Skunked Again
by Lee DiGeorge
Skunk #4. Betty quickly realized that this was a variant of cribbage being played, and took the possible number of points for each skunk based on any card being cut.
Skunk 1 (1234): 99 points
Skunk 2 (4567): 126 points
Skunk 3 (6789): 142 points
Skunk 4 (JJQK): 137 points
Skunk 5 (2233): 128 points
However, one of the most commonly overlooked scoring mechanisms in Cribbage is "nobs", or when the player has the Jack of the same suit as the cut card. Being that Skunk #4 has 2 jacks, the probability that he would get nobs would be 1/2, giving him an extra 6.5 points (1/2 of 13)
So, that makes the total scores to be:
Skunk 1 (1234): 99 points
Skunk 2 (4567): 126 points
Skunk 3 (6789): 142 points
Skunk 4 (JJQK): 143.5 points
Skunk 5 (2233): 128 points
and giving each an average move of:
Skunk 1 (1234): 7.6 units per "hand"
Skunk 2 (4567): 9.7 units per "hand"
Skunk 3 (6789): 10.9 units per "hand"
Skunk 4 (JJQK): 11 units per "hand"
Skunk 5 (2233): 9.8 units per "hand"
It might be a photo finish, but in all likelyhood, Skunk #4 is going to beat out Skunk #3... by a nose.