Analyzing the possibility of a skunk early enough to devise an optimized strategy to avoid it could prove useful if you are playing competitive cribbage. They do come into play with some tournament scoring so salvaging a skunk to keep your opponent from getting an extra game point could be a big deal. 1 Answer Sorted by: 15 That is for the Game Peg (also known as a spilikin). Skunks, double skunks and triple skunks are all a fun added dynamic to the game of cribbage and most of the time they mean nothing other than an objective way to say your whipped up on your opponent or got whipped. If you are more than six points away from the skunk line, you may be straight out of luck and a skunk is inevitable so you might as well try to keep the biggest scoring hand possible hoping that your opponent doesn’t peg out before you get a chance to count your cards. Change up your discard strategy to focus on cards that may let you peg yourself across that skunk line before your opponent counts his hand and wins.

If you are the dealer and you are last to count your hand, you might want to focus on pegging opportunities instead of trying to get the biggest hand.