What is the highest possible Cribbage hand?

29: three 5s and the jack in your hand, with the fourth 5 as the starter in the same suit as your jack. It has 8 fifteens for 16, 6 pairs for 12, and his nobs for 1.

Do face cards count as 10 in Cribbage?

Yes. For 15s, jacks, queens and kings count 10, aces count 1, and number cards count their face value.

Can a hand score 19 in Cribbage?

No. No combination of 5 cards scores exactly 19, so players say a hand of 19 to mean a hand worth nothing.

Does the starter card count for a flush?

In your hand, a flush is your 4 cards in 1 suit for 4 points, or 5 if the starter matches. In the crib, only all 5 cards, the 4 crib cards and the starter, count as a flush, for 5.

In what order are Cribbage hands counted?

The player who didn't deal counts first, then the dealer counts their hand, then the dealer counts the crib. The starter is part of every count.

How to count a Cribbage hand, with worked examples

To count a Cribbage hand, add the starter card to your 4 cards and score every combination in this order: 2 points for each different group of cards that adds up to 15, 2 for each pair, 1 per card for each run of 3 or more, 4 for a flush of 4 hand cards in 1 suit (5 if the starter matches), and 1 for his nobs, the jack of the starter's suit. A card can count in more than 1 combination.

Counting is the part of Cribbage that new players find slowest, and the part where points slip away. It gets fast once you always look for combinations in the same order. The scores below follow pagat.com for the 2-player, 6-card game.

What scores in the show?

Your hand plus the starter is 5 cards. Look for each of these, in order:

Combination	Points
Each different group of cards adding to 15	2
Each pair	2 (so three of a kind is 3 pairs, 6; four of a kind is 6 pairs, 12)
Each run of 3 or more in a row	1 per card
Flush: your 4 hand cards in 1 suit	4, or 5 if the starter matches
His nobs: the jack of the starter’s suit, in your hand	1

For 15s, aces count 1 and jacks, queens and kings 10. In runs, aces are low and a king is high: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A isn’t. Suits don’t matter for runs.

A card can be part of several combinations. That’s where most of the points are, and why the examples below look generous.

Example 1: a flush and 2 fifteens (8 points)

Hand: 2♥ 6♥ 9♥ Q♥. Starter: 3♣.

15s. 6 + 9 = 15, and 2 + 3 + Q = 15. That is 2 fifteens: 4.
Pairs. None.
Runs. 2-3 is only 2 cards, so no run.
Flush. All 4 hand cards are hearts: 4. The starter is a club, so not 5.

Total: 8. Counted aloud, it goes: “15 for 2, 15 for 4, and a flush is 8.”

Example 2: a double run with 15s (23 points)

Hand: 4♠ 5♥ 5♣ 6♠. Starter: 5♦.

This hand has three 5s, and that makes nearly everything count 3 times.

15s. 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 once. Then 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 with each of the three 5s: 3 more. That is 4 fifteens: 8.
Pairs. Three 5s make 3 pairs: 6.
Runs. 4-5-6 can be made with each of the three 5s, so it’s 3 separate runs of 3: 9.
Flush and nobs. None.

Total: 23. This is the hand Card Table counts in its Cribbage lesson.

Longer runs don’t count twice

A run inside a longer run doesn’t score on its own. 3-4-5-6 is 1 run of 4 for 4 points, not 2 runs of 3. Runs repeat only when a pair gives you a second way to make them, as the 5s did above.

Example 3: the 29 hand

Hand: 5♣ 5♦ 5♥ J♠. Starter: 5♠.

15s. The jack makes 15 with each of the four 5s (4 ways), and any 3 of the four 5s make 15 (4 more ways). That is 8 fifteens: 16.
Pairs. Four 5s make 6 pairs: 12.
His nobs. Your jack is a spade, the same suit as the starter: 1.

Total: 29, the highest score a Cribbage hand can have, and a very rare one.

Counting the crib

The crib is counted last, by the dealer, the same way as a hand, with 1 difference: a flush counts only when all 5 cards, the 4 crib cards and the starter, are the same suit. A 4-card flush in the crib scores nothing.

Points outside the show

2 more scores happen before anyone counts:

His heels. If the starter is a jack, the dealer pegs 2 straight away.
The play. While cards are laid in turn, you peg for reaching 15 or 31, pairs, runs and the last card. Those points are separate from the show.

The first player to reach 121 wins, even in the middle of the play, so a high count in the show doesn’t help if your opponent pegs out first.

Let the table count with you

In Card Table, every hand and the crib are counted on the table, combination by combination (“15 for 2, 15 for 4, a pair is 6”), and the computer’s hand is always laid out, so you can check its count and yours. The Hint button suggests which 2 cards to put in the crib. If you play Gin Rummy too, it’s the same app.