Hearts

Object of Game

Hearts is a 4 player game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards.

The object of the game is to try to get the lowest score by avoiding taking cards containing hearts and the queen of spades, unless you're "shooting the moon" (See Scoring).

Starting a Game

At the start of the game, Each player chooses 3 cards and passes them to the assigned players. On the 1st deal of a game, players pass cards to the player on their left; on the 2nd deal, to the player on the right; on the 3rd deal, to the player sitting across the table. No cards are passed on the 4th deal.

After that, the cycle is repeated, with players passing cards left on the 5th deal, right on the 6th deal, etc.

Playing

After the pass, the player who holds the 2 of clubs begins play by placing it faceup in the middle of the table. Each player, going clockwise around the table, plays a card until all 4 players have done so.

Whoever played the highest card of the suit originally led takes the 4 cards, which constitute a "trick," and places them facedown on the table. The winner of a trick leads the 1st card of the next trick.

A player must follow suit when able to. If unable to, a player may play any card--except that on the very 1st trick, a player may not play a heart or the queen of spades. A player may not lead a heart unless hearts have been "broken," which means someone has already played a heart or the queen of spades in a previous trick.

A player with nothing left but hearts, or with nothing but hearts and the queen of spades, may lead a heart. The queen of spades may always be led (though it's usually very unwise to do so) even if hearts have not been broken.

Points

Play continues until no one has any cards left. Players then look at the tricks they have taken and count their scores. Each heart taken scores 1 point, and the queen of spades scores 13 points.

Jack of Diamonds Rule

An optional rule that players may choose when creating a table is for the jack of diamonds to count -10; that is, it lowers a player's score by 10 points.

Shooting the Moon

Taking the queen of spades and a lot of hearts is usually very bad, but if a player manages to take the queen of spades and all 13 hearts, it's called "shooting the moon," and it's very good.

Instead of scoring 26 points, a player who shoots the moon scores -26. Instead of subtracting 26 points from his or her own score, the player who successfully shoots the moon may choose to add 26 points to each of the other players' scores.

Winning the Game

After each hand, the deal passes to the left. The game ends when at least one player's score is greater than or equal to 100. At that time, the player with the lowest score is the winner.

Passing Tips

Since your first objective is to avoid taking the queen of spades, pass the ace, king, and/or queen of spades if you hold fewer than four spades; except that if you're passing right, you only need to pass the queen--not the king or ace--as long as you have at least one low spade.

Retain very low cards (twos and threes) in all suits, and don't worry about holding high cards in long suits in which you also hold some low cards. Get rid of high and middle cards in short suits where you have no low ones.

Do not pass your three highest hearts, which may give someone the opportunity to shoot. For the same reason, never pass the singleton ace of hearts. With a long, strong heart holding that includes some low hearts, pass only your second-highest heart (or none, if you have a chance to shoot). Be willing to take a heart trick, and keep one high heart, plus some low ones if you have them.

Never pass spades lower than the queen unless you have an unusual hand where you intend to shoot the moon. If you do hope to shoot, keep your high cards in all suits--but also keep your low cards if possible, so that you can adjust your strategy and escape without taking many tricks if the shoot becomes impossible.

Tactics

The usual strategy in playing a hand is:

1. Drive out the queen of spades. If possible, give it to person who's leading (i.e. has the low score) and avoid giving it to the person with the high score--but if you're low score, you want to try to drive someone over the top so you win.
2. Make sure no one can shoot by giving hearts to two different players. If necessary, take a heart trick yourself.
3. If the jack of diamonds option is being used, try to get rid of losers so you can take the last few tricks, capturing the jack (even if it means taking several hearts as well).

Keeping Track of Cards

Try to keep track of how many cards have been played in each suit. Be aware of whether you have a definite exit card in a suit--for example, if you have the 4 and the 3 has been played, your four can still win a trick if all the remaining diamonds, including the 2, are in one opponent's hand.

This is quite likely if three rounds of diamonds have been played, but extremely unlikely if only one round has been played.