JQT says: I think that Toss (2 6) is superior to Toss (2 Q) here, and I would definitely put Toss (2 Q) into the 'Runner-Up' place today. Therefore, of the top three choices, I would thus allow Toss (6 9) to (perhaps uncomfortably with many other players) slide into third place today. Just as those Three Cousins we know as Toss (3 4), Toss (6 7), and Toss (J Q) are probably the best way to profitably discard "No Points," I similarly believe that Toss (6 9) is perhaps the worst way to discharge or 'dispatch of' Two Points into our Crib. If you train with the Max Kassler Cribbage Solitaire Tool, you learn to love the abundant potential "energy" that is often contained, bound up, and often unleashed when throwing "small" cards as Dealer into the Crib, and so a discard such as Toss (2 6), which interestingly starts off with a Crib Value of only about One Point less than Toss (6 9), can often surprise us beyond our expectations. What do we "give up," and more importantly, what might we gain by such a discard? We start with Zero Points in the Crib after Toss (2 6), so in a way, it cannot get any worse! What we "give up" is really not a whole lot, considering that we are starting with a known 'dud' to begin with! But what we may gain in the Hand from the four-card RUN is that now Sixteen Cuts (5555, 999, TTT, JJJ, QQQ) or 16 DIV 46 equals 0.348 or about 35% of the time, we shall more-than Double our Hand, and boost it to a solid Ten Points. If we Toss (6 9) however and produce just One Point more in the Crib, now we have Seventeen Cuts (3333, 5555, TTT, JJJ, QQQ) that can boost our Hand but only up to Eight or Nine Points, so it seems about equal if we look at everything except the pegging. Here is where it gets very interesting! The harsh reality is that the four high-ranking cards may actually peg better than the hand with the Lone "small" card, as this is a known liability. There are some real quirks in Cribbageville when it comes to the pegging, and this gets expressed in some bizarre ways. For instance, when we hold four cards that all have a high pegging value such as (A 2 3 5), it's sometimes astonishing how poorly a hand such as this can perform during the pegging. And at the other extreme we see that sometimes four high-ranking cards such as (9 T J Q) or even a Double Run of "X" Cards, cards which all have a low pegging value, can often endure surprisingly well during the pegging! And it's not easy to understand and grasp this finicky facet of Cribbage, nor have I seen anyone or any place that teaches this intricacy, for it is very subjective and also difficult to comprehend. I suppose if someone were to author an article on pegging tips or add a chapter to a book and categorize specific Cribbage Hands and show examples of pegging demonstrating this phenomenon, it would become the first article or book to do it.

SallyAnn3 says: I flipped..agree with you today, but not Fetch. Need balance lol

SkyView says: My bad ... I didn't see it was my crib. I probably would have thrown the 9/6 to the crib. Keeping the 2 for counting ... and the straight.

Eolus619 says: upon further review …the three choices so far all have a max potential of 17 ( hand + crib) ..so I predict Ras will consider pegging values to break the tie..I have no idea which of the three will peg best https://cliambrown.com/cribbage/?data=2S6D9CTCJHQDY

Eolus619 says: Mike..from this keep what would be your response to an Ace lead? & would you pair a six lead ? thx

MiketheExpert says: There must be at least one voter who thought they were keeping a flush! (2 9 T Q)?? Actually surprised there are not more, I just about did it again too....I really should make my screen larger, one of these days it is going to happen to me :)

MiketheExpert says: I consider the 2 top votes to be very close, since keeping the 5 pts gives you a better high-end hand potential (10/12 pts) and maybe a better shot to get to hole 50, but I don't like the pegging hold as much...so I will go for the spread of a "modest" point total and better pegging hand, only by a very slight margin.

Fender Bass says: Hmmm...I wonder why my hand didn't appear next to my comment?

Fender Bass says: There we go.

MiketheExpert says: I think it will work better against some leads (certainly against a 7 or 8 lead I would rather have 6-9-10-J), but not against most leads.