September 3, 2025

*** This hand was suggested by CTB in VT
96*-96  ?
50%
50%
19%
19%
12%
12%
10%
10%
3%
3%
1%
1%
1%
1%
Total votes: 317
Gougie00

Joined: March 2008 (6235 votes)

Wednesday 3:53 AM
AAA stays. Hoping to parlay AAA.
domandcarol

Joined: August 2023 (213 votes)

Wednesday 4:35 AM
Hoping this gives us a good chance to dbl hand with a “10” card cut and the trip As get some nice pegging.
Inushtuk1

Joined: July 2016 (1857 votes)

Wednesday 4:59 AM
I jumped on this right away. But on second thought, how about A-A-4-J(A-2). Maybe parlaying two aces with an X-Card to bump up the count is easier than four small cards three of which are Aces.
Assman

Joined: May 2024 (503 votes)

Wednesday 5:07 AM
Interesting puzzle
james500

Joined: June 2013 (4410 votes)

Wednesday 5:20 AM
Red cards in the crib.

Cribbage Pro Scrimmage
3rd Sep 2025
🏆Score: 121 to 112
🌋SP: 1535
📅Streak: 79
https://www.cribbagepro.net/scrimmage/599/3333658/1

1. 2-3, (5-6?)
2. A-K
3. Q-Q
4. 2-10d
5. Q-5
6. 8-10
7. A-6
8. K-K
Djgoat

Joined: December 2023 (340 votes)

Wednesday 5:33 AM
Djgoat

Joined: December 2023 (340 votes)

Wednesday 5:34 AM
Jazzselke

Joined: March 2009 (2904 votes)

Wednesday 5:45 AM
Eolus619

Joined: June 2020 (1826 votes)

Wednesday 6:06 AM
At 96*-96, the damsel is tied up on the RR tracks..can she be saved? This seems to be the 5% of the time one plays for a favorable cut..A..4…remaining Xs..most valuable ..🤞i can peg for at least three points. %s seem to say I will be short of 111 regardless of keep 🤔
ryman554 says: Why not keep AAA4. Neither the J2 or A2 fill me with joy in the crib, and while the 4 here gives me 12 (and X card 8), the X card gives me 12 as well holding AAA4 Your hold is definitely better for pegging.
Eolus619 says: ryman554… i see your points..this puzzle may be a toss up as to what to keep..either way i would be on offense for pegging ..thx for your insight ..good to have you commenting
MarktheShark says: The AA4J is more flexible for pegging than the AAA4. Unless our opponent kept four X-cards, we are unlikely to score trip Aces.
Annabella says: I agree with this insight. Feeling AAA4, - even tho I choose this- could be more of a pegging trap/ logistics problem, then a bonanza.
ryman554 says: I'm not picking 4AAA for pegging, more for trying to get points at the show. I sense J2 is a slightly better crib, but I could certainly be held back enough by the play to make it the inferior hold.
dec

Joined: April 2008 (6921 votes)

Wednesday 6:09 AM
8,9 and aces for three. dec
TheGrumpyUncle

Joined: June 2025 (80 votes)

Wednesday 6:51 AM
This way seems good
SallyAnn3

Joined: March 2020 (1305 votes)

Wednesday 7:27 AM
Can't put the a/4 in crib, so going for the high probability of a face card cut.
MarktheShark

Joined: January 2024 (567 votes)

Wednesday 7:30 AM
Precarious position. We are at our 96* positional hole, but can we score the hoped for 25 holes to go out next hand? If not, our opponent will go out when we deal again. Do we keep the A-A-A-4 or the A-A-4-J? At the moment, it is 47% to 35% (about 4:3) in favor of pitching the 2-J over the A-2. Both are reasonable peggers. However, after the unfortunate cut of an 8, we are likely playing defense for the rest of this game and hoping the cribbage gods hear our prayers.
BennieO

Joined: August 2025 (18 votes)

Wednesday 8:35 AM
End game situation. Go for broke on attempting the pickup of a 12 point hand with a X cut. No X cut for our scenario, but it did land us an 8 point hand.

Try to score pairs As at the end of the play, (and if we’re really fortunate pone’s gonna have the last A for us to score trips As on the play.)

Cribbage Pro Daily Scrimmage
3rd Sep 2025
🏆Score: 🏆121 to 102
📈SP: 1755
📅Streak: 261
Sgt Pegger

Joined: July 2017 (744 votes)

Wednesday 9:55 AM
Again, I will break from the pack. I do agree with the reasoning behind the A,A,A,4 hold, but 2,J to your crib over the A,2? Not for me.
HalscribCLX

Joined: February 2008 (5763 votes)

Wednesday 9:57 AM
At 96*-96 playing an Offense strategy for the pegging the dynamic expected averages and Win/Loss %s are:

_______________Our
Offense___Hand_Pegs_Crib_Total____W1 %___W2 %
A-A-A-4____8.91+3.30+3.69=15.90____1.4____47.4
A-A-4-J____8.72+3.28+3.80=15.80____1.4____48.5
A-A-A-J____7.72+3.09+4.21=15.02____1.3____42.7

Offense_______L1 %___L2 %
A-A-A-4________0.3____25.3
A-A-4-J________0.5____28.3
A-A-A-J________0.3____26.6

A-A-A-4 is best for expected averages by 0.10pt. but A-A-4-J is slightly best for Win %s. A-A-A-4 is also appreciably lowest for Loss %s so as we're at a critical board position I'll select the 2-J to discard.

After the 8 cut I'll play Offense to the lead.
ryman554 says: Hal, it's the W/L in 3 that's more interesting here. I suspect if we don't W2, we L3.
MarktheShark says: Agreed. I have always suspected, as a retired scientific programmer, that there might be too much static in Hal's calculations for the next hand percentages to be reliable. After that 8 cut, Hal would continue with offense while I would switch to defense. Difficult to imagine which approach is better if Hal is not using a number-crunching engine that can quickly solve real-time situations.