Danine Schlosser writes:

I have 4 sevens and 1 ace showing. What is the count?

Danine,

First count 15s. It is clear that a pair of 7s makes 15 with the Ace - but how many pairs of 7s are there in four 7s?

An easy way to remember this is to start by asking how many pairs there are in 2 cards. Obviously just one pair.

Now if you add another card, that card can pair with each of the previous cards - making 2 more pairs. So there are 3 pairs in 3 cards.

If we add another card again, that card can pair with each of the previous cards, making 3 more pairs. So there are 6 pairs in 4 cards.

That makes 6 15s, for 12 points in all.

Now we count pairs, and as we just worked out there are 6 pairs in your hand - for another 12 points. That's a total of 24!