Of all the occurrences of this hand what were the final out comes? I think this would lend credence to the strategies.

It’s not too hard to count up the points in the hand, and see that discarding the 6,9 or the 2,7 are both equally attractive options for scoring. I’m seeing 15-4 and a pair for 6 getting rid of the 2, 7 to the pone’s crib, and the same in hand, while also a 2 point bonus to my crib, salting away the 6, 9. I can do that kind of figuring and I’m no math whiz. I guess I’m wondering what would make this a troubling hand. And also what percentage of players do we think are hitting the math hard with expected averages? My guess is approaching zero when looking at casual players, if there are very many of those these days. A minority of local club type of players? (Maybe a vast minority?) Most people who travel to a tournament? Is it worth traveling to a tournament if you aren’t conversant in the stats? How long would it take a normal person to be reasonably conversant with expected averages, and might your time be better invested learning sabermetrics or playing the ponies? Nice videos for people interested in getting better at cribbage, thanks. 😀