Take Your Cribbage Game To The Next Level: A Quick Guide to the 26 Theory | Cribbage Strategy
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- A short overview the Theory of 26, and how it can improve your Cribbage success.
Recommended reading:
Play Winning Cribbage (5th ed.) by DeLynn Colvert:
www.amazon.com/dp/0692136185/
The 26 Theory - 6-part series:
www.cribbage.org/NewSite/tips/...
blog.cribbagepro.net/2012/11/... - Hry
I came up with the magic number of 26 independently. I regarded it in sets of 5, events: Peg hand crib peg hand, after which you should expect to score 26 or more points half the time. The basis for this was average pegging of 3, average hand of 8, and average crib of 4, working in round numbers, of course.
I understand how this could extend to the early part of the game if we always had average or nearly average hands and pegging, but it only takes one atypical hand or pegging event to upset this, and atypical events can occur a few times per game. In light of that, I don't give the theory of board position a lot of credence until after 60. Then I start to pay more attention.
I consider cribbage positions in relation to opponent's score and rate as +/- the difference x and either "one to count" or "three to count".
Therefore I view the 95 (= 121-26) hole as critical. I try to achieve 95(or more) and "three to count" for good winning chances.
This is something I'm still trying to get better at. Board position is something I need to work on. Love your stuff!
Excellent video to explain the Theory of 26 to novice players.
Cribbage, luck of the draw, and fiercely manipulative with your cards,make for one of the best 2 man games ever. IMHO.
Brilliant. I hope you keep making more videos. Well explained.
Thanks for the comment and kind words!
Great video. I seen at the 7:02 mark that dealer got to 120 points. I think this could be a rule in my area I live in only. But if you peg 120 you are in the sh*t hole as we call it. And the only way to win is to peg the point to win. Your points in your hand won’t count if the hand is played through and you can’t manage to peg the point.
Great video series. Hopefully more are coming
To put it simply for those that need it, when you have the crib try and score 16 and over total (pegging, show & crib) and try and keep your opponent under 10. When you don't have the crib try and score 10 and over total ( pegging & show) and try and keep your opponent under 16.
Thanks for this video mate. I play Crib with my Dad and he’s a seasoned vet. Gonny remember this info. Cheers mate🤙🍻
Thanks for the video, Mr. Kittridge! Sincerely, Ian Colvert, son of The World's Greatest Cribbage Player. ;)
Wow, thank you so much! 🙏 This video wouldn't be possible without the amazing work your father did, and shared with all of us crib-heads to help make us better players 💯
Awesome video, my dad showed me cribbage last summer and since then I've beat him nearly every game. I think I stumbled into the basic idea of this without realizing it because to me "maximizing play" and making sacrifices when needed went hand in hand as common sense to me when I first looked at the board. I never thought about the board position really but I see that if I'm behind a good amount that I need to limit the dealer points as much as possible and it can be scary throwing away runs and pairs when you're already behind, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but the game, like many others has a large "luck of the deal" aspect and can go any way possible but this theory is something I will definitely keep on the lookout for in the future. Cheers to card games!
Thanks for the comment and kind words!
Its complex and hard to get working but I do agree that with the final position you can win the game from, 10 points back from 121 as non dealer and 16 points back as dealer. If you get there then you have a statistical higher chance to win the game, my experience is either situation will give you probably 10-20% higher chance to win. This is always my goal, to end in either of these positions as a dealer or non dealer and it works for me. Also, and maybe its partially due to this, if you start as the dealer you will end up with at least a 30% higher chance to win. Luck has a lot to do with it but if I start as a dealer or get into that final right position on the last hand at all cost I can win more games than just relying on luck.
This theory is hard to understand on paper thanks for the upload
So how does this alter the way I play my hands? All this shows is key milestones on the way to 121. I always strive to maximize play, crib and hand while minimizing opportunities for my opponent. What is different? Are you saying I should "dumb down" my playing in order to be positioned to count first close to the end? That could backfire? So far this video fails to provide any takeaways to improve Cribbage success.
Thanks for the comment! Like you, I too tend to lean toward the strategy of maximizing points. Positional Strategy would say that relying too much on offense (i.e. maximizing points / expected average) could also backfire because of the risk of being too offensive, and meanwhile, failing to sacrifice points in an effort to slow down the opponent (i.e. from reaching a par hole and having a positional advantage, to count first and win).
To answer your question about how this should alter how you play, Positional Strategy involves "sacrificing points when necessary to keep opponents from moving ahead, and giving points to opponents when necessary to score a few extra points themselves." My video is intended to be an introduction to this concept. There's some excellent info here, for a deeper exploration: blog.cribbagepro.net/2012/11/cribbage-strategy-and-board-position.html and www.cribbage.org/NewSite/tips/colvert10.asp
@@Cribbage_with_J Thank you for the detailed explanation. I still feel that intentionally sacrificing points when you don't even know what cards you or your opponent will be dealt has the potential to backfire. Those point sacrificed might have been the ones to get you to 121. I guess over the course of 1000's of hands you might squeak out a slight edge based on probabilities. Appreciate the reply!!
@@cottydry Actually, you really should buy DeLynn's book. The difference between 'average' cribbage players and superior ones is the understanding of board position. There are several times during matches or tournaments when you will need to 'prevent' your opponent from scoring. Often times this is MORE important than you actually scoring, so yes, you will sacrifice scoring opportunities to stop your opponent. This includes 'killing' their crib, not pairing, not getting into runs, etc. In cribbage, who has the automatic advantage at the start of the game? The dealer or non-dealer? The dealer is, and it is a significant percentage. (5-10%). Your strategy completely changes being dealer vs. pone and you will learn this when you buy the book.
Interesting concepts. I tend to incorporate board strategy more after the final turn
I'm glad you all had this comment chat, cause I was thinking the same - If i just score more, why does position matter? But the way I actually play is defensive sometimes and offensive others without any real theory or intention. This gives some intention to why you might want to pair while pegging as an offense even if it might mean your opponent gets 3 of a kind for 6...or when not to in order to be defensive against the non-dealer.
so what if I am under by one on each ccz?
Speaking as an amateur who has played 400 games of Cribbage With Grandpa:
Skip to 6:00 for the strategy. Everything beforehand is theory that is necessary on the condition that you want to know how the math works.
Is it really necessary to know where the par holes are? If I start off as non-dealer and exceed the par hole, should I turn the game into a defensive game?
Thanks.
Edit: Question added at end
Curious if there is any cribbage software that helps you learn theory of 26 by playing the computer. Something that gives hints when board position is critical so you can better learn playing offense/defense.
Just check out where you both are located on the board. Check out the Colvert book for more information.
Sounds good but it almost goes that way!
We’re both striving at the beginning of the game to either separate ourselves from each other or as the non dealer…limit the separation. Middle of the game strategy is to maximize your 3 hand to 1 hand situations. Obviously at about the 100 ish area you want the 3 hands and obviously the closer you all are to the 121 out, you would rather be the first to count.
It’s certainly not cathartic or revolutionary. It’s sort of like me placing one foot in front of the other, calling it a step and writing a book called theory of walking.
Makes no sense to me.
I'm sorry but this is useless information. You wanna be the dealer...ok that's never a certain thing. Obviously you wanna be counting first if you're less than 10 out...but you can't just make that stuff happen.
Im sorry but it's not rocket science. You just need cards to make the most points. Strategy doesn't count for a lot in this game. Dealer is luck. The up card is luck. and as a consequence the crib points are luck. The only strategy if knowing the cards to discard. And to a very lesser extent, the order in which you play you cards.
I disagree. The more you play cribbage you'll realize there's a tremendous amount of strategy involved. In many games it can come down to the wire and squeaking out a few extra points along the way and being in the position to count first will make all the difference. You're actually strategizing three unique phases. Maximizing your hand /crib, your discard strategy, your play (which can be full of traps). Then there's the strategy of optimizing board position and knowing when to toggle from offense to defense. There's also the strategy of throwing away net points to enhance your own crib potential or kill your opponents crib. The best players are constantly estimating probabilities and knowing if they're running ahead of the curve or behind in board position. Cribbage is a brilliant balance of luck and strategy and you'll never stop learning the nuances of the game. I've been playing cribbage for many years and there's still a huge amount to learn. There's no greater feeling than when the game is down to the wire and your strategy (vs. luck) to get you over the finish line is successful.
Outside of chaselandia, it is viewed as a game of strategy
One bad careless decision with counting to 31 is frequently the losing factor