The order players count in
Count in the same order every time and you stop missing points: fifteens, pairs, runs, flush, then nobs. The counter lists them that way, and so does the app’s counting sheet. Players say the running total out loud, which is why a hand sounds like “fifteen two, fifteen four, a pair is six”.
- Fifteens. Cards that add up to 15 score 2. Tens, jacks, queens and kings count 10; an ace counts 1. Three cards can make one fifteen, and a card can be in several.
- Pairs. Two of the same rank score 2. Three of a kind is three pairs, 6; four of a kind is six pairs, 12. A 10 and a king are not a pair.
- Runs. Three or more in a row score 1 a card, any suit. A pair inside a run makes two runs: 2 2 3 4 with 9 counts 12. The ace is low: Q K A is not a run.
- Flush. All one suit: 1 a card. Four hand cards of one suit score 4, and 5 when the starter matches. A crib counts a flush only when the starter is the same suit too. So 2 4 8 Q with K is a flush in a hand and nothing in a crib.
- Nobs. The jack of the same suit as the starter scores 1.
How rare is a score?
There are 12,994,800 ways to hold four cards and cut a starter. The game’s engine counts every one of them, which is where the “1 in” number above comes from. The most common score is 4, then 2. Nobody can score 19, 25, 26 or 27, so a hand that scores nothing is called a nineteen: 1,009,008 hands, about one in 13. A 29 happens 4 times in those 12,994,800.
A cut that pairs a card in your hand or makes a fifteen with it is worth checking first: that is where most of the points in a count come from.
Every score, and how often
All 12,994,800, once as a hand and once as a crib, where only a five-card flush counts. The average hand scores 4.77 and the average crib 4.73.
| Score | Hands | Cribs |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1,009,008 | 1,022,208 |
| 1 | 99,792 | 99,792 |
| 2 | 2,813,796 | 2,839,800 |
| 3 | 505,008 | 508,908 |
| 4 | 2,855,676 | 2,868,960 |
| 5 | 697,508 | 703,496 |
| 6 | 1,800,268 | 1,787,176 |
| 7 | 751,324 | 755,320 |
| 8 | 1,137,236 | 1,118,336 |
| 9 | 361,224 | 358,368 |
| 10 | 388,740 | 378,240 |
| 11 | 51,680 | 43,880 |
| 12 | 317,340 | 310,956 |
| 13 | 19,656 | 16,548 |
| 14 | 90,100 | 88,132 |
| Score | Hands | Cribs |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 9,168 | 9,072 |
| 16 | 58,248 | 57,288 |
| 17 | 11,196 | 11,196 |
| 18 | 2,708 | 2,264 |
| 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | 8,068 | 7,828 |
| 21 | 2,496 | 2,472 |
| 22 | 444 | 444 |
| 23 | 356 | 356 |
| 24 | 3,680 | 3,680 |
| 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | 76 | 76 |
| 29 | 4 | 4 |
Why you can trust the count
The number does not come from a table someone typed. The same code that counts hands in the game counts yours here, and a test replays all 12,994,800 hands against the published totals on Wikipedia’s “Cribbage statistics” page before the site goes live. They match line for line.