The 29 Hand in Cribbage

What the 29 hand is

After the deal and the discard to the crib, you hold four cards, and a fifth card, the starter, is cut from the deck and shared by every hand and the crib. The 29 hand needs all five of those cards to be exactly right:

• Three 5s in your hand, of any three suits.
• A Jack in your hand of the fourth suit, the one your 5s do not cover.
• The fourth 5 cut as the starter, and it must be the 5 of the Jack's suit.

Any Jack will do as long as the missing 5 matches it. Three 5s plus the J♠ needs the 5♠ cut; three 5s plus the J♥ needs the 5♥. There are four versions of the perfect hand, one for each Jack, and no other combination of five cards reaches 29.

How to score it, point by point

Count it the way you count any hand: fifteens first, then pairs, then runs, flush, and nobs. The order does not change the total, but it stops you missing anything.

Fifteens: 16 points

Every combination of cards totalling 15 scores 2. With four 5s and a Jack (worth 10) there are eight such combinations. Any three of the four 5s add to 15, and there are four ways to pick three from four. The Jack plus any single 5 also makes 15, and there are four 5s to choose. Eight fifteens at 2 points each is 16.

Four of a kind: 12 points

Pairs score 2 each, and four cards of the same rank contain six distinct pairs. Six pairs at 2 points is 12. This is why three of a kind is worth 6 (three pairs) and four of a kind jumps to 12. When CardCouch counts the hand it lists all six pairs of 5s individually.

Nobs: 1 point

"One for his nobs" is scored when the hand holds the Jack of the same suit as the starter card. The Jack is in your hand and the starter is the 5 of its suit, so the point is yours. That single point is the difference between the 28 hand and the perfect 29.

Runs and flush: nothing

Four 5s cannot form a run, and because the 5s cover all four suits there cannot be a flush. 16 + 12 + 1 = 29, and that is everything.

Why 29 and not 30?

It is natural to wonder whether some other hand could squeeze out a 30. It cannot, and the reason is instructive. To get past the low twenties you need four of a kind (12) plus a mass of fifteens. Only the 5 works for this: three 5s make 15 on their own, and a 5 pairs with every ten-count card (10, J, Q, K) for another 15. Four 5s with any ten-count card produces the same eight fifteens and the same four of a kind, for 28.

The only scoring left after that is nobs, worth 1. Nobs requires a Jack in hand whose suit matches the starter, and with the four 5s already using all four suits, the starter must be a 5, so the Jack must be the one card in hand that is not a 5. That gives 29. Nothing else can be added: no run, no flush, no extra pair.

Note the difference if the Jack is the starter instead. Then the dealer pegs 2 for "his heels" at the cut, but the hand of four 5s with a Jack starter is a 28: nobs is only for a Jack held in hand.

How rare is a 29?

The usual figure is about 1 in 216,580 hands. That counts the chance of being dealt three 5s and the right Jack among your six cards, keeping them, and then seeing the one specific 5 cut from the 46 cards remaining. If you play a couple of games a day, with roughly nine hands each, you would expect to wait several decades for one.

The chance is slightly better in the crib than in hand, because the crib receives cards from both players. The crib is counted with the same starter and the same rules, so a crib of three 5s and a Jack with the matching 5 cut scores 29 too.

Many clubs and the American Cribbage Congress keep a register of witnessed 29 hands, and some players carry the card they were holding when it happened. It is that unusual.

The 28 hand and other big hands

The 28 hand is the 29's common cousin: four 5s and a ten-count card, in any arrangement between hand and starter, where nobs does not apply. It comes up roughly once in 15,000 hands, which regular players do see a few times in a lifetime.

Some totals are impossible. No hand can score 19, 25, 26 or 27, which is why "a nineteen hand" is the traditional joke for a hand worth nothing at all. Every other score from 0 to 29 can be made.

Should you ever play for a 29?

Not deliberately. If you are dealt three 5s and a Jack, keeping them is right anyway: even without the miracle cut the hand is worth 14 or more with most starters, and 20 with any ten-count card. Keep the four cards, throw the other two, and let the cut decide. The discard guide covers how to value 5s and ten-cards in ordinary hands, which is where the real points are won.

When you count a big hand on CardCouch, take your time: the count panel lists every fifteen, every pair and nobs separately, so you can check the 29 line by line before the game moves on.