go out. If you need a refresher, read Hand and Foot rules first. Your family may play differently; see Hand and Foot house rules for the common variations.

Getting started

Tip 1: Know your target before you play a card

Hand and Foot is a race to your team's going-out requirement. Before the first turn, be clear how many clean books, dirty books and (if you use them) wild books your team needs. Every decision after that is about getting there faster than the other team.

Tip 2: Plan your opening meld, especially in later rounds

The opening minimum climbs each round, from 50 up to 150. In round one, a couple of small melds will do it. By round four you may need aces, jokers or a wild card or two to get there. Count your points before you commit, and avoid spending all your wild cards just to get down.

Tip 3: Keep natural pairs for the pile

To pick up the discard pile, you normally need two natural cards matching the top card. Pairs are your ticket. Early in a round, think twice before using up a pair in a meld when you could keep it to grab a juicy pile later.

Your hand and your foot

Tip 4: Get into your foot in good time

Your foot is a fresh stack of cards. That is extra material for books, but it is also a risk. If the round ends while your foot is still sitting there, every card in it counts against your team. A foot full of jokers and aces can wipe out a good round. Once the other team looks close to going out, getting into your foot becomes urgent.

Tip 5: Play into your foot when you can

If you can meld every card in your hand, you pick up your foot and keep playing the same turn. If you discard your last card instead, you wait until your next turn to pick it up. Playing into it gains you most of a turn, so it is often worth holding a card or two that you know you can meld.

Tip 6: Save a wild card for the jump

The last couple of cards in your hand can be the hardest to get rid of. A single wild card held back can let you finish a meld and drop into your foot. It is tempting to use every wild as soon as it arrives. Try to keep one in reserve until you are in your foot.

Building books

Tip 7: Protect your clean books

A clean book is worth 500 and a dirty one 300. Once a wild card goes into a meld, it can never come out, and that meld will only ever be dirty. If a meld has five or six natural cards and you can see the rank still coming, hold off on the wild card for a turn or two.

Tip 8: Balance clean and dirty

Count what your team still needs. If you have three dirty books and no clean ones, another dirty book adds points but does not get you closer to going out. Point new wild cards toward the requirement you have not met yet, and steer natural cards toward the books that can still be clean.

Tip 9: Use wild cards before they cost you

Jokers are worth 50 and twos 20, whether they are on the table or stuck in your hand. Melded, they count for you. Left in your hand or foot when the round ends, they count against you. When the other team is getting close, lay down your wild cards rather than saving them for a perfect moment that may not come.

Tip 10: Don't close every book too early

Once you are in your foot, open melds give you somewhere to put cards. If you and your partner complete every meld at seven cards, you can run out of places to play and get stuck holding cards. This matters most when you are in your foot but your partner is not, and you cannot go out yet. Leaving a meld at six for a while can keep your options open.

Discards and the pile

Tip 11: Discard safely

Every discard is a gift to the next player if they hold a matching pair. Some safer choices:

• A card of the same rank the next player just threw away. They probably do not hold a pair of it.
• A rank where many cards are already on the table or in the pile.
• A black three, which stops the next player from taking the pile. Save these for when the pile is big.

Be most careful once the pile reaches seven cards or so. In most games a pickup takes the top seven, so from then on every pickup is as big as it gets. Read more about threes in red threes and black threes.

Tip 12: Take the pile when it builds books

Picking up the top seven cards (or the whole pile, in some families) can jump-start several melds at once. But more cards also means more to get rid of before you can reach your foot or go out. Take the pile when the cards fit your plans, not just because you can. Late in a round, a big pickup can leave you stuck with points in your hand.

Working with your partner

Tip 13: Treat "May I go out?" as a real question

When your partner asks, think about what you are holding. If your hand or foot is full of high cards, saying no and playing one more turn may let you meld them. If the other team is about to go out, or you hold few points, a quick yes is usually right. When you are the one asking, give your partner time to think.

In most families the answer is binding, and only a plain yes or no is allowed. Other table talk about your hand is usually off limits. Agree on this before you play.

A bonus tip: Play to your partner's position

Watch where your partner is. If they are still in their hand, help by building melds they can add to. If they are in their foot and you are not, focus on getting there yourself, because most families require both partners to be in their foot before either can go out.

Quick summary

Want to see how the points add up? Read Hand and Foot scoring. Also play Canasta? Many of the same ideas apply; see our Canasta strategy tips.