Hearts Strategy: Tips to Win More Games

Hearts looks like a game of luck, and some hands really are. But over a whole game, good habits add up. The players who win most often are the ones who pass wisely, stay out of trouble in the middle of the hand, and keep an eye on the queen of spades. Here is our practical Hearts strategy, from the pass to the last trick. If you need a refresher first, see the full Hearts rules.

1. Pass the Dangerous Cards

The three cards you pass shape your whole hand. Look for the cards most likely to win tricks you don't want:

• The queen of spades, unless you hold four or five other spades to hide behind. With plenty of spades you can usually keep the queen safe and drop it on someone later.
• The ace and king of spades, if you don't have the queen. These high spades are magnets for the queen when someone else leads spades.
• High hearts such as the ace, king and queen. They tend to win heart tricks late in the hand.

Low cards are your friends. A hand full of 2s, 3s and 4s is hard to hurt, so keep them.

Think About Who Gets Your Cards

The direction matters. When you pass to the left, the player you pass to plays right after you on many tricks. Passing the queen of spades to the right means it may come back to bite you when that player can drop it on your trick. On a hold hand, with no passing, you have to play the cards you were dealt, so plan from the start.

2. Create a Void

A void is a suit you have none of. Once you're void in a suit, every time it's led you can discard whatever you like: the queen of spades, a high heart, or an awkward ace.

If you hold only two or three cards in diamonds or clubs, think about passing all of them. Being void in clubs is especially handy, because the first trick is always clubs and they come up early. You can't discard points on the first trick under our standard rules, but you can get rid of a high diamond or spade.

3. Duck Under the Winning Card

Ducking means playing a card lower than the one currently winning the trick, so someone else wins it. When you follow suit, a good rule of thumb is to play your highest card that still loses.

For example, North leads the 10♦ and East plays the J♦. You hold the 9♦, 7♦ and K♦. Play the 9♦. It ducks under the jack, and it gets rid of a fairly high diamond while it's safe to do so. Save the 7♦ for a later diamond trick when you might need a low card.

When you're the last player on a trick with no points in it, it's often fine to win it with a high card. You take nothing harmful and you clear a dangerous card from your hand. Just be sure you have a safe card to lead next.

4. Handle the Queen of Spades with Care

The queen is half the points in every hand, so a lot of Hearts strategy revolves around her.

If You Hold the Queen

• Don't lead spades yourself. Let others lead them and play low.
• Keep enough small spades to protect her. Three or four low spades is comfortable.
• Work toward a void in another suit, then drop the queen when that suit is led, ideally on the player who's leading the game.

If You Don't Hold the Queen

• Lead low spades to "smoke out" the queen. Whoever has her may be forced to play her, or to play the ace or king and catch her.
• Be careful with the ace and king of spades. Until the queen has appeared, try to play them only when you can't be caught, such as when someone else is already winning the trick with a higher spade.

5. Count the Cards

You don't need a perfect memory. Track just a few things:

• Has the queen of spades been played? If yes, your high spades become safe.
• How many hearts are out? There are 13. Late in the hand, knowing whether your 6♥ is the lowest heart left can save you points.
• Who is out of a suit? If West discarded on a club lead, West is void in clubs and can drop the queen on any club trick.

Our game's Hard computers track all of this, so it's good practice to do the same.

6. Lead Wisely

Leading low cards in a suit where you're long is usually safe. Leading a singleton (your only card in a suit) early is a good way to make a void quickly. Avoid leading a suit where an opponent is void, because they'll happily drop points on you.

7. When to Try Shooting the Moon

Shooting the moon is tempting, but it fails more often than it works. Consider it when you have:

• Most of the high hearts, especially the ace, king and queen, plus length in hearts.
• The ace or king of spades, or the queen of spades with protection.
• High cards or long runs in the other suits so you can keep winning tricks and keep the lead.

Don't commit too early. Many good moon shots start as an ordinary hand where you notice, halfway through, that you've taken all the points so far and still hold the top cards. If the attempt looks shaky, give up early, before you've collected too many hearts.

8. How to Stop a Moon Shot

Watch the points. If one player has taken every heart so far, plus maybe the queen, it's time to act:

• Keep one high heart back, if you can, so you can win a heart trick late in the hand.
• Take a heart on purpose. A single point for you is far better than 26.
• Don't throw all your hearts onto their tricks. Each one you give them helps the shot.

Stopping a moon costs you a point or two, but it saves everyone else 26.

9. Play the Score

Near the end of the game, look at the scoreboard. If one player is close to 100 and you're in the lead, dumping points on them can end the game while you're ahead. If you're behind, you may need to take a bigger risk, like a moon shot, to catch up.

Practice Makes It Easier

The best way to build these habits is to play. In our free Hearts game, the Hint button suggests a card, and the Why? button explains each computer move. After each hand, Show All Hands lets you see what everyone held, and Replay This Deal lets you try the same cards again with a different plan. Want to know about house rules like the jack of diamonds? See our Hearts rule variations.

Many of these skills, like counting cards and leading low, carry over to Spades, the partnership trick-taking game where you try to win tricks instead of avoiding them.