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Hearts Strategy

Good Hearts strategy starts with the pass: get rid of the cards that will catch the Queen of Spades or win late heart tricks, and keep the low cards that let you duck. Every heart you take costs a point, the Queen costs 13, and the lowest total when someone reaches 100 wins, so most of the game is losing tricks on purpose.

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Hearts Strategy

Pass first, then plan

♠ Q J   ♥ A K 9 6 2   ♦ A Q 9   ♣ 5 4 3

Pass the Q♠, A♥ and K♥. The Queen has only the J♠ for company, so two spade leads will strip her bare and someone will make you play her. The A♥ and K♥ will win heart tricks whenever hearts are led. Our bots pass the same three cards from this hand.

♠ K 9 6 4 2   ♥ 8 5   ♦ Q J 7 3   ♣ A 6

Keep the K♠ and pass the A♣, 8♥ and 5♥. Four small spades guard the king, so you can follow low to every spade lead until the Queen shows up. Passing both hearts leaves you with none, and every heart lead after that is a chance to throw away a high card. Our bots make this pass too.

  • Bare high spades go. An A♠ or K♠ with one or two small spades beside it tends to catch the Queen. With three or more small spades, keep them.
  • Look at where the Queen goes. If you keep the A♠ or K♠, think twice about passing the Q♠ to your left. That player plays after you on every trick you lead, and can drop her on your high spade.
  • Short suits can become voids. Two cards in a suit plus one more card often lets you empty it, and a void is worth more than three scattered high cards.
  • The hold hand is different. Every fourth hand nobody passes, so you are stuck with what you were dealt. Play it tighter.

Handling the Queen of Spades

  • Count spades from the first trick. There are thirteen. A player leading low spades is hunting the Queen; if you hold her, every spade lead uses up some of her cover.
  • The Queen with length is a weapon. You choose when she falls, ideally on a trick someone else is winning. Holding her with one or two small spades is a countdown.
  • Drop her the moment you are void in the suit led. Sitting on 13 points out of politeness is how you finish second.
  • The Q♠ does not break hearts on our tables. Dropping her does not open heart leads, so plan the two separately.

Winning by losing

  • Play the highest card that still loses. Putting your king under someone's ace costs nothing and removes a card that could win a bad trick later.
  • Early tricks are cheap. No points can be played to the opening 2♣ trick on our tables, so get rid of a high club there.
  • Middle cards decide the end of the hand. Sevens and eights decide who takes the last hearts. Keep a low card in each suit for as long as you can, so you can get out of the lead.
  • Sometimes take four points to dodge fourteen. Taking a small heart trick to keep an escape card is a trade. Count before you refuse it.

When someone is going for the moon

If a player has taken every point so far, someone has to take one heart. One point costs you far less than 26. Watch for a player winning tricks they would normally duck, and break it up early with your highest heart. Doing it yourself starts at the pass; the Shoot the Moon in Hearts guide has a full example.

Habits that lose Hearts games

  1. Passing the Queen and keeping a bare king of spades.
  2. Winning early tricks with middle cards because they felt safe. Those were your escape cards.
  3. Leading your last low spade for no reason.
  4. Noticing a moon at trick ten.
  5. Forgetting the game ends at 100. Dumping the Queen on a player at 95 ends it.

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