- Maths reviewed by Josh Miller
- Tested by Diana Westfield
A cribbage hand averages 4.77 points with the starter, and a 29 is the rarest hand you’ll never see. The CasinoCalcs cribbage scoring chart below covers everything that scores in the hand and in play, and the counter above adds up a hand from its parts and tells you how rare it is. We worked the odds out from all 12,994,800 combinations of four cards and a starter. It’s free and printable.
Cribbage scoring chart: the hand and the crib
| Combination | Points |
|---|---|
| Fifteen (any cards adding to 15) | 2 each |
| Pair | 2 |
| Three of a kind (pair royal) | 6 |
| Four of a kind (double pair royal) | 12 |
| Run of 3, 4 or 5 | 1 per card |
| Double run of 3 (e.g. 3-4-4-5) | 8 (runs 6 + pair 2) |
| Double run of 4 | 10 |
| Triple run (e.g. 3-3-3-4-5) | 15 |
| Double double run (e.g. 3-3-4-4-5) | 16 |
| Flush, four cards in hand | 4 (not in the crib) |
| Flush, all five with the starter | 5 |
| His nobs: jack of the starter’s suit | 1 |
In the counter, the runs option counts only the run points. Add the pairs on their own line: a double run of three is 6 for the runs and 2 for the pair. The table above shows the familiar total.
Pegging during play
| Play | Points |
|---|---|
| His heels: dealer turns a jack as the starter | 2 |
| Count reaches 15 | 2 |
| Count reaches 31 | 2 |
| Go, or last card under 31 | 1 |
| Pair / three / four of a kind | 2 / 6 / 12 |
| Run of 3 or more (any order) | 1 per card |
Cribbage odds: how rare is your hand?
| Score | Chance | 1 in |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 7.76% | 13 |
| 2 | 21.65% | 5 |
| 4 | 21.98% | 5 |
| 6 | 13.85% | 7 |
| 8 | 8.75% | 11 |
| 12 | 2.44% | 41 |
| 16 | 0.45% | 223 |
| 20 | 0.06% | 1,611 |
| 24 | 0.03% | 3,531 |
| 28 | 0.0006% | 170,984 |
| 29 | 0.0000% | 3,248,700 |
Even scores dominate because fifteens and pairs both come in twos. Zero turns up 7.8% of the time, more often than 9 or 10. For the full count of a real hand, and the best four cards to keep from six, use the cribbage hand calculator. Keeping score over a game? The card game score sheets work for cribbage too.