The advantages of laying down melds must be balanced against the possible drawbacks of showing their hands too soon. Before laying down their melds, players should think about how many points they have left and how close they are to big top slotswinning. Timing is everything when it comes to melding. It might be prudent to wait to meld until a player is confident they can go out or efficiently reduce points if they have a large number of points remaining in their hand but are almost done with their melds. Melding can also be used strategically to deceive opponents about the makeup of one's hand; by exposing some melds while concealing others, players can cast doubt on the cards they might still require.
