This article first appeared in the Mar/Apr 2012 issue of World Gaming magazine.
Hearts, like most card games, has many different names. The most common is probably “black lady” which refers to the dreaded queen of spades. This is a great game for four players and thanks to the internet you can play this game against people all over the world.
For centuries the deck of cards has brought countless hours of enjoyment to millions of people. In the gaming world cards are the basis of many games that we have come to love like baccarat, blackjack and poker. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of card games that people play for enjoyment without necessarily betting money on the result.
Tracing the history of card games is often problematic. They appear to spring up from nowhere and travel across the globe by word of mouth faster than the plague. Rules and styles of play differ from place to place and it’s better to just learn and enjoy these games instead of wondering where or how they may have appeared. For those of you that just have to know, the game of hearts is considered a member of the “whist” family of trick taking games (like bridge), which seems to have originated in the early 17th century. Whether French aristocrats where involved or not remains unknown.
The basics of hearts
Hearts is played by four players, with the deal passing around the table. A standard 52 card deck is used. Each player is dealt 13 cards. An optional rule variation has each player passing three cards to an opposition player. Although the easiest way to do this is to pass the cards to the left, the fairest way is to pass to each of the other three players in turn each hand. This is not too hard if the pass direction is noted by the person scoring the game. Another good variation to the game is to have no passing every fourth hand and simply play the 13 cards dealt to you.
Game play
There are different versions of the game but we will explain the most standard game play rules and scoring system.
Each hand of hearts is broken down into 13 separate rounds known as “tricks”, with each player playing one card per trick. The player who has the 2 of clubs leads out on the first trick. For the next 12 tricks, the winner of the previous trick leads out. Once a trick has been led out, play passes clockwise, with each of the other three players playing a card. Players are required to “follow suit”, which means players must play a card of the suit that was led, if possible.
For example, if someone plays a club, each of the other three players must follow suit and also play a club, if they have one. The player who plays the highest of that suit wins the trick. The game gets interesting when a player doesn’t have a card of the suit that was led, as this is an opportunity for him to play any card from his hand. This allows him to discard big danger cards such as the queen of spades.
Scoring
Hearts is an unusual game in that the object of the game is to score as few points as possible.
When a player wins a trick, he keeps all four cards that were played in the trick, and they count toward his score. The standard rules have every heart worth one point, the queen of spades worth 13 points, and the remaining cards have no value.
Other variations of the game have higher hearts, such as the ace and picture cards, worth more. Another version has the jack of diamonds reducing the score by 10 points. After each hand, players total their scores. Once someone reaches 100 points the game ends, and the player with the lowest score is declared the winner.
Shooting the moon
This is another rule variation some like to play. “Shooting the moon” is when a player wins all the hearts and the queen of spades, a clean sweep of all 26 possible points. If a player is lucky enough to do this, instead of that player scoring 26 points, he scores nothing and the other three players each score 26 points. If it becomes apparent a player is trying to “shoot the moon”, it is up to the other players to stop him, by one of them winning at least one point. This can create much frustration, as selfish players tend to avoid “taking one for the team”.
Hearts strategy
The name of the game is to lose. Low cards are easy to lose and thus valuable, whilst high cards represent a problem. The idea is to lose tricks in which hearts are played and you especially want to lose the trick in which the dreaded queen of spades is played. It can be to your advantage to win zero (or low) scoring tricks as you can then lead out on the next trick, thus taking control of the game.
Be selective about who you give points to. Try to dump your point scoring cards to your better opponents, as they are your biggest threat.
When passing your three cards at the start of the hand try to “short suit” yourself. This means that you have very few cards of one suit allowing you to throw out danger cards when a card of that suit is led.
Some people like to pass away danger cards but others prefer to keep them in their hand so that they know where they are. The ace and king of spades are danger cards as they can create the perfect opportunity for the person holding the queen of spades to offload it.
Avoid discarding low hearts or spades, as they are excellent protection cards.
Hearts is a simple and fun game. With a deck of cards and three friends you should never be bored. In fact, you don’t even need a deck of cards. Playing hearts on the internet is excellent for honing your skills and a fun way of meeting other people from all over the globe.
