I haven’t played Yahoo, but I’ll look for you. I gave up cribbage twenty years ago when my Dad woke me up one morning and double skunked me before breakfast. I’ve played a few times since, though.
I just noticed that the Amer. Crib. Cong. tip site navigation is kinda clumsy. Click on the rotating arrow at the bottom of each page for more cribbage tips.
I just wanted to say that it warms my soul to see that Dopers are such fans of this so obviously noble card game.
I’d just like to put my vote and rah-rah for Cribbage as a great game. If anyone is in the L.A. area and is looking for a game, or knows a non-geriatric group of people who play, please email me (link below this msg.)
Thanks folks! I’ll check out the tip sites and watch my pegging to 21…And yes, I’ll start playing for blood now (muggins).
It’s a great game that I don’t get to play often enough…I should go to a coffee shop with my board (hand-made even! You know how hard it is to drill 241 holes by hand?) and search for traveling players…
I’ll check out Yahoo!, but as a hack magician, I prefer the feel of cards.
Take care-
-Tcat
I’ve played a lot of cribbage in my day, although now typically only on holiday vacations when I’m with my family. Back in the '70s my aunt taught me to play and would demand we play for a nickel a point. I was into her for a couple hundred before I finally mastered the game!
Milo’s tips are good, but if you consistently lead with your pairs, you become predictable. Same with setting up runs. Keep your opponent guessing.
In general, always play as if your opponent is trying to set you up for something… watch what cards she lays, and try and figure out what kind of hand she kept. This is especially useful when you play the same player(s) a lot, and can learn what kinds of hands they like to keep.
And we’ve always played that only the topmost cards can be played on, so that a run of four is not possible in our two person games. (Although we’ve played plenty of three- and four-person games, and have counted double-double runs on pegging in a four person game!)
Unless you’re breaking up a double run with gravy (fifteens), it’s often more desireable to break up a hand than put points in the opponent’s crib.
In general, if you need pegging points, keep your small cards and throw the 9’s and 10’s in his crib - you want a mix of small and middling cards. If you’re skilled at pegging, you can often make more points there than your hand could have, even with an ideal draw.
If you can help it, never keep a hand with cards that all add up to less than fifteen, or a hand with all tens.
Some variations:
Three-player cribbage: The dealer gives each player 5 cards and deals the last card to the crib. Each player puts one card in the crib.
Five-player cribbage: The dealer gives each player 5 cards. The other players put one card in the crib, and the dealer discards one card out of play, unrevealed.
Multiplayer games are very different from twoplayer games! The five card hand makes for poorer hands and forces you to seek your points in pegging. But pegging is very different, too, with 3-, 4-, and 5-person games all having their own character and tactics.
Finally, to make it interesting, we have been known to play “alternative” versions of cribbage, using whatever mild intoxicant we had handy. You earned a small dose upon scoring 15, 31, or last card, or also if you are the dealer and a Jack is drawn. In college the game was “bongage” – but these days we just stick to “beerage.” (And believe me, those are two very different games!)