What Is the 29 Hand in Cribbage?
The 29 hand is the highest score a cribbage hand can make: you hold three fives and a jack, and the starter is the fourth five in the same suit as your jack. The American Cribbage Congress puts the odds at 216,580 to 1 against, which is why clubs photograph it when it happens.
Exactly what the cards must be
Hold 5-5-5-J, where the jack matches the suit of the one five you don't hold. The starter must then be that missing five. Example: hold 5♥ 5♦ 5♣ J♠, and the starter turns up 5♠. Any other arrangement (the jack matching a five you already hold, or a tenth card that isn't a jack) caps the hand below 29.
How 29 breaks down
With four fives and a suit-matched jack on the table, the count is:
| Score | Combinations | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Fifteens: J + 5 | 4 (the jack with each five) | 8 |
| Fifteens: 5 + 5 + 5 | 4 (every three-five combination) | 8 |
| Pairs of fives | 6 (every two-five combination) | 12 |
| Nobs | J matches the starter's suit | 1 |
| Total | 29 |
The same cards with a jack that doesn't match the starter make 28. Any four fives plus a ten-value card counts 28, the second-best hand possible, at American Cribbage Congress odds of 15,028 to 1 against. One jack's suit is the whole gap between rare and once-in-a-lifetime. Where 24 and the rest of the ladder sit below these two is covered at the best hand in cribbage.
Why there's no 30, and no 19
Twenty-nine is a ceiling because every point source is already maxed: no fifth five exists for another pair, and no card both extends the fifteens and adds a run. Cribbage scores also have famous holes: 19 is impossible for a hand to count, which is why "a nineteen hand" is table slang for scoring zero. (25, 26 and 27 are impossible too; 19 just got the nickname.)
If it ever happens to you
Count it slowly, let your opponent check every combination, and enjoy the fact that muggins has never had less work to do. At 216,580 to 1, most players go a lifetime without seeing one dealt.
By the Nobs Cribbage team Last reviewed 2026-08-01