Hand and Foot Strategy: 9 Tips for Bigger Scores

With 270 cards in play, Hand and Foot is a game of big swings. One good pickup of the discard pile or one well-timed trip into your foot can be worth more than a whole round of careful play. These tips are habits experienced players lean on. They assume you know the basics; if not, start with the Hand and Foot rules.

1. Think in Books, Not Just Melds

A book is worth 300 or 500 points before you even count the cards in it. Three loose melds of three cards each are worth far less than one finished book, and you can't go out at all until your team has a clean book and a dirty one. When you decide where to put a card, ask: "Which pile does this get closer to seven?"

A good rule of thumb is to focus on two or three ranks at a time. Spread your cards across too many small piles and none of them finish.

2. Keep Your Clean Books Clean

The difference between a clean and a dirty book is 200 points. Once a wild card goes on a pile, that pile can only ever be dirty. So before you drop a 2 or a joker onto a pile of five natural cards, ask whether a natural card might turn up in the next turn or two. With five decks, there are twenty of every rank, so the odds are often better than they feel.

The flip side: pick one pile to be your team's "dirty" book and pour your wild cards into it. Finishing that book quickly gets you halfway to the requirement for going out.

3. Make the First Meld Count

The first meld of each round has a minimum, and in later rounds (120 and 150 points) it can be hard to reach. Wild cards are your friend here: a joker is worth 50 by itself. But don't empty your hand of wild cards just to get on the table if a natural pair or two more draws would do it. You'll want those wild cards later to finish books.

A big discard pile can also carry you over the line. Since the top card and your pair count toward the minimum, a pickup of three aces (60) plus a small meld from your hand often does it.

4. Pick Up the Pile When It's Worth It

Picking up the discard pile gives you up to seven cards instead of two, and the top card goes straight onto the table. That's a big boost, especially early in a round. Hold pairs of ranks that people are likely to discard, such as middle cards that nobody seems to be collecting.

Late in the round, be more careful. More cards in your hand means more points against you if someone goes out, and if you're already in your foot, a stack of new cards can delay your team's finish.

5. Watch What You Throw Away

Every discard is an offer to the next player. Before you discard, glance at what your opponents have on the table and what they have picked up. Throwing a card that matches an opponent's pile, or a rank you just saw them pass on, is the easiest way to hand them a big pickup.

Safer discards are ranks your opponents have already made into books, ranks they have never shown interest in, and cards that match something the next player has recently discarded.

6. Use Black 3s as a Shield

A discarded black 3 blocks the next player from taking the pile. Save black 3s for the moment it matters most: when the pile has grown large, or when you just had to throw a card you suspect the next player wants. Remember that you can only meld black 3s when going out, so don't hold more than you need near the end of a round.

7. Don't Rush Into Your Foot

It's tempting to dump your hand as fast as possible, but getting into your foot early with nothing on the table leaves you with a fresh 11 cards and few places to play them. A better plan is to build up your team's piles while you're still in your hand, so your foot cards have homes waiting for them.

On the other hand, never forget that a foot you don't reach counts fully against you, and a red 3 inside it costs 500. If the round looks like it will end soon, getting into your foot becomes urgent.

8. Play as a Team

Your partner shares every pile on the table. Add to their melds whenever you can, and pay attention to what they're building. If your partner has six cards in a clean pile of 9s, a natural 9 from you finishes a 500-point book.

When your partner asks to go out, think before you answer. Say yes if your own hand is small or already low in points. Say no if you're holding a lot of points that you could meld next turn, or if you haven't reached your foot yet and it's still hiding cards (and maybe red 3s). A one-turn delay can turn a loss of a hundred points into a gain.

9. Know When to Get Points Down

When an opponent picks up their foot, or the stock is getting low, the round may be close to its end. Every card left in your hand will count against you. This is the time to put down any meld you can, even small ones, and to get rid of high cards like aces and wild cards rather than hold them for a perfect book.

Practice Makes It Easier

Our online game is a good place to sharpen these habits. Press Hint when you're unsure, tap Why? to see what a computer player was thinking, and use Replay This Deal to try the same cards a different way. Hard computer players will punish loose discards, so they make good practice partners.

Many of these ideas carry over to Canasta, Hand and Foot's older relative, where freezing the discard pile adds another layer of strategy. And if your family plays by different rules, our Hand and Foot rule variations explain how each one changes things.