At this point, each player's hand and the crib will contain exactly four cards.Įxample cribs Two players Player Once the cards have been dealt, each player chooses four cards to retain, discarding the other one or two face-down to form the 'crib' that will be used later by the dealer. During the deal, if any card is exposed by the dealer or found face-up in the deck, cards must be redealt. Cards must be dealt so that each player ends up with four cards after the crib is formed, and the crib should also have four cards. In the case of three players, a single card is dealt face down in front of the dealer to start the crib.

For three or four players, each is dealt five cards. For two players, each is dealt six cards (though some play with five cards dealt to each player and two to the crib). The dealer shuffles, offers the deck to the player on their right to cut (required in tournament play), and deals cards singly to each player, starting with the player on the dealer's left. Note that because the crib (explained below) belongs to the dealer, winning the first deal confers a scoring advantage: if the game ends in an odd number of deals, the first dealer will have received an extra crib, sometimes enough to decide the game. The deal then alternates from hand to hand. If the cutters tie, the cards are re-shuffled and re-cut. The players cut for first deal, with the player cutting the lowest card (the ace counts as one, and is the lowest card) dealing first. The jokers are removed the suits are equal in status. The rules here are based on those of the American Cribbage Congress and apply to two-, three- or four-player games, with details of variations being listed below.Ĭribbage uses a standard 52-card deck of cards. ( August 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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People playing cribbage