How are cards placed into the crib in two-player cribbage?

In two-player cribbage, each player is dealt six cards. After receiving their cards, both the nondealer and the dealer must discard two cards facedown to form the crib.1

Because the crib scores for the dealer, the nondealer typically attempts to discard "balking" cards—those that are least likely to form high-scoring combinations for the dealer. Once these four cards have been placed into the crib, the remaining undealt cards are cut to determine the starter card, and the game proceeds to the play and showing stages.1