Ace is always low in cribbage. It counts as 1 toward fifteens and 31, and it only runs with 2 and 3 — queen, king, ace is not a run.
Cribbage never treats the ace as high. For counting, it’s worth 1; for runs, it sits below the 2.
- A-2-3 is a run of three.
- Q-K-A is not a run — runs don’t wrap around.
- An ace is handy for fifteens (A + 4 + K, A + 5 + 9) and for squeezing one more card under 31 during pegging.
Other card values: 2 through 10 count their face value, and jacks, queens and kings each count 10. For runs, though, J-Q-K keep their order, so 10-J-Q is a run.
Worked examples
- Ace in a run: hold A♦ 2♣ 3♠ J♥ and cut a 9♦. The run A-2-3 scores 3, and two fifteens (J-2-3, and 9-A-2-3) score 4: 7 points.
- No wrap-around: hold Q♦ K♠ A♣ 5♥ and cut a 9♦. Nothing scores for Q-K-A. The only points are three fifteens (Q-5, K-5, and 9-5-A) for 6.
The ace in pegging
During play the ace works the same way. It adds 1 to the count, so 10, J, K and then an ace makes exactly 31 for 2 points. It runs with a 2 and a 3 in any order, so 3, A, 2 is a run of three, while K, A, 2 is not.
For how runs score overall, see how runs work in cribbage, or the cribbage scoring and strategy guide.