Hearts Strategy: How to Win

The queen of spades is half the points in a hand. Taking her once costs as much as thirteen hearts. Most hands are won or lost on where she ends up.

So before anything else, ask two questions about your hand. Can the queen be forced onto you? And can you get rid of her if you hold her?

Hearts come second. A heart or two in a hand is normal. A game is lost by taking the queen two or three times, not by taking a few hearts.

You pass three cards before most hands. Pass the cards that will win tricks you do not want.

• The queen of spades, unless you hold five or more spades. With that many, you can keep her safely behind the low ones until someone else runs out of spades.
• The ace and king of spades when you hold few spades. They can be forced to take a trick with the queen on it. With the queen and five or more spades, keep them.
• High hearts. The ace, king and queen of hearts take heart tricks late in the hand, when nobody else has a lower heart left.
• A short suit. If you hold only one or two clubs or diamonds, passing them empties that suit. Once you have none, you can throw the queen or a heart on every trick led in it.
• Do not pass your low spades. The 2, 3 and 4 of spades are your protection against the queen.

Passing the queen left puts her in the hand of the player who plays right after you. She can then be dropped on any trick you lead in a suit they are out of.

Passing right gives her to the player who plays just before you. When they throw her, you have already seen the trick, which is a little safer for you.

On a hand with no pass, you keep what you were dealt. Plan from the first card.

Remember the three cards you passed. You know exactly where they are. If you passed the queen, you know who holds her.

With the usual rules nobody can throw a heart or the queen on the first trick. So the first trick can never cost you points.

That makes it the safest moment in the hand to win a trick. If you have none of the suit led, use the first trick to throw away a high card you are afraid of, like the ace of spades or the ace of diamonds.

If you hold the ace or king of clubs, play it on the first trick. It will not be that safe again.

When you follow suit, play the highest card you have that still loses to the card that is winning. If the king of diamonds is winning, your queen of diamonds is the card to play, not your three.

This gets rid of your dangerous high cards while it is safe, and keeps your low cards for later, when ducking is harder.

When you are the last to play and the trick has no points on it, you can take it with your highest card at no cost. Then lead something low and safe.

When you are last and there are points on the trick, play your lowest card. If you have to take it anyway, take it with your highest.

Running out of a suit is the strongest thing you can do in Hearts. Once you are void in a suit, every trick led in it is your chance to throw the queen or a heart onto someone else.

Pass away a short suit, then lead your last card of it early. A void in clubs or diamonds is worth more than a void in hearts.

Watch for other players going void. When someone plays a different suit on a trick, they have none of the suit led. Do not lead that suit while the queen is still out, or they may drop her on you.

If you do not hold the queen, lead low spades. Every spade trick forces the player holding her to play a spade, and sooner or later she has to come out, onto a trick someone with a higher spade takes.

If you hold the queen with few spades, lead your other suits and get void in something. Throw her the first time you cannot follow.

If you hold the queen with many spades, keep quiet. Never lead spades yourself. Let others lead them, play under, and wait until you can throw her on a trick won by someone else.

Never lead the ace or king of spades while the queen is still out. You will very likely take her.

Until hearts are broken, nobody can lead them. Once they are, a low heart is often the safest lead in the hand: somebody else has to take it, and it is worth only a point.

Keep a low heart or two for late in the hand. When everyone is nearly out of cards, a low heart gives you a way to lose the lead.

High hearts late in the hand are dangerous. If you are left holding the ace of hearts with nobody able to beat it, you take that trick and every heart on it.

• Each seat shows what it has taken this hand: a heart count, and the queen once someone has her. Check it before every play.
• Keep track of whether the queen has been played. If she is out, high spades are a risk. If she is gone, they are safe.
• When a player throws a card of another suit, they are void in the suit led. Remember it for the rest of the hand.
• Count the hearts. Thirteen are in the deck. Once most of them have fallen, a low heart may be the last one, and it takes its own trick.
• With two decks there are two of every card, two queens of spades and 52 points in a hand. If two copies of the same card meet, the one played later takes the trick. Play your copy second if you can.

Take every heart and the queen in one hand and the 26 points go the other way. It can win you a game from behind. Trying and failing usually costs you most of them.

Try it only with a hand that can take nearly every trick: the high spades with the queen, long runs of high hearts, and aces in the other suits. One trick lost with a heart on it ends the shot.

Do not show it early. Take tricks quietly, and start taking hearts only once nobody can stop you.

If the host picked Choose, think about the scores first. Taking 26 off your own score is better when you are behind. Giving everyone else 26 is better when it pushes someone past the target while you are lowest, which ends the game with you winning.

If one player has taken every point so far, and a lot of them, they may be going for the moon. You stop them by taking just one heart.

Keep a heart you can win a trick with. Take a heart trick when you can. Do not throw your hearts onto their tricks: that only helps them.

Taking a few points to stop the moon is almost always worth it. Letting it through costs you 26.

The game ends after the hand in which anyone reaches the target. So late in the game, look at the totals.

If you are lowest and someone is close to the target, give them points. Throw the queen on their tricks. The sooner they go over, the sooner you win.

If you are the one close to the target and not lowest, take nothing. Every point brings the end nearer while you are behind.

With the game to 50, every hand counts for more and there is less time to come back. Play safe.

With the clock on, you have the time the host set for each play, and twice that for the pass. The seconds left show in the banner near the end.

Do not let it run out. A card is then played for you the way a Medium bot would play it. That is a sensible card, but not one that knows what you are planning.

Bots see only their own cards and the cards played. Each level plays a known way, and you can use it.

• Easy plays any card it is allowed, at random, and passes its three highest cards. It will happily take hearts. It never drops the queen of spades on a trick it is taking, but it can still be handed her.
• Medium passes the queen unless it holds five or more spades, along with the high spades and hearts. It ducks under the winning card and throws the queen first when it is out of a suit. If you passed the queen to a Medium bot, expect her back the first time it cannot follow suit after the first trick.
• Hard does what Medium does and keeps count of who is void and whether the queen is out. It leads low spades to flush the queen when it does not hold her, and tries to stop anyone shooting the moon. A Hard bot that has taken many points and nobody else has any may be shooting: take a heart from it.

• Leading the ace or king of spades while the queen is still out.
• Passing your low spades.
• Keeping a high card for later when the first trick would have taken it safely.
• Playing your lowest card when a higher one would still have lost.
• Throwing hearts onto a player who is shooting the moon.
• Taking points late in the game while you are behind.
• Forgetting who you passed the queen to.

• Pass the queen unless you hold five or more spades.
• Keep your low spades.
• Empty a short suit and use the void.
• Win the first trick with your high cards; it cannot cost points.
• Duck with the highest card that still loses.
• Lead low spades when someone else holds the queen.
• Take one heart to stop a moon.
• Watch the totals late in the game.

How do you win at Hearts?

Take as few points as you can. Pass the queen of spades and your high cards, keep your low spades, get void in a suit so you can throw points onto other players, and duck under the winning card. The lowest score when someone reaches the target wins.

What cards should you pass in Hearts?

The queen of spades unless you hold five or more spades, the ace and king of spades when you hold few spades, high hearts, and the cards of a short suit so you can go void in it. Keep your low spades.

When should you try to shoot the moon in Hearts?

Only with a hand that can take nearly every trick: the high spades and the queen, a long run of high hearts and aces in the other suits. One lost heart ends the shot, and a failed try usually costs most of the points.

How do you stop someone shooting the moon?

Take one heart. If one player has every point so far, keep a heart you can win a trick with and take a heart trick when you can. Do not throw your hearts onto their tricks.

Should you lead spades in Hearts?

Low spades, yes, when you do not hold the queen. They force her out of whoever holds her. Never lead the ace or king of spades while the queen is still out, and if you hold the queen, do not lead spades at all.

How do you beat the bots at Hearts?

Easy bots play at random and take hearts freely. Medium and Hard bots throw the queen the first time they are out of a suit, so do not lead a suit they are void in while she is out. Hard bots also flush the queen with low spades and try to stop a moon.