Everyone always talks about position, and how important it is to be in position. I'm not going to dispute that position is important, but constantly thinking about position can cause so many unnecessary mistakes that wouldn't be made if people weren't thinking about it at all.

The basis of position is sound; you will average 10 points as a pone, and 16 points as the dealer, so you will average 26 points every two deals. Therefore, if you want to be the first one to 121 points, you should also be the first one to 95 points, and the first one to 70 points, and so on. Read more »

With the temperatures dipping into the mid 40s in Central Florida, 38 players started in the main event for the Santa Claus Special cribbage tournament in Kissimmee, Florida over the pre-Chrimstas weekend. This is the 3rd running of the one day tournament, and with the northerners in for the winter, it usually has a good mix of players. This is also the second tournament of the season for tournament directors Ray and Nancy Wanke, who are now running four Central Florida cribbage tournaments this season. Read more »

As many of you who play other card games know, you can pull many tricks and approaches from other card games and apply them to cribbage. Poker seems to lend itself especially well to other games, and cribbage is no exception. There's a concept in poker called "Levels of Thinking." It has to do with how deeply you are analysing the situation. There are generally three accepted levels of thinking; let's look through each of them. Read more »

I had a hand recently come up at Grass Roots club last week (shameless plug: Thursday nights in Lake Worth, we're always looking for new members!) that reminded me the importance of always considering every option available, even when the cards seem obvious.

It was early on in the game, I had the deal and was ahead 50-44. I was dealt a beauty of a hand, 2-4-6-7-J-Q rainbow. My opponent discarded quick, so either he had a nice hand, or he was throwing me garbage, so I tossed the Q-J in hopes to cut to 8 in the crib. Fortunately, I cut a deuce, and my 2 point hand went to 8. Read more »

As someone who's played poker on a somewhat serious level, I'm always interested in seeing the parallels between poker and cribbage appear. One of my favorite connections is what poker players call "tells". While these don't work for the internet game for the most part, in live cribbage, recognizing these tells can give you an extra edge over most of your opponents. Read more »

Even the best players find themselves with their backs to the wall in a tournament. In these situations, the great players will change their game style to maximize their chances to make it through qualifying, or to end up in the money in a grass roots tournament. This generally means that they end up having to play for a skunk, to earn the extra game point in ACC play. Other times, it means pressing a bit harder to win that double bet when playing that $5/$10 game during the breaks. Read more »