Modern American Canasta

Great question. Yes this is typically acceptable in Modern American Canasta because the player is not relying on the top card from the discard pile to meet their opening requirement. For example, if they opened with J2222 and 999 (let’s say two nines in hand and one nine from the pack), this would NOT be allowed because the nine helps meet the point requirement. However, if they had three or more nines in their hand then they can take the pack and tag on the nine from the discard pile to their existing meld. One caveat with all things canasta is that there are different table rules, but this is commonly accepted.