September 1, 2024

*** This hand was suggested by Gougie00
27*-33  ?
45%
45%
29%
29%
12%
12%
10%
10%
1%
1%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Total votes: 247
Gougie00Face-five, 5-6 or what?
Ras2829

Joined: November 2008 (5406 votes)

Sunday 3:51 AM
Choosing offense at hole 27, the 5-6 fills the bill just barely. Combined values are almost identical whether tossing 5-Q or 5-6. The 5-6 has a very slight edge because the 3 small cards retained have better pegging value and 5-6 has higher average to crib than does 5-Q. After the five cut will exercise a bit of caution on the pegs as n/d needs to reach 2d street CPZ (43-47) for upcoming deal. Take reasonably safe pegs. Don't risk six to take two.
Inushtuk1 says: Hi Ras. I get the feeling from your words, that on defense or optimal you might have chosen (5-Q). Am I on the right track? And if the Q were another X-pointer, would it have made a difference?
Ras2829 says: HiInushtuk1: m not sure about your being "on the right track". Will have to do a bit of scratch work on that. The final question is much easier. Had the X-pointer been a Jack, the value of the 5-J to the crib is much greater than other 5-X combinations. If the Jack had been present, would have played A-A-2-6. The 5-J to own crib averages 7.088 (1,678) and 5-Q averages 6.593 (1,251).
Ras2829 says: Hi Inushtuk1: The dynamics change considerably if opting for defense, not so much about the potential value of the hand, the A-A-2 combination gives up more in pegs than do other choices. It appears that it makes no difference, the edge still goes to discarding 5-6 or 5-X though it is very much a push on defense or optimal. Running a query on Cribbage Prof shows the same with some choices dead even when choosing 5-6 or 5-X discards. The Prof shows that discard should be 5-J or 5-10 if choosing an optimal strategy. Why? Don't know and not much time to learn!! Sorry.
HfxKen says: Hi Ras. My kitchen player wife and I are entering a tourney soon. Any recommendations i.e. Salting the crib, pegging, board position for her. Thx
Eolus619 says: hello..Hfx…i am not Ras..but i do recommend she watch his video cribbage class..she should be able to compete it is 2-3 hours https://vashoncribbage.weebly.com/strategy.html
Eolus619 says: geeez..meant complete it in 2-3 hours ..not compete it
Ras2829 says: Hi HfxKen: Has your wife played in a cribbage club before? A sanctioned ACC tourney can be disastrous experience for somebody if not learning the ropes in a club. Perhaps you are talking about a local tourney of "kitchen players". Am 87 and still learning the game and have played for 83 years. The videos mentioned by Eolus619 were recorded at my age 80. Not much has changed although would have an entire class or two on choice of strategy. Strategy choice, based on board position determines all else (retention, discarding, and pegging).
HfxKen says: Thanks Ras and Eolus. Should have mentioned it is a doubles tourney. Btw, between Ras's videos; Colvert/ Barlow and CHOTD, my winning % has shot up immensely
Inushtuk1 says: Thanks Ras.
JQT

Joined: October 2008 (4347 votes)

Sunday 3:58 AM
This is an awkward position, because while we are Behind and Dealing, Pone needs just Eleven Points (or One Point above average) to reach the Second Street Par Hole 44.

We certainly want to get the 5 Card into our Crib, and this looks to be an obvious decision. Toss (5 6) is every bit as good as Toss (5 Q), but what about the Hands ✋🏻 🤚🏻 we hold as a result?

Keep (A A 2 6) can only reach Eight Points after Eight Cuts (3333, 6666), but Keep (A A 2 Q) can reach Eight Points after Five Cuts (AA, 222), and can also reach a Dozen Points after Four Cuts (3333), so it appears to favor Toss (5 6).

The fact is, Keep (A A 2 6) does surprisingly well with a number of Middle Card Cuts, so it scrambles 🥚 🥓 to 'eke out' an 'ever-so-slightly' higher Expected Average than Keep (A A 2 Q)!

We might also want to at least 'take a peek' at Keep (A A 5 Q) and Toss (2 6), which at first glance looks rather disturbing, the way it butchers the cards and severs the 5-6 duo, but such a Hand could peg very well. But if we're going down this road, we might also wish to review Keep (A A 5 6) and Toss (2 Q).

We are not in an Endgame Pegging Battle, and while our Relative Position does call for action, the best way to 'rein in' our Opponent is to make a "balanced" Dealer Discard decision. The fact is, not only does Toss (5 6) look good, but Toss (5 Q) looks to be almost its equal, and even Toss (A A) might do well.

Let's Toss (5 6) today, and have Nine Chances to obtain Eight Points or more, instead of having just Eight Chances to obtain Eight Points, period.

After the 5 Card Cut, while we now have only Four Points in our Hand, we could have a Monster 👾 Crib!

Wordle 1,170 5/6 (not usually the desired cooking texture)

🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛
🟨🟩🟩⬛🟩
⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Eolus619 says: Well done on your wordle clue today John..not too obvious ..not too obtuse..maybe (? 🤞) you are getting your Irish Duck medicinal consumption in to the proper range as to timing and amount….
JQT says: I enjoy a good Bourbon, like Barrel Proof Elijah Craig, which is released just three times each year, but I've never heard of Irish Duck as a term for any sort of imbibement or liquor, and I was married to Kathleen Helen "Kat" the daughter of Mary Agnes "Molly" McCoy McBreen from (you guessed it) Ireland, yet it's a term I have never heard; I guess I need to get out more often! 🍀 🥃 🦆
Eolus619 says: JQT….you mentioned it in a previous post…i can’t remember the date ..even used the duck icon
Eolus619 says: found it…July 16 2024..your reply to me ..maybe you were joking JQT says: Irish Duck: the new Barrel Proof Whisky Straight Outta Belfast! D.W.A.
JQT says: Step aside, Grey Goose: We're gonna bottle some Duck! Think it will sell?? 🦆🦆🦆
JQT says: Now I remember - My Wordle Clue for "DECOY" Whisky 🥃 Straight Outta Belfast! 💠 D.W.A. (Dux Wit Attitude). My former Mother-in-Law would love it.
HfxKen says: JQT, my wife and I are entering a doubles tourney. She is a kitchen player. Any recommendations for her i.e. Salting the crib, going into runs, board position? ThX
JQT says: For your astute memory, Bruce, here's one of my favorite 👑 🎸 🌞 J.J. Cale songs, "King City": https://youtu.be/tbEojd0xzOA
Eolus619 says: thx John..JJ was quite the troubadour ..and he made his guitar “talk”
Ras2829 says: Hi HfxKen: Doubles is a game in which an individual player has not much control. It's a courageous step for a couple to consider such a partnership. Have seen doubles bring couples closer. Have also seen them split the sheets after a serious drubbing in doubles. If married under ten years, don't chance it. If over 40 years, you'll probably last though a serious drubbing. Well, there is a chance you might win. Could you handle a second honeymoon?
HfxKen says: Lol. Thanks
JQT says: My opinion on "Doubles" might offend a lot of people, but I've really had little actual experience playing it. I tend to "lump" it in with multi-player Cribbage, and I've been at many a regular real-live Cribbage Game Sites that will fill out a nine-game card, and then play a few rounds of Five-Player, or Six-Player Cribbage. Those Multi-Player or "Partners" or "Doubles" variants are sometimes fun, usually very social, but in my (humble?) opinion, these are NOT Cribbage! Other than a very limited pegging themes, all that you learn to play Cribbage well does little to help you in those aforementioned variants. I really don't think they should even be called "Cribbage" as these are entirely different games! I do think that Three-Player, "Cutthroat" Cribbage and especially Captain's Cribbage are great Cribbage variants, and I shall exempt these from my wrath and scorn. (Note that I am using the term "Cutthroat" in old-school fashion, to refer to Three-Player, Five Cards Each, One Card Widow in Crib, not as the way the term lately refers specifically to "Muggins" Cribbage.) Even the "Short" Game of Two-Player, 61-Point Cribbage is a great variant of the "normal" 121-Point "Regular" Cribbage, as it uses most of the same skills. But all of those "N-Player" and "Doubles" Cribbage, in my mind, are not really Cribbage, and one would be hard-pressed to know what to do to "study" for it. I would respond, "How do you 'study' to play Bingo?!" As I said, this will offend some people, but not only do these games have little strategy in common, it is a leap to call it the same game when you introduce a Fifth Player, or a Partner! There might be some adept Doubles Players who insist on a team strategy, e.g., After a 4 Card Lead, it might make sense to play a 5 Card, since even if the other team gets 4-5-6 for (15-5), your partner might have a 7, and you may be holding A-2-3 to "cover" the low end. Thus, two very good Cribbage Peggers can often run circles around two lesser-experienced players. But so much random luck enters these variants, it reduces the importance of skill to be nearly unimportant, again, in my opinion. People DO have a tremendous amount of fun at such games, maybe even more than Bingo; I could be wrong, but I don't consider these variants as something that will ever be rewarded by a lot of study. 🎭
Ras2829 says: Hi JQT: Your point is well taken. If doubles is mentioned in any of the cribbage strategy treatises, it usually takes up one page. Sometimes only a few words. Captains is a very good game especially if you have three folks hanging around. And the game does benefit from a bit of thinking. In earlier times, I did have a very strong doubles partner 25 years ago, and we won quite a few events. Not sure we were playing doubles. We were both very strong players in one-on-one cribbage although think little of what we performed individually could be duplicated in doubles competition. Guess we were both issued BINGO cards and our numbers got called.
dec

Joined: April 2008 (6670 votes)

Sunday 4:23 AM
2-6 is for the economical shop also but today 5-6 goes in the crib with a possibility of 8-12 in the main hand. dec side Q if the discard out is to the crib what technically should our keep hand be called? If there is any. dec
dec says: all I could find is there is the hands and crib. dec
Assman

Joined: May 2024 (261 votes)

Sunday 4:32 AM
I threw the 5-Q to my crib and kept the low peggers.
glmccuskey

Joined: April 2011 (4350 votes)

Sunday 4:32 AM
wasa

Joined: November 2014 (3240 votes)

Sunday 4:39 AM
5-Q and 5-6 both jumped out at me. Figured keeping the 6 gives me a better pegging hand vs keeping the Q.
james500

Joined: June 2013 (4181 votes)

Sunday 5:24 AM
I'm not sure how to handle this one. I'll try 5-6 and see what happens, but I'm very much open to persuasion. Nice puzzle.

Easier than yesterday's, I think.
All Ten #713
10/10
5✅ 2✅ 3✅ 4✅ 1✅ 6✅ 7✅ 10✅ 9✅ 8✅
https://beastacademy.com/all-ten
MiketheExpert

Joined: April 2021 (1275 votes)

Sunday 6:13 AM
We can only keep 2 points in hand, unless we throw the underwhelming (2 6) in our crib, so I'd much rather throw points in the crib and keep (2+2) that way. The (5 6) is a stronger throw than even the (5 Q), and the high card should be better defensively with the remaining low cards as well, so we'll try this throw today. After the 5 cut, hoping for a monster crib, will play defense to the lead.
Eolus619 says: Morning Mike..not arguing ..just a fyi..did some detective work on the values of 5/6 verse 5/Q…interesting how the discard values differ between the three “ go to” dealer discard tables displayed in cribbage forum ..2 of 3 say Q/5 is higher ..its a close call between the three though ..it will be interesting to see what Hal says about pegging values of the two keeps http://www.cribbageforum.com/YourCrib.htm
SallyAnn3

Joined: March 2020 (1103 votes)

Sunday 7:16 AM
No overthinking...love 5/6 to my crib whenever possible
Inushtuk1

Joined: July 2016 (1708 votes)

Sunday 7:18 AM
I kept it this way for the Magic
Eleven as a quick decision. But there's probably much more to it.
hecklebush

Joined: February 2022 (302 votes)

Sunday 7:55 AM
I think it took me less than 1/10th of a second to decide to toss the 5Q to my crib. The 5 cut gives me a piddling 4 point hand, but a minimum 6 point crib.
I like to use CribPro for these puzzles, not that it is representative of IRL board play, but it provides a "base line" that is useful for comparison. I will play this out on CribPro with a discard of 5Q and also 5-6.
CripPro Results:
5Q discard - 44-44
56 discard - 41-45

Bear in mind that the opponent is dealt a different hand each time you play CribPro, so the itegrity of the comparison is diminished...
RubyTuesday

Joined: January 2019 (1115 votes)

Sunday 8:16 AM
I threw 5 Q to my crib to keep the potential double run but can’t really justify not choosing 5 6 - I just liked the look of my hand better with a 6 than a Q (didn’t think about 11s).
MarktheShark

Joined: January 2024 (330 votes)

Sunday 8:38 AM
We are well behind, but have several good choices. I will keep the pegging cards and hope for Pone's help in my crib.
Ras2829 says: The 5-6 is often helped because of frequent discards of 4-X and 7-X. And they attract a 4-4 pair anytime those little cards show up with double run of face or middle cards in n/d mitt.
asevenson

Joined: August 2011 (3136 votes)

Sunday 8:55 AM
Cribsurfer

Joined: September 2016 (877 votes)

Sunday 9:15 AM
I like 5-6 in my crib. Hope to play both Aces consecutively in the pegging.
Gougie00

Joined: March 2008 (6001 votes)

Sunday 10:37 AM
56 for me. Garbage hand that might be an explosive crib.
kal79

Joined: April 2024 (242 votes)

Sunday 10:45 AM
I like 5-6 over 5-Q. Felt like the 6 was dangling too much with A-A-2 as the other three cards. The Q fits better with the low cards (magic 11) and the 5-6 has solid crib potential like the 5-Q does. Would love to see an opponent 4 discard after that cut!
Ras2829 says: Hi kal79: Like your thinking - thanks for sharing your thoughts.
kal79 says: Hi Ras - thank you for the kind words!
Sgt Pegger

Joined: July 2017 (528 votes)

Sunday 2:10 PM
I'm with the crowd today.