Hoyle's Games, Improved And Enlarged - online book

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252                         CRIBBAGE.
on the table will form a sequence without any other card intervening : as for instance, suppose a six first played, then a four, and afterwards a trois, should a deuce follow, it will make a sequence of three ; then, if a five, it will be a sequence of five ; and if an ace or seven succeed the five, a sequence of six; though should a ten, or any other card that will not run on regular, be played as the fourth, the sequences then will be totally prevented.
Twenty-nine is the greatest possible number that can be gained by the show of any hand, or crib, either in five or six-card cribbage, and is com­posed of three fives and a knave, with a fourth five, of the same suit as the knave turned up ; this very seldom happens; but twenty-four is not an uncom­mon number, and may be formed of four threes and a nine, or two fours, one five, and two sixes; and of other combinations that a little experience will point out.
The almost1 endless variety in Cribbage renders it impossible to give, in a small compass, sufficient directions for learners to put out, retain, or play their cards to the best advantage in all the different situations of the game ; but experience and atten­tion, combined with calculation, will soon do the whole. The chances are often so extraordinary and unexpected, that even between skilful game­sters it is possible at five-card cribbage, when the adversary is 56, for a lucky player, who had not previously made a single hole, to be more than up in two deals, his opponent getting no farther than
60 in that time ; and in four-hand cribbage a case may occur, wherein none of the parties hold a sin­gle point in hand, and yet the dealer and his friend, with the assistance of knave turned up, may make
61 by play in one deal, while their adversaries only get 24 ; and though these particular games, as
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