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Dan Barlow:

I would toss 7-8. I don't consider it a better toss to my crib than 5-J, but the 4 could work with the 5, while the 2-4 doesn't look good with 7-8.

John Chambers:

You have two choices. You can discard the 2-4 or the 4-J. With the 2-4 discard there are 38 cards which will give you at least four points. There are 11 cards which will give you at least six points, and there are five cards which will give your hand at least eight points. With the 4-J discard there are 12 cards which will give your hand at least six points. There are five cards which will give your hand at least eight points and two cards which will give your hand 10 points. The 2-4 discard gives your hand 16 cards for at least six points. The 4-J gives your hand 19 cards for at least six points. including two cards which will give your hand 10 points. In general you would discard the 4-J, but in a critical situation you may want to think twice about that discard.

DeLynn Colvert:

The 5-J, keeping the magic eleven (4-7) to do wonders in the pegging.

George Rasmussen:

If you had asked me in 2004, I would have responded very quickly with 5-J. But I noticed that folks from mid-Canada and the American Midwest toss 7-8 from this hand, while most folks in the West toss the 5-x from this hand. I became curious as to why this might have some geographical dimensions. Well, since then I have done a few hundred simulations of 2-4-5-7-8-J and discovered on 100 deals, the 7-8 yields nearly 30 points more. In recent years I have played the hand as 2-4-5-J and tossed 7-8 to my own crib. It's true that the difference is hardly noticeable on a single hand. If you've been tossing 5-x from this hand, try the 7-8. You'll grow to like it over time and gain nearly .3 of a point per occurrence.

Michael Schell:

Generally, with a 2/2/2 lo/mid/hi hand such as this, you're best off tossing yourself the mid-cards (assuming, of course, that you're not breaking up runs or other scores in the process). That would argue for tossing 7-8, and as you can see from the bot's response, the numbers bear this out.

Phyllis Schmidt:

There are not a log of points to choose from here, but based on my experience, as dealer I would throw 5-J to the crib.

Peter Setian:

I would generally toss 5-J and keep the more defensive pegging hand. Exception: "My back is against the wall" where I must plan on a 6 cut for better than average hands.

HALSCRIB:

I'm paid to deal in specifics, so what's with this "in general" business? In a real game it would depend on whether I'm playing defense or offense. Oh well, there are two main choices, but I'll show you my evaluation of all four possibilities:

Keep	Toss		Average  hand:		Own      crib:		Pegging
							Net	(pone/dealer)
2-4-5-J	7-8		5.13		6.55		1.63	(1.43/3.07)
2-4-7-8	5-J		4.65		6.93		1.48	(1.28/2.76)
2-5-7-8	4-J		6.96		3.75		1.65	(1.43/3.09)
5-7-8-J	2-4		6.74		4.39		1.35	(1.57/2.91)

My "general" choice is to toss 7-8 because it is superior two times out of three.

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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.

John Chambers was one of the original founding members of the ACC. He is a Grand Master, winner of seven major tournaments, and author of Cribbage: A New Concept, He also directs three annual tournaments: the Ocean State Cribbage Classic, New England Peer Championship and Charity Cribbage Challenge.

DeLynn Colvert (1931–2019) is the highest rated tournament player in the history of organized cribbage. He was a five-time National Champion, author of Play Winning Cribbage, and the ACC's only Life Master - Six Stars. He directs the Montana Championship and Montana Open, both held annually in Missoula, and served for many years as President of the ACC and longtime editor of the monthly magazine Cribbage World.

George "Ras" Rasmussen is a Life Master - Two Stars, a four-time All-American, the national Grass Roots Division 1 champion in 2009, a former state champion in Virginia, Montana and Washington, and holds a Gold Award and a President's Award. He also directs the Washington State Championship, held each year in Centralia, WA. His articles on cribbage are available on the ACC Web site.

Michael Schell is a pioneer of modern cribbage theory, which synthesizes traditional concepts of expert play with new computer-informed insights and analysis. He has published Cribbage Forum since 2000. Schell holds a Bronze Award, is a Washington State Champion (2001), and was one of the principal architects of ACC Internet Cribbage.

Phyllis Schmidt is a charter member of the ACC, and has been playing cribbage for about 40 years. She is a Life Master - One Star, a Senior Judge, a National Champion (1992) and winner of the ACC Tournament of Champions (2005). She attends about 30 tournaments a year.

Peter Setian has played cribbage for over 20 years, and has been a member of the ACC for about 14 years. During that time, he has won seven major tournaments and earned his Life Master rating. He plays in about eight tournaments per year, including the ACC Tournament of Champions and the annual Grand National. He enjoys participation in Grass Roots Club #72.

HALSCRIB is widely regarded as the world's strongest computer cribbage player. Its opinion was solicited using a special analysis version of the program. Since HALSCRIB only speaks binary, its thoughts have been translated into English by Michael Schell and its creator, Hal Mueller, a retired mathematics professor and eight-time ACC tournament winner. For more information, see the HALSCRIB home page.