This is a place for getting information on strategy of the Hearts Card Game. To start, I’m loading it with the information originally on Alan’s Hearts Page.
There is are not many sites which helpful give strategic advice. Right now, the best advice I can give is to play, play, play. If you’re looking for “expert” advice, there is little information
on the web at present, but it is increasing. http://www.realapplets.com/~bavo/hearts.html had the most I’m aware of, but is now defunct. I managed to save a copy of the realapplets page from the WayBack machine. Also, Comment gagner à la Dame de Pique has advice if you can read French. Other than than, the best source for info is below. The
only other resources I’m aware of are the books listed on my hearts page, in particular the Andrews one.
- Try to remember all the cards that have been played. With practice this becomes automatic and you won’t have to think about it.
Comment (made by Fabian Reimers) : “In my opinion it is not necessary to remember all the cards that have been played. If you have only few cards (or even none) of a suit, there often is no need to worry about this suit at all. Try to focus on the weaknesses of your hand and don’t waste too much thoughts on cards that won’t affect you in this game.”
- Think about what you [pass] people. Are you vulnerable to taking the Queen? Do you have anything to stop someone from Shooting the Moon? Can you void yourself in a suit and protect yourself from taking too many point cards?
- Probably the thing most overlooked by beginners is to pay attention to what your opponents pass you. You can infer much about their hand and about what their strategy for this round is going to be. Something else that many beginners overlook is trying to go void in suits to enable playing point cards easier and sooner.
- Long suits make it much easier to Shoot the moon.
- The following advice was contributed by jaysinaz@earthlink.net
Cover your pass.
I’ve always been taught that covering your pass is the FIRST rule of hearts. If you don’t have a heart to pass then you’re responsible to “hit” another player (not the player you passed to) with a heart. Once you do, the responsibility now changes hands to the guy that passed to the man you just gave a heart to…get the idea? Now if you didn’t pass a heart and were not passed a heart then there isn’t much you can do. If I had the 2 5 9 and Jack of hearts I would pass the 9. That way if hearts get broken on the guy I passed to, I know he isn’t going to run them (shoot the moon) because I passed him the 9, and I can cover it with my Jack. Now if Hearts aren’t broken on my man, then I don’t have to cover the heart I just passed.
“As far as strategy goes, my theory is pray for good cards, know how to count (all the suits) and take a point or two early to avoid taking a [explitive deleted] load later!”
- Mike Bolan had this comment about jaysinaz’s hint~:
“On your page, I believe the strategy hint titled Cover Your Pass contains some incorrect information. If you are holding the 2 5 9 and Jack of hearts, to pass the 9 or any heart will NOT stop the receiver from shooting, but rather the opposite. If you pass the 2 5 or 9 and the receiver holds the A K Q of hearts, and hearts are broken to him and he begins to shoot by leading back his high hearts, your Jack will be lost to his Queen on the third trick unless you were passed a heart to cover. The best way to stop a shoot in (the suit of) hearts if you are holding the 2 5 9 and Jack of hearts is to hold all 4 cards. Then your Jack will be the high heart after the shooter exhausts his A K and Q.”
Ed Bryan writes:
Seriously Mike… how likely is it that the person you are passing to is holding the Ace, King, and Queen of hearts? What if he is not holding any hearts? You should definitely pass the 9 of hearts and keep the jack. If who you pass to does shoot and you can explain to the other players that you covered your pass by giving him the 9 and keeping the jack you will maintain the respect of your fellow players. If you don’t pass a heart and he shoots you will be recognized as a foolish player that doesn’t cover his pass. Cover your pass, don’t lead spades to low, don’t lead lows void, keep the queen to the right of low, and have a nice day!
- An anonymous coward writes:
I always take a lot of grief for not knowing how to “cover” when I play Hearts, but nobody ever takes the time to explain what they mean. I rarely pass Hearts, or even more than one or two high cards. Also, I find it very hard to shoot the moon in any suit other than hearts. Can somebody give some good examples and rules of thumb for when shooting is a good idea, and then back it up with a reasonable example or two?
Joe Wolfe
Some people try to make other people play to their standard. This is not required. Do what you think will win the game. Pass low hearts, high hearts, or no hearts. Pass the queen or keep it. Block the mooner or not. Just win.
I have observed that playing style is very important. players often have blind spots. They do not know what gives or takes away an advantage. Most players play so that the point cards fly in the last 3 or 4 lays. It helps to build a bullet proof hand of 4 cards at the end. Hold cards that give you an advantage over another player either a void to their high suit or low cards (2s).
Of course some prefer to dump the queen early or break hearts to prevent a moon. Some like to hold the queen for a specific player and some dump it first chance. Do what you need to win. Some never pass the queen and some pass it all the time. The important thing is to never get stuck with the queen. It is worth the same as all the hearts together. You need to decide if you may get stuck with it. Passing it right usually gives an advantage but just knowing where it is helps too.
The queen usually falls on a non heart trick so other players may ignore hearts as a risk to getting the queen. The queen is often the first point card layed. Most players seem to hold hearts to end which is why a non heart moon often works well or a heart queen dump at end.
Learn what the other player does not know.
. playing high cards gets you the queen and other hearts.
. playing the cop to bust moons gets you the queen and other hearts.
. pausing on spades tricks lets other know you have the queen
. playing high cards when you lead lets others play theirs too.
duh!
Think there should be more here? Hit that edit button down below!