Yet another historic season of Competitive Cribbage has completed with continued increase in players and the most matches ever played in a single season! Let's keep it up in the new Spring 2026 Season of Cribbage Pro Competitive Matchmaking!
Winter 2026 is officially in the books, marking another very strong season with player participation and matches playing growing significantly. Below are the full results for Winter 2026, followed by a brief overview of some of the important improvements for Spring 2026.
Winter 2026
As Cribbage Pro competitive matchmaking continues to evolve and expand as the largest cribbage tournament anywhere, we are grateful for every player who competes, shares feedback, and helps raise the level of play each season. Your passion and input are what keep making it better every season.
The final official Winter 2026 results have "dcpastore" in 1st place (past best 3rd place). 2nd place went to "Mrpadre" (a past 1st place finisher), with "Jahmez13" moving all the way up from 23rd last season to round out the top three. The honorable mention this season goes to "Domerzag" who moved up yet again this season to finish 4th (their new personal best). Congratulations to all on their achievements this season!
Special awards for the Top 50 players include in-game board pegs: the top player receives the "crown" peg, while others in the Top 50 get the "star" peg. These pegs are prominently displayed in online multiplayer games, serving as permanent badges of distinction earned through competitive play.
Reminder: Complete 10 matches per week, AND 10 per full week of the season!
See the FAQ for details on the timing each week
See the FAQ for details on the timing each week
Here was the final Top 50 for Winter 2026:
| 1 | dcpastore | 26 | Nelg1 | |
| 2 | Mrpadre | 27 | dustinlmu | |
| 3 | Jahmez13 | 28 | Natashaki | |
| 4 | Domerzag | 29 | cheis123 | |
| 5 | 24savage | 30 | Ajt131 | |
| 6 | AJackOLit | 31 | BennieO | |
| 7 | iPeg | 32 | RussRuss | |
| 8 | Goninnygo | 33 | 2Peeps | |
| 9 | Ricecak11 | 34 | George60 | |
| 10 | BarkDawg | 35 | Screwman | |
| 11 | hillchem | 36 | konadive | |
| 12 | holinzend | 37 | rickgadz | |
| 13 | stephzzz | 38 | NSD84 | |
| 14 | lrzinger | 39 | TCMMAmill | |
| 15 | dkatz1877 | 40 | vJimc | |
| 16 | pegmstr77 | 41 | Steve1542 | |
| 17 | vegasbrad | 42 | Push22 | |
| 18 | Tutti | 43 | USCANMAN | |
| 19 | jimbobjjj | 44 | lynnkr | |
| 20 | ycharest | 45 | IAMFAST | |
| 21 | Cribber54 | 46 | BT1961 | |
| 22 | RMK800 | 47 | dph | |
| 23 | Paludeja | 48 | Orelvis | |
| 24 | butlervt | 49 | SMP0001 | |
| 25 | Meow80 | 50 | card55 |
Updates for Spring 2026
For Spring 2026, we have refined the matchmaking algorithm to allow a small number of pairings that would not have occurred last season under very specific conditions. This adjustment is aimed at improving match availability in edge cases where CR may appear slightly farther apart, even though the underlying match quality calculation still indicates a strong and competitive pairing. As noted previously, visible CR gaps will sometimes vary, even when the actual match quality behind the scenes is similar.
We have also adjusted the 10 matches per week penalty system to make recovery a bit more manageable if you miss time. The newer rule requiring 10 matches per full week of the season overall has done an excellent job keeping the Leaderboard accurate and competitive, so the CR penalty no longer needs to stack as heavily on top of it. Last season, we saw several players experience real life interruptions that caused them to miss one or more weeks. Once that happened, the penalty made it significantly harder to find matches, which in turn made it even harder to recover. In fact, every player who contacted us about difficulty finding matches had missed time earlier in the season. We want players who are willing to put in the effort to have a fair opportunity to rebuild their standing, and these adjustments are designed to support that.
That said, consistently completing 10 matches each week remains extremely important. Missing weeks still carries a meaningful consequence, and climbing back can be challenging. The simplest and most effective strategy is to stay current each week and avoid the penalty altogether.
As always, thank you all so much for participating and for your suggestions that keep improving the game for everyone!
