Roy White couldn’t have been more surprised on July 10 when, during his regular morning cribbage game with his wife, Connie Olson, he discovered that he had a 29-point hand.
“I said to Connie, ‘I’ve got a big, big, big one,’ ” said White.
According to en.wikipedia.org, the odds of being dealt a 29-point hand in a two-player cribbage game are 216,580 to one.
This was the second 29-point hand the 78-year-old White has had; the other was over 50 years ago. His wife’s high-scoring hands are much more recent, though, with one in February 2008 and one in May 2004 (she was dealt a first “years ago” on Vancouver Island).
Here’s how the scoring works:
The jack and four fives (three in White’s hand and one on the deck) create eight combinations that add up to 15, for a total of 16 points.
The four fives create six unique pairs of fives for a total of 12 points.
The jack in his hand of a suit matching the deck’s five gives one point. And 16 plus 12 plus one equals 29!