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Dan Barlow:

I keep 5-6-7-9. I'd rather toss myself 3-K than 3-9, because more cuts improve it. Plus, keeping the 9 gets me a bonus point if an 8 is cut.

John Chambers:

If I'm the dealer, it's only the beginning of the game, and I'm behind 7-11*, then there's no need for panic. At this point you are about 10 holes from where you should be. Your opponent has this hand to get into position for his three counts. I would keep the most amount of points while at the same time helping the crib and your pegging. I would keep the 5-6-7-K. Why not keep 3-5-6-7 or 5-6-7-9? If you keep 3-5-6-7 it means you are discarding 9-K to your own crib. Not the best crib toss. If you keep 5-6-7-9 you cut down on the flexibility of playing off during the play.

DeLynn Colvert:

5-6-7-9 gives me the best balance between hand and crib in this early situation.

George Rasmussen:

Retain 5-6-7-9 and discard 3-K to the crib. 3-9 to does have a slightly higher average to dealer's crib with 4.085 compared to 3-K at 3.890. And that is less than .2 of a point difference. Offensive pegging values of 5-6-7-9 more than offset this slight difference in crib average. Toss that 3-K!

Michael Schell:

I must have lost the starting cut-for-deal, as it appears my opponent dealt first. I did pretty well holding him to 11 points on the first deal, whittling his starting +8 positional advantage to +3. I'm technically -27, so obviously there's a better chance that his cards will falter than that mine will surge so spectacularly that I can beat him to 44 with aggressive play. So I'm thinking defense here. 3-5-6-7 is out of the question, even if I'd normally countenance tossing myself 9-K. 5-6-7-K seems better on defense than 5-6-7-9, as I can break with the K on a mid-card lead, while still having a 6 or 7 to play on a low card lead. Thus, it 3-9 to the crib for me.

Phyllis Schmidt:

I keep 5-6-7-9 and toss 3-K. Any cut card will help this hand. Sometimes you get lucky with a face card and a small card.

Peter Setian:

I'd keep 5-6-7-K, and throw 3-9 (as opposed to 3-K). With the slow starts, I'm playing defensive (with the possible exception of a 3 or 6 cut). So the K in hand gives an option to stay away from middle card pegging leads.

HALSCRIB:

I'm surprised that none of the humans considered 3-5-7-K. By tossing myself 6-9 I make up almost all the lost hand potential in the crib, so my average points come out about the same as for any option that retains the run. Admittedly, the spread in game winning chances among all the discarding options comes out to be about 1% in my calculations, so it probably doesn't make too much difference. But with pone in marginal position, keeping 3-5-7-K, the best possible defensive hand from the initial six, makes the best sense to me, with little cost in offense.

Maybe you just have to have a silicon brain to think of this play.

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Panelists

Dan Barlow won the 1980 National Open Cribbage Tournament, and made the 1985 All American Cribbage Team. His cribbage strategy articles appeared in Cribbage World for many years, and can be seen on the ACC Web site. He also provides strategy tips at MSN Gaming Zone. He has written seven books on cribbage, two of which have been glowingly reviewed in Games Magazine. All, including his latest book Winning Cribbage Tips, are available at The Cribbage Bookstore.