Pick your cards and the calculator counts the hand the way you’d say it at the table: every fifteen, pair and run. Give it the six cards you were dealt and it ranks all 15 ways to lay two away in the crib.
How to use the calculator
Count a hand. Tap four cards for your hand, then the starter, the card cut from the deck. Tap a card again to take it back. Every combination is listed in the order players count them: point at a line, or tap it, to light up its cards, or press Count it out to step through the count. Tick This is the crib to count a crib, which has its own flush rule.
What to throw. Tap the six cards you were dealt and say whose crib it is. The best throw is marked on the felt, with all 15 choices ranked below it.
Your cards are kept in the page address, so Copy link shares the exact hand. It all works from the keyboard too.
How to count a cribbage hand
Every hand is counted with the starter, so you’re always looking at five cards. Count in the same order each time and keep a running total out loud:
- Fifteens: 2 points for each different group of cards that adds up to 15. Aces are 1, and Jacks, Queens and Kings are 10.
- Pairs: 2 for each pair. Three of a kind, a pair royal, is 6, and four of a kind, a double pair royal, is 12.
- Runs: 1 point per card for three or more ranks in a row. Aces are low only, so Q-K-A is not a run. A pair inside a run makes a double run: two runs plus the pair.
- Flush: 4 points when all four hand cards are one suit, or 5 when the starter matches too.
- His nobs: 1 point for the Jack in your hand that matches the starter’s suit.
Take 4♣ 5♦ 5♥ 6♠ with the 9♣ cut. The 6 and 9 make fifteen, 4-5-6 makes fifteen once with each 5, the 5s are a pair, and 4-5-6 is a run twice over. Said aloud: “Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, a pair is eight, a run of three is eleven, and another run of three is fourteen.” Count it in the calculator.
The 29 hand
The best hand in cribbage is 29: three 5s and a Jack in your hand, with the fourth 5 cut as the starter in the same suit as your Jack. Each 5 makes fifteen with the Jack, and any three of the four 5s make fifteen too, so there are eight fifteens for 16. The four 5s are a double pair royal for 12, which brings it to 28, and the Jack matching the starter is his nobs for 29.
It’s rare: in the two-player game, the chance of being dealt six cards that hold it and cutting the right 5 is 1 in 216,580. Hold the wrong Jack, or all four 5s with a ten-card cut, and you have 28. See the 29 counted.
Why there’s no 19
You can’t score exactly 19 with four cards and a starter, so “nineteen” is cribbage slang for a hand worth nothing. The same goes for 25, 26 and 27. We counted all 12,994,800 combinations of four cards and a starter with this calculator, and those four totals never come up, in a hand or a crib.
Points come in linked bundles, like a double run of three that’s worth 8 on its own, so big hands climb in big steps and some totals get skipped. Zeros are common, though: four random cards and a starter score nothing about one time in thirteen.
The crib flush rule
In your hand, four cards of one suit score 4, or 5 if the starter matches. The crib is stricter: a flush only counts when all five cards, the four crib cards and the starter, are one suit, and then it’s 5. Four hearts in the crib with a spade cut score nothing for the flush.
The starter can add to a flush but never make one, so three hearts plus a heart starter is no flush either. That’s the standard rule, as given on pagat.com, and the one the calculator uses for a crib. If your table counts four-card crib flushes as a house rule, add 4 yourself.
How the discard advisor ranks your choices
With six cards there are 15 ways to lay away two. For each one, the advisor works out three numbers:
- Hand: it counts the four cards you keep with each of the 46 cards that could be cut, and averages them.
- Crib: it puts your two cards with every pair your opponent could throw and every starter left, 45,540 deals for each choice, and averages those.
- Net: hand plus crib when it’s your crib, hand minus crib when it’s your opponent’s.
The choices are ranked by net. The crib numbers assume your opponent throws two random cards, while real players keep their best cards and avoid giving you 5s, so treat them as a guide. Pegging isn’t included either: low cards and pairs help in the play, so when two choices are within a few tenths of a point, pick the one that’s better for pegging.
What to throw in the crib
- In your own crib, throw cards that work together: a pair, two cards that make fifteen, like 7-8 or a 5 with a ten-card, or two cards close in rank.
- In your opponent’s crib, throw cards far apart in rank and in different suits. Avoid 5s, pairs and cards that make fifteen. Kings are a safe throw, since the only run they can join is J-Q-K.
- Keep your best four first. The crib only gets two of your cards, so the hand you keep usually matters more than what you throw.
Then try it for real: play Cribbage free against June, or read the complete Cribbage rules.
Cribbage counting FAQ
How do you count points in a cribbage hand?
Use your four cards plus the starter. Score 2 for each group that adds to 15, 2 for each pair, 1 per card for each run of three or more, 4 for a four-card flush (5 if the starter matches), and 1 for the Jack of the starter’s suit. Count them in that order with a running total: “fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six.”
What is the highest possible cribbage hand?
29: three 5s and the Jack in your hand, with the fourth 5 cut as the starter in the Jack’s suit. That’s eight fifteens for 16, a double pair royal for 12, and his nobs for 1.
Why is a zero hand called nineteen?
Because no cribbage hand can score exactly 19, so saying “nineteen” is a joking way to say you have nothing. Totals of 25, 26 and 27 are impossible too.
Does a four-card flush count in the crib?
No. The crib only scores a flush when all four crib cards and the starter are the same suit, for 5 points. In your hand, four cards of one suit score 4.
Should I throw a 5 in the crib?
A 5 does more for a crib than any other card, because sixteen cards are worth 10 and each of them makes fifteen with it. That’s good in your own crib and bad in your opponent’s, so when it isn’t your crib, keep your 5s if you can. The advisor shows the trade-off for your exact cards.
Does a Jack turned up as the starter count as his nobs?
No. A Jack cut as the starter is his heels, worth 2 to the dealer right away. His nobs is a Jack in your hand or crib that matches the starter’s suit, worth 1 in the count.