hide answers

Dan Barlow:

If I don't give dealer the 6-9 gift, the most I can get out of this hand is nine points. If I do give dealer the 6-9, I can get fourteen on a 5 cut, twelve on a J cut, ten on a 10, Q or K cut. That's a big enough difference for me to take the risk.

John Chambers:

It's the first hand so I would discard 6-9. Remember, almost 31% of the deck is tenth cards. In most instances I would go for it on the very first hand of the game.

DeLynn Colvert:

I'll keep 5-6-9-10, five cuts off a little percentage of the Q-K discard. I plan to lead the 6.

George Rasmussen:

I would toss 9-K. From this hand 9-K is slightly preferable to Q-K or 10-K because of the hand composition, although the differences are small.

Michael Schell:

At 0-0* I'm -8 to dealer's +8, so absent a clear predilection among my starting six (i.e., an exceptionally strong or exceptionally week hand), I'll aim for cautious offense (balanced) play. 5-10-Q-K keeps the full six points, but gives up 6.3 in my opponent's crib. 9-K and 10-K give up just 4.0 and 3.9 respectively, which makes them seem more appealing, though they leave me with an awkward pegging hand to play defense from as pone. An interesting alternative is to keep 5-6-9-10, tossing Q-K. This is kind of an all-or-nothing toss, which typically leads to either a bust crib or a killer crib, and averages 4.5. But it leaves me with a far more comfortable pegging hand, from which the correct lead is the 9, and it returns about ½ point more on average than 5-6-10-Q or 5-6-9-Q (though a full point less than 5-10-Q-K) due to the run possibilities. I think I'll go with 5-6-9-10.

Phyllis Schmidt:

Let's toss 10-K. Keep four points with more ways for help with the cut.

Peter Setian:

Debating between 10-K and 9-K, I would toss 9-K and keep the hand that has two extra chances for a 9 or 10 point count (a 5 or J cut, as well as the 4 cut) — though tossing 10-K has its merits for the best chance at a zero crib.

HALSCRIB:

My discards are usually determined by adding the expected values of the hand offensive pegging, and subtracting the expected value of the crib, according to board position. Board position at 0-0* is "normal" in that I am not concerned with a skunk or skunk avoidance, and indicates that my discard and pegging strategy be offense. Based on this premise I present my top four:

Keep	Toss		Average  hand:		Opponent's     crib:		Offensive pegging:		Total
5-6-9-10	Q-K		6.87		4.46		1.83		4.24
5-6-9-Q	10-K		6.35		3.71		1.54		4.18
5-6-10-Q	9-K		6.43		3.92		1.87		4.38
5-6-10-K	9-Q		6.17		3.90		1.87		4.14

I will keep 5-6-10-Q.

Note that normally suits matter to me, so in my calculations above I've assumed that there is no flush and that the suits of the 9 and K are the same. This means that I'll keep 5-6-10-Q despite the possible crib flush. If the suits the 9-K were different, then my choice would be better by another 0.05.

Click here for a guide to cribbage notation and symbols.

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.