Cribbage Strategy: Counting Fast and Choosing the Right Discard

Updated August 2026

Cribbage has two skills, and most players are much better at one than the other. Counting a hand accurately is mechanical and can be learned in an afternoon. Choosing which two cards to throw is the part that separates players, because the right discard depends entirely on whose crib it is.

Count in a fixed order, every time

Missed points are the most common leak in casual play, and the cure is a routine. Always count in this order and never improvise:

1. Fifteens. Every combination of cards adding to fifteen scores two. Combinations, not just pairs — three or four cards count too.
2. Pairs. Two of a kind is two points. Three of a kind is three pairs, so six. Four of a kind is six pairs, so twelve.
3. Runs. Three or more in sequence, one point per card. A run duplicated by a pair counts twice.
4. Flush. Four in your hand is four; all five with the cut is five. The crib needs all five.
5. His nobs. A jack matching the cut suit is one.

The reason the order matters is that fifteens are the easiest to miss and the most numerous. Count them first, while your attention is fresh, and always by walking the cards in a fixed sequence rather than scanning at random.

Fives are the currency

Every ten-card — ten, jack, queen or king — makes fifteen with a five, and there are sixteen of them in the deck. That makes fives the most valuable cards in cribbage by a wide margin. Keeping a five is almost always right in your own hand, and throwing one into your opponent's crib is almost always wrong. If you remember one discard rule, make it this one.

Discarding into your own crib

The crib is a second hand you will count, so feed it. Good crib throws are cards that combine: a five with anything, two cards adding to fifteen, a pair, or two cards in sequence. Jack-five and five-five are excellent. So is a pair of any rank, since the crib only needs one more to make three of a kind.

Because you will score it, you can afford to break up a decent hand slightly to load the crib. Trading two points in hand for four in crib is a good trade over a game.

Discarding into their crib

Now do the opposite: throw cards that do not work together. Widely separated ranks are safest — a king and a four cannot form a run, a pair, or a fifteen with each other. Avoid throwing fives, avoid throwing two cards that add to fifteen, avoid pairs, and avoid adjacent ranks. An ace or a king thrown alone is usually low risk; a six and a nine together is a gift.

The play matters too

During the pegging phase, leading a four or lower is safer than leading a five, because a five invites a ten-card for fifteen. Try to hold a low card for the end so you can play under thirty-one when the count is high. Watch for the moment when playing a card gives your opponent an easy run, and prefer to break the sequence yourself. Pegging points are small individually but decide close games.

A practical routine

1. Look at your six cards and find your best four-card hand.
2. Check whose crib it is before deciding anything.
3. Your crib: throw cards that combine; keep a five if you can.
4. Their crib: throw disconnected ranks; never a five if avoidable.
5. During play, keep one low card back for the end of the count.
6. Count the hand in the fixed order — fifteens, pairs, runs, flush, nobs.

The counting routine stops you losing points you already earned; the discard rules earn the points that decide the game.