What is the highest possible cribbage hand?
29 points: three 5s and a jack in your hand, with the fourth 5 cut as the starter in the jack’s suit. That’s 16 for fifteens, 12 for pairs and 1 for nobs.
The perfect cribbage hand is 5, 5, 5 and a jack, with the starter being the remaining 5 in the same suit as the jack.
- Fifteens — 16 points. The jack plus each of the four 5s makes four fifteens, and each of the four ways to choose three 5s makes four more: eight fifteens for 16.
- Pairs — 12 points. Four 5s form six pairs, 2 points each.
- Nobs — 1 point. The jack matches the starter’s suit.
The odds of holding it are roughly 1 in 216,580 hands. The next best is 28: four 5s with any other ten-card — the same fifteens and pairs, just without nobs.
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