What Does the Dealer Do in Cribbage?

The dealer in cribbage is the player who deals the hand: six cards to each player in a two-player game. The dealer owns the crib, pegs two points immediately if a jack turns up as the starter, and counts last at the show, after the pone. The role changes hands every deal.

What are the dealer's duties in a hand?

The dealer runs the mechanical side of every hand:

• Shuffles and deals: the dealer shuffles, the pone may cut, and the dealer deals six cards face down to each player, one at a time.
• Owns the crib: each player discards two cards face down, and those four cards form a second hand that only the dealer scores.
• Turns the starter: after the discards, the pone cuts the deck and the dealer turns up the top card of the lower packet as the starter.
• Pegs two for a jack starter: if the turned card is a jack, the dealer scores two points on the spot, called his heels. Those two points must be pegged before the dealer plays a card, or they are lost.

Who deals first, and how does the deal change?

The first dealer is decided by a cut of the deck before the game begins: each player cuts, and the lower card takes the first deal (the full walkthrough covers the cut's details, ace low and ties re-cut). From then on the deal alternates every hand, so the two players trade the dealer and pone roles for the whole game. That trade matters because the seats are not equal. The dealer gets the crib and the chance at heels, and taking turns is what keeps the game fair over a full match.

Why does the dealer count last?

When the play ends, the hands are counted in a fixed order: the pone's hand first, then the dealer's hand, then the crib. The dealer scores twice each hand, but scores last both times.

That order decides close endgames, because cribbage ends the instant a player reaches 121 points, in any phase of the hand. Near the finish, a dealer can hold a winning total across hand and crib and still lose. The pone counts first and may peg out before the dealer's cards are ever counted. Knowing whether you will deal or count first next hand shapes the whole endgame.

Is it better to be the dealer?

Yes, and by a measurable margin. In Play Winning Cribbage, DeLynn Colvert's Twenty-Six Theory puts the dealer's average at 16.2 points per deal across hand, crib, and pegging, against 10.2 for the non-dealer.

The play phase leans the dealer's way too. The pone leads and the dealer takes the last card or a go, so a two-player dealer always pegs at least one point during the play unless the game ends first. The positions balance out because the deal alternates, which is why endgame planning starts with one question: who deals next?

By the Nobs Cribbage team Last reviewed 2026-08-01

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