absurdtools

Cribbage Hand Scorer & Counting Trainer

Count any cribbage hand with a full breakdown, and see why 19, 25, 26 and 27 are impossible scores — checked over all 12,994,800 hands.

    Nineteen is not a low score. It is an impossible one.

    Cribbage players call a worthless hand “a nineteen”. It sounds like a joke about a hand so bad it wraps around, but it is arithmetic: no cribbage hand can score 19. Nor 25, 26 or 27. Every other total from 0 to 24, and then 28 and 29, occurs.

    That is folklore, so this page checks it rather than repeating it. Enumerating all 12,994,800 hand-and-starter combinations — every one of the 270,725 four-card hands against each of the 48 possible cut cards — those four scores never appear. Not once.

    The reason is that cribbage scores come in lumps of two. Reaching the high teens means a pile of fifteens and pairs all interacting, and once enough cards interact to make 18 the next rung up is 20. The same crowding at the top leaves 24 and 28 next to each other with nothing in between.

    Every score, and how often it happens

    The mean is 4.7692 points, but the mean is a poor summary of a distribution this lumpy. Notice the sawtooth: every odd score from 1 to 9 is rarer than the even numbers on either side of it, because fifteens and pairs both score 2, and an odd total needs a run, a flush or his nobs to exist at all.

    ScoreHandsShare
    0 1,009,008 7.76%
    1 99,792 0.77%
    2 2,813,796 21.65%
    3 505,008 3.89%
    4 2,855,676 21.98%
    5 697,508 5.37%
    6 1,800,268 13.85%
    7 751,324 5.78%
    8 1,137,236 8.75%
    9 361,224 2.78%
    10 388,740 2.99%
    11 51,680 0.40%
    12 317,340 2.44%
    13 19,656 0.15%
    14 90,100 0.69%
    15 9,168 0.07%
    16 58,248 0.45%
    17 11,196 0.09%
    18 2,708 0.02%
    19 none — impossible
    20 8,068 0.06%
    21 2,496 0.02%
    22 444 0.0034%
    23 356 0.0027%
    24 3,680 0.03%
    25 none — impossible
    26 none — impossible
    27 none — impossible
    28 76 0.0006%
    29 4 0.0000%

    Scores of 2 and 4 alone are 43.6% of all hands, and 7.76% score nothing whatever. At the other end, 29 turns up 4 times in 12,994,800 — once for each suit the jack can be.

    Hands worth knowing

    How the counting works

    • Fifteen — 2 points for every distinct combination of cards adding to 15. Aces are 1, face cards are 10. The combinations overlap freely, which is where big hands come from.
    • Pair — 2 points for every pair of matching ranks. Three of a kind is three pairs (6) and four of a kind is six pairs (12), not 6 and 12 by special rule.
    • Run — 1 point per card in a run of three or more consecutive ranks, multiplied by the number of ways to build it. A double run of three is 8, not 3.
    • Flush — 4 points if all four hand cards match suit, 5 if the starter matches too. In the crib only the five-card flush counts.
    • His nobs — 1 point for a jack in your hand matching the starter’s suit. A jack turned as the starter is “his heels” and scores 2 for the dealer instead, which is a different rule and is not counted here.

    How to use

    1. Set the four cards in your hand and the starter, or deal a random one.
    2. Read the breakdown: every fifteen, pair, run, flush and nobs is listed.
    3. Tick the crib box to apply the stricter four-card flush rule.
    4. Use Quiz me to count first and check yourself against the answer.

    Frequently asked questions

    Why is 19 impossible in cribbage?

    Because cribbage scores come in lumps of two. Reaching the high teens takes a pile of overlapping fifteens and pairs, and once enough cards interact to make 18 the next rung up is 20. Enumerating all 12,994,800 hand-and-starter combinations, 19 never appears once.

    Which cribbage scores are impossible?

    Exactly four of them: 19, 25, 26 and 27. Every other total from 0 to 24 occurs, then 28 and 29. This page derives that list from a full enumeration rather than quoting it, so if the scoring were wrong the gaps would move.

    What is the highest possible cribbage hand?

    Twenty-nine: three fives and a jack in hand, with the fourth five cut as the starter in the jack’s suit. That is 16 for the fifteens, 12 for the four of a kind and 1 for his nobs. It occurs 4 times in 12,994,800 combinations — once per suit.

    What is the average cribbage hand worth?

    The mean is 4.7692 points, but the mean is a poor summary. Scores of 2 and 4 alone account for 43.6% of hands, 7.76% score nothing at all, and every odd score from 1 to 9 is rarer than the even numbers on either side of it.

    Does a four-card flush count in the crib?

    No. In your hand, four matching suits are worth 4 and five are worth 5. In the crib only the five-card flush counts, so the same four cards can be worth 4 points less. Tick the crib box to see the difference on any hand.

    What is his nobs?

    One point for holding a jack in your hand that matches the suit of the starter card. A jack turned as the starter is a different rule — his heels, worth 2 to the dealer — and is not part of counting a hand.

    How do runs score in cribbage?

    One point per card in a run of three or more consecutive ranks, multiplied by the number of ways to build it. A double run of three is 8 points, not 3 — three for each of the two runs, plus two for the pair.

    Why do cribbage players call a zero hand a nineteen?

    Because 19 is a score no hand can have, so calling a worthless hand a nineteen is a way of saying it scored an impossible number. Roughly one hand in thirteen genuinely scores nothing.

    Does this send my hands anywhere?

    No. Everything is counted in your browser and nothing is stored or uploaded.

    🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.