Tuesday 3:04 AM

I’ll take a chance at bingo cuts of an A or 4 to possibly jump out to a nice lead

Tuesday 3:16 AM

This is referred to as the "Mick Michaelis" hand, named after the Hall of FMe player from Marinette, Wisconsin. Maybe A234 could be held in some end-game situations where you need to peg; otherwise 23 seems to be the ticket.

Tuesday 3:56 AM

remedial cribbage.

Tuesday 3:56 AM

Hey, I’ve learned something on this site over the years! I would have kept a three card run in my more naive days.

Tuesday 4:25 AM

Can't wait for the counters. Been doing this one successfully for years. dec

Tuesday 4:41 AM

2-3 is the standard discard from this sort of hand, but I seem to remember that if one of the X cards is a Jack, it works out slightly better to keep A234.

Tuesday 5:09 AM

If the face cards weren’t 10-J or J-Q, would toss 2-3 in a heartbeat. I like the “touchers” everywhere in this situation. Any cut helps our hand and strong pegging cards could garner a nice run at the end of a pegging sequence.

Tuesday 5:56 AM

On Page 57, Play Winning Cribbage, Colvert specifically discusses the four card run …A-2-3-4. As a general rule, he counsels against holding it ..He does show examples of holding A-2-3 with a lone 9 or F/T when needing 14 points. At 0*-0, I don’t know if this is the 5% of the time his counsel doesn’t apply. The powerful 2-3 is my choice today.

Tuesday 6:15 AM

I was taght early on to get a 5 in the crib, and don't hold A234 (except maybe end game if warranted) becase the most it can turn into is 10.I remembered th "Mick" hand rom mentor Dan, but ended up holding for the run instead. I will stick with Mick or sure now!

Tuesday 6:41 AM

I thought I’d seen almost every cribbage hand there is to offer, but this site never fails to disappoint! I’m guessing this is the type of hand to separate good players from great. My mind immediately went to keeping the run of four, but looks like a lot of you disagree.

For those who threw the 2-3, what’s the benefit? Beyond the fact that experts recommend you throw it 😉

Tuesday 7:02 AM

A suited 2/3 to the crib is really hard to pass up for me.

Keeping the A,2,3,4 at max can only grab a 10-point hand and yes, I do agree that pegging can be fun with this hand.......IF, you are the pone. Since we are the dealer, I cannot understand how we have any "outs" or advantage over the pone with A,2,3,4. In fact it seems to me that we could get trapped with no way out. However, the A,4,X,X will usually give us some sort of control over pegging which we should have anyway over the pone and /or a way out if things get tricky. Besides, a 2/3 will usually work with almost anything the pone and the cut deliver to our crib.

Tuesday 7:10 AM

Objectively wrong but I wanted to hold onto the 4 points plus the two run possibilities. Thinking on it the A4 are clearly better than the 23 for pegging.

Tuesday 7:45 AM

I will look for any ol' excuse to put (2 3) in the crib, especially as first hand dealer. Well, in this case the 3 only leaves my hand at 4, but I am expecting great things in the crib. Defense to the lead.

Tuesday 9:10 AM

The (2-3) for sure on Defense, even if they weren't suited. Looks like 6 or more in the Crib. Defense to the lead.

Tuesday 10:30 AM

Mick Michaelis demonstrated that discarding 2-3 from A-2-3-4-X-X was preferable. From Michael Schell's Cribbage Forum - "Michaelis A-2-3-4: The ploy of discarding 2-3 to your crib from A-2-3-4-x-x in order to maximize your expected average. Named for Mick Michaelis". However, I believe that Ras demonstrated that if the X-x is 10-J or J-Q then it is better to keep the long run. The fact that the 2-3 is suited will only add about 0.03pt. crib flush potential and I think A-2-3-4 will peg better than A-4-10-J. So I'll throw the 10-J.

Tuesday 10:30 AM

At 0*-0 playing a Defense strategy for the pegging the dynamic expected averages and Win/Loss %s are:

_______________Pone's
Defense___Hand_Pegs____Crib_Total____W9 %____W10 %
A-4-10-J___6.74+(-2.00)+6.48=11.22____38.9____52.2
A-2-3-4____8.09+(-2.20)+4.43=10.32____38.7____50.4
2-3-10-J___7.13+(-2.15)+5.25=10.23____36.1____49.8

Defense_______L9 %____L10 %
A-4-10-J_______25.3____22.4
A-2-3-4________27.9____24.6
2-3-10-J_______25.6____24.4

A-4-10-J is best for expected averages by 0.90pt. and is slightly best for Win %s and lowest for Loss %s. So I'll select the 2-3 to discard.

After the 3 cut I'll play Defense to the lead.


If we were to play an Optimal strategy for the pegging:

_______________Net
Optimal___Hand_Pegs_Crib_Total
A-2-3-4____8.09+1.61+4.43=14.13
A-4-10-J___6.74+0.50+6.48=13.72

and if an Offense strategy:

_______________Our
Offense___Hand_Pegs_Crib_Total
A-2-3-4____8.09+3.80+4.43=16.32
A-4-10-J___6.74+2.50+6.48=15.72

I am, however, recommending Defense.

Tuesday 12:34 PM

Choosing defense as dealer of first hand infers peg avoidance. The A-4-10-J allows some wiggle room on the pegging not present with A-2-3-4. Be flexible enough to retain A-2-3-4 as dealer if able to discard 10-J or J-Q when choosing strategies other than defense. Play off the lead and take pegs that appear safe. Likely to have a very good scoring crib with that 2-3 discard and the trey on the deck.

Tuesday 5:31 PM

Ditto

Tuesday 8:34 PM

Yay! I paid attention. I’m learning something. Thanks Ras!