Middle drop at 40 is the price of leaving before an 80-point count

Leaving a points-rummy deal in the middle is a posted price. On a common sheet a middle drop scores 40 and a lost show, or a full count, scores 80. Houses differ, so confirm the two numbers on the table you are playing. The arithmetic for one deal is simple. Dropping now costs 40 points. Playing on and losing the show costs 80. The drop is cheaper by 40 points on that deal. Those 40 points are the price of leaving. They are not a fee added on top of a later loss. Once you drop, the deal is over for you.

One deal, two scores

The comparison is only fair when the hand is unlikely to become legal. A hand with a pure sequence and a live draw is not the same object as a hand with no pure shape and the key discards already gone. In the second case, staying in order to avoid the look of a drop is a choice to risk 80 instead of paying 40. If you win the show, the 40 you did not pay is irrelevant because you are collecting, not paying. The drop decision is the insurance against the full count, purchased at 40, on a deal you do not expect to win.

Staying means you accept the full count

Write 40 and 80 at the top of a points session after you have seen the house sheet. If the house prints 30 and 80, redo the subtraction with those figures. Pool rummy changes the meaning again, because points accumulate toward elimination, but the one-deal gap is still the right way to price a single middle drop. A first drop, often 20 on the same common sheet, is cheaper still and is only available at the start. Once you are in the middle, 40 against 80 is the trade. Take it when the pure sequence is dead. Decline it when the cards you need are still in the closed deck and you can name them.