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Dan Barlow:

I lead the 4 for defense. Like the 2, it's not as likely to be pegged on as the 6 or 9, but unlike the 2 it leaves a wide range from which to choose my next plays. If I'm forced to play the 9 with my second card, I'd rather be left with 2-6 than 4-6. If I'm not playing defense, I'll lead the 6, planning to pair dealer's 9, and hoping he then makes the count 27 or 29.

John Chambers:

I would lead the 9 for offense and the 4 for defense.

By leading the 9, you want your opponent to get rid of their higher cards (tenth cards). If opponent also has small cards left they will fit in with yours and you can gain points with small card runs. On the defensive side, I would lead the 4. In addition to being the toughest low card to defend, it splits up your hand so that you have an out card if your opponent tries to set up a run.

DeLynn Colvert:

Playing defense or offense I usually lead the 4. If dealer has a 9, it will probably come out in response. Then I play my 2, then a likely 31 play after dealer's ten-card comes next.

George Rasmussen:

Playing offense I would lead the 6, pair a 9 if played for 15-2, and I might pick off a small card for a pair to end the pegging sequence. For defensive play I would lead the 4, which puts more pressure on dealer hand than other leads, and splits the 2-4 or 4-6 combination, decreasing dealer chance to score a run. For balanced play, I would lead the 2.

Michael Schell:

This is a tricky pegging hand, and any of the four possible leads could be the best one depending on the situation. For defense I'll lean toward the 4, which I prefer over the 2 since it leave your remaining cards better spaced and makes it easier to get the count between 15 and 20 (though a 2 lead would keep you from getting trapped on a 7 reply). Occasionally something that I call Colvert's exception comes into play. This holds that in desperation defense situations in the endgame, you should lead a low card unless you have a mid-card with only one more loser than the low card, in which case you lead the mid-card. So much for defense.

For garden variety offensive or balanced play, I'll usually go with the 6, looking to pair a 9 reply. If I'm desperate to peg two points in the endgame, then the 2 wins on a 3, 4, 6, 7 or 9 reply, while the 4 wins on a 2, 3, 5, 6 or 9. However if you only consider "safe" replies, then the 2 lead scores on a 6, 7 or 9 reply, whereas the 4 only pegs on a 9, so I'd go with the 2.

Phyllis Schmidt:

Well I'll make this easy and tell you that I'd lead the 4 for all purposes.

Peter Setian:

For offense, I would lead the 6, to simply try to pair a 9 response, or to cash a pair or 31 with the 2 or 4 at the end. For defense, I'd lead the 4 for the simple fact that if the 4 is paired, I can play over 15.

HALSCRIB:

My creator needs all six cards and a starter for me to do any kind of pegging analysis. So the assumption is that the discard was 10-K and that the starter was a Q. With those inputs, I come up with the following:

Lead	Pegging
	Net	(pone/dealer)
2	-1.58	(1.64/3.06)
4	-1.75	(1.18/2.86)
6	-1.88	(1.59/3.28)
9	-1.54	(1.97/3.30)

My card of choice for defense is the 4 and for offense it's the 9. The 9 also edges out the 2 for optimal (balanced) play. The 9 does better than the 6 against 5-x-x-x, the most common dealer hand pattern. Note the trick of dropping the 4 on dealer's ten-card reply, notching the first go.

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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.