Any Cribbage players? Any strategies?

Factual Questions
1

Cribbage is my card game of choice. I learned it in college, and have played off and on ever since. I’m trying to improve my game now because I seem to be getting my ass skunked all too often by my wife. Y’know, gotta show her who wears the pants and all…smack Ow!

Seriously, I’m not that good, and I was wondering if anyone had any strategy tips on pegging and playing.

Oh, and for those of you Americans that heard about the origins of Cribbage centering around drunken hillbillies…wrong. It goes way back and is still played for small bets in English pubs: http://www.pagat.com/adders/crib6.html (history and rules)

Thanks-
-Tcat

2

Go on Yahoo and play as many people as you can.

Practice, practice, practice is the best strategy.

3

Sure, and then you’ll slowly see patterns emerging from the games, and you’ll be able to take advantage of them.

For instance, Mrs. Tomcat is watching the reflections in his glasses.

Otherwise, you can go to the American Cribbage Congress website, and check out their cribbage tips:

http://www.cribbage.org/criblibr.htm

4

Okay, just some dumb stuff that probably you’ve already figured out:

In cribbage, there are 16 tens in a 52 card deck, so:

  • Avoid throwing fives or tens to your opponent’s crib. Lean toward throwing fives and tens to your crib.

  • When pegging, don’t lead off with a five, and don’t play a card to make 21.

In general:

  • Pay close attention while pegging–don’t let a run build up in your opponent’s favor. (Remember, it doesn’t have be in numerical order, nor do the cards have to be the same suit.)

  • If you’re close to pegging out, focus on building a good pegging hand, with lots of low value cards. You might peg out before hands or the crib are even counted.

  • Always play muggins. It’ll teach you to be a careful counter, and you might pick up some points. (Friendly game my sweet bippy! This is cribbage!)

5

I partly agree.
Practice, practice, practice is GOOD.
Playing on Yahoo is, I believe, not good. One does not get to see one’s opponent, nor claim muggins as points are automatically counted and pegged.

Straights can be more bountiful than fifteens. Especially straights that are like 4/4/5/6. In that case, a turn of a 2/4/5/6/7/9/10 would ALL help your hand.

Don’t get too hung up on fifteens. There are many other ways to score.

Watch for runs during the play. Use them to your advantage and don’t let them sneak up on you.

And, definitely, play muggins!
On a side note… As an advisor for a youth group, I used to attend a bowling competition that went on every Sunday for months. Only the youth competed, and advisors needed to be present in order to make it “official”.
One of my fellow advisors (a stout, arrogant fellow) said that someone should bring a deck of cards and we could play gin or euchre or cribbage while the youth bowled.
I spoke up…“Cribbage, you say?”
“Yep! You got a board?” he replied.
“Matter of fact, I do.” said I.
“Well, bring it next week and I’LL TEACH YOU A LESSON.” he said boastfully.

Allrighty…

It was six weeks before he won a match.
BTW, I’m in the Cleveland OH area… in case anyone’s up for a game!

6

I agree that Yahoo in no comparison to playing in real life. However, it is better than repeatedly playing the same person. There are some pretty good old coots on there who can teach you a thing or two, as well.

Muggins are essential. My grand-pappy was stealing points from me when I was seven years old. Learned me quick.

Just out of curiosity, how many people does you all know that play crib? I have met two people my age (25-30) that know how to play.

7

In 1992 I was one of seven people in my dorm that founded a cribbage club (at the University of Washington).

We didn’t really have the organizational skills or desires to make it a particularly successful club but we did have a few meetings with maybe 20 people present to play.

8

Gramma always told me “Never break up a run”, Which is almost invariably sound advice - every time I break a run I get screwed on the cut.

The other thing my family tends to do when dealt a junk hand is to toss the 10s and face cards in the crib; no matter how poor your hand the cut card will at least give you a pair (although some monster cribs have occurred around our kitchen tables :stuck_out_tongue: ).

Other than that … practice, practice, practice! Shoot me an email if you want to play some online :slight_smile:

blainer - cribbage seems to be the game of choice up in my neck of the woods (MN); it’s rare to find someone who CAN’T play the game :slight_smile:

9

Play Sailors. The three games of choice on ships (at least in the US Navy) are:
[ul][]Spades[]Acey DuceyCribbage[/ul]

10

If you can, throw a King and nine into the opponents’ crib. Pisses 'em off every time!

11

Just piping up to say I love a game, too. Started out playing my Grandmother in the days of yore when many pubs still kept a crib board or two for the customers.

I also quite like playing fours – spices things up sometimes. It’s also nice to play (in pubs) for the next round of beers. Anyone else do that ?

I find chess is also quite a good pub game as long as the pub’s youe local cos otherwise it can look a little pretentious.

I envy you, Tomcat, if you get tucked into that local Budvar during a game or two. Not a bad drop at all.

12

Fifteen, once, fifteen twice…

I’m not sure if I have any tips beyond the reasonably obvious stuff; like always keep the 7’s and 8’s, try to be a little unpredictable in the cribs, I tend to put pairs into my own cribs if it makes any kind of sense given the other cards… …Nothing spectacular to offfer.

I just feel like saying: “And one for his nob” – no reason, just haven’t said it in a while :slight_smile:

13

My grandfather had a tip that I haven’t seen here, yet; try to be about 25 points from the end (on a standard board that’s 5 points after turning for home) when it’s your deal (I’m not sure exactly how you’re supposed to manage this, maybe peg more aggresively or throw risky cards in the crib if it’ll help your own hand). The idea is that your opponent will only get to count one hand, then you count your hand, and the crib, and you count first on the next deal. That, plus two rounds of pegging, should be just enough to get you to the end from 25 points out.

14

My dad taught me to play after I asked what the game was… I remember reading about it in the Andre the Giant memorial in WWF Magazine when I was around 10. Turns out Andre was quite the cribbage player, and since I’ve always been an Andre fan stares at his Andre beer mug full of caps and pop tabs, that’s how I learned the game.

15

Valkyrie and I are constant players. She learned from her first husband’s Franco-Canadian family (fond memories of drinkin’ beer and eatin’ pickled onions); I learned from Mamma O when I was a lad. As a matter of fact, we first met over an aborted game on Yahoo.

Unfortunately I don’t have any tips to add here, because it seems to me the strategies I think best are getting my ass kicked in a serious manner. But it’s too damn fun to play.

London_Calling, how do you play fours? We’re always up for learning a new card game.

16

I’ve got a little play-against-the-computer cribbage game and I think it has helped me be a better player. (I have to keep my skills honed so I can beat my bro-in-law when I visit the family.) Right now I’m about 100 games and $2800 up on it. (It only keeps track if I play for money, but will it send me a check? No.)

Don’t forget “colors” - you can get 4 to 5 points if you have a full hand of the same suit. Sometimes a really nothing hand suddenly becomes something when you realize you’ve at least got 4 diamonds - and another point if the cut turns up a diamond.

17

Olentzero – I noticed a link to how on that page linked to in the OP but I haven’t followed that – you might want to take a look in case they suggest something else (actually, it looks like a really comprehensive page). Anyway, over here…

We play in pairs (two teams of two so you still have the same number of pegs as you do when you have two players total) and deal five instead of six cards – everyone puts just one card in the crib. In practical terms, that’s the only difference – course, the tactics are different (like helping your partners crib if appropriate) .

Makes a nice change. Have fun ! And a beer.

18

Ah, four-hand cribbage! More of that wacky zany British slang, much like “fifteen once, fifteen twice”… you Limeys crack me up :wink: The set I have here at home (which contains an unopened deck of cards that is older than I am) has setups for games from 2 to 6 players. Apparetnly five-hand cribbage is indeed possible, but hideously complicated.

On the other hand, cribbage solitaire can be fun if you’re hanging out in a bar by yourself and all you have is a deck…

19

If your opponent has only one point to finish then play combinations that will add up to 15, lots of fives, he can’t take the points and it sure pisses him off, it also means you have a good chance to pick up points from him.

When your opponent plays a six, then sure as anything there will be a nine in his hand, a seven means he’ll probably have an eight too. If you have similar be wary about playing them too soon for the same reason, save them for the kill.

20

:wink:

There are Dopers who play cribbage on Yahoo?

I was playing crib – well, in the crib!

Find me. I’m cribbage_patch_kid, usually in the advanced lounges. If your rating is high enough, that is. I don’t give ratings points out to charity. :wink:

But as to the OP – like everybody said, practice. And I’m not sold on Yahoo as being the best place to do that. Play a lot with real cards, if you can.

I think Yahoo’s program is a little goofy. The cards don’t seem to fall the same way as they do with real cards. You will have occasions where you’ll get some really odd hands, twice in a game. Or the same hand, more than once. That just doesn’t happen very often with cards you’re holding.

On Yahoo, you can never turn up a 10 or a face when one would help you, and the odds say that should happen at least once in a while. And for some weird reason, they tend to punish you for throwing the right cards away more often than real cards seems to (i.e., the card causing the worst possible damage based upon your throw-away decision turns up frequently, and the cards your opponent throws away blend perfectly with yours and the turned-up card too often).

Anyway, my tips (which may reiterate some of others):

  • Avoid throwing 8s, 7s and 5s into your opponent’s crib. Unless I have a double-digit hand, I will break up my own points before throwing the other guy an 8 and a 7. Too potentially damaging. But that’s just me.

I’m not as big an advocate of avoiding throwing 10s into the other guy’s crib as some seem to be here. But try to avoid throwing cards in sequence to one another, creating potential runs.

  • If you’re leading in pegging, throw junk cards to start - like a 2, 3, 4, 6, 9. Avoid leading 10s, 5s, 8s, 7s. Avoid making the score 5 or 21.

One trick I frequently use is to lead something I have paired in my hand. If they double it, you triple it for six points. And the laws of averages say they won’t have the fourth. (But it can happen.)

Ditto if you’re in a situation where you bait your opponent into creating a run of three, if you know you can make a run of four before the count makes it a go.

Do this enough, and play people enough, and they will know you do it. So they will start avoiding pairing your stuff up, even when it’s the only one you have! And you can get into their head, and make them play their cards in ways they don’t want to.

A noble game, this cribbage. Stick with it!