Cribbage Hand Calculator
Pick your four hand cards and the starter below, and the calculator returns a complete itemized count: every fifteen listed out, every pair, every run with its multiplier, flush points, and his nobs. It applies standard hand-count rules — the same categories our online game scores automatically — so you can check a disputed count, practice before a muggins table, or just see what a monster hand is actually worth.
Hand scorer
Choose your four hand cards, then the starter. The scorer itemizes every fifteen, pair, run, flush, and nobs point using standard hand-count rules.
Hand (0/4)
Starter
Select four hand cards and a starter to see the count.
Fifteens: two points per combination
Every distinct combination of cards totaling exactly fifteen scores two points, and "distinct" is the word that trips people up. For counting purposes aces are worth 1, number cards their printed value, and tens, jacks, queens, and kings are all worth 10. The calculator checks every possible grouping of the five cards — there are 31 of them — so nothing slips through. Hold 5-5-K with a 10 starter and each five pairs with each ten-value card separately: four fifteens, eight points, before the pair of fives is even counted.
Pairs: counted card by card
A pair is worth two points, and matching ranks are counted as individual pairings rather than as a group. Three sixes contain three distinct pairs — six points, the score traditionally announced as a pair royal — and four of a kind contains six pairs for twelve. This is why the perfect 29 hand gets so much of its value from its four fives: those twelve pair points come on top of the fifteens.
Runs: one per card, multiplied by duplicates
Three or more consecutive ranks score one point per card, and suits are irrelevant to runs. Face cards run in natural order — J-Q-K works, but K-A-2 does not, because the ace is always low in cribbage. Duplicate ranks multiply a run rather than extending it: 7-8-8-9 holds two separate 7-8-9 runs, one through each eight, for six points plus the pair. The calculator reports these multipliers explicitly (for example, "7-8-9 ×2"), which makes double and triple runs much easier to trust than mental arithmetic at the table.
Flushes: four in hand, five with the starter
If all four cards in your hand share a suit, you score four points; when the starter matches too, the flush grows to five. Note that this page scores a hand, and hand flush rules are the generous ones. The crib is stricter: a four-card crib flush scores nothing at most tables, and only a five-card flush — all four crib cards plus the starter in one suit — counts. If you are checking a crib, ignore a four-card flush result here and award the five-card version only.
His nobs: the jack that matches the cut
Holding the jack of the same suit as the starter card scores one point, called his nobs. It is the smallest line on the scoresheet and the most commonly forgotten one. Do not confuse it with his heels, the two points the dealer pegs immediately when the starter cut itself turns up a jack — heels happens during play, so a hand calculator never includes it.
Benchmarks worth memorizing
Try the famous hands in the calculator to see the breakdown mechanics at work. Three fives and a jack with the fourth five as the starter scores 28 — sixteen points of fifteens plus twelve for the double pair royal — and becomes the perfect 29 when that starter five matches your jack's suit for nobs. At the other end, K-10-7-4 with a 2 starter counts to exactly nothing: the traditional "nineteen hand," so called because 19 is a score no five cards can actually produce. The full list of values and odds lives on our cribbage scoring chart, and the rules page walks through where the hand count sits in a full round. When you can price a hand at a glance, the strategy guide shows how that skill drives better crib discards and pegging choices.
Count against a live opponent
The calculator builds the habit; the board tests it. Our free game scores pegging, hands, and the crib on a real 121-hole track, so you can watch these categories add up deal after deal.
Play Cribbage