A typical hearts game

Hearts is one of three card games available at the parlor games table. It is free to play two days a week.

It is simply an online version of the card game Hearts. Hearts requires four players. The game can be played with a score limit of 50, 100, or 200 points.

Hearts' rules are simple. Each player is dealt 13 cards. After the deal, the player may pass 3 cards. First, the player passes 3 cards to the left, then 3 to the right, then 3 across, then they hold their cards. The option to hold cards may be removed at the table-setter's choice. Whoever has the 2 of clubs must lead with that card.

Play resolves in a clock-wise fashion, and the objective is to score as few points as possible. Each heart is worth one point, while the queen of spades (sometimes called the "tart" or "skank") is worth 13 points. When one captures all hearts and the queen of spades (called "Shooting the moon", which is very hard to do), then that player receives 0 points while all other players receive 26 points, unless the player would cause someone else to reach the score limit and would not be the one having the least points (which would not make him win the game). In this case the player shooting the moon would just lose 26 points.

The game ends as soon as one or more player reach the score limit. The player with the least points wins the game.

Strategy

In Hearts, it is best to try to lose tricks, as winning them will contribute nothing to your score. At the pass, you should try to keep all your hearts and the Queen of Spades, if you have it, and pass your highest cards of other suits. (EXCEPTION: A low heart should be passed whenever possible so to save yourself exposure to a moonshot; see below.)

When you cannot follow suit in a trick, you should either play your highest heart, the queen of spades, or the highest card of another suit; that way, you have more low cards than high cards. When you can follow suit in a trick, you should play the highest card you have that will not win the trick. When leading, you should play your lowest card.

Another strategy is to keep the queen of spades, but only if you have at least three other spades. Controlling the queen of spades can allow you to let someone else capture it, relieving you of its 13 points, but this can backfire if someone leads with a spade and you only have a few spades in your hand including the queen. So, if you do not have at least 4 spades in your hand including the queen, then pass it.

Additionally, if someone is taking a lot of hearts, and has taken the queen, it may be wise to intentionally capture a heart yourself. This is known as a "sacrifice," and, while it may not let you win the game, it does prevent someone from shooting the moon.

Hearts often requires three players to tacitly collude against one. During a hand, for example, one player might try to shoot the moon while the other three co-operate in order to prevent him.

Over the course of a whole game, who co-operates and who gets ganged up on will depend on the betting system chosen. The table-setter determines whether the winner receives the entire pot ('winner takes all') or whether the pot is shared by the three lowest-scoring players in proportion to the number of points they have ('proportionate take').

In a winner takes all match, it makes sense for three players to gang up on the player with the lowest score. But in a proportionate take match, it might profit three players to gang up on the player with the highest score, forcing him out while the other three have relatively low score and high expected payouts.

There tend to be more proportionate take tables than winner takes all ones, and the stakes tend to be higher at proportionate take tables. You can make a fair return on Hearts, without ever winning a game, by playing proportionate take games and simply avoiding getting too close to the score limit. (Playing to come second by picking on the weakest player doesn't sound like an honourable path to riches, but what kind of pirate are you if you let that worry you, eh?)

The pass is one of the most important parts of the hearts game. A good pass takes a few items into account:

Cover your pass. It's often important, against good players, to make sure that your pass contains a low heart (specifically, a heart you know you can beat). That helps to stop a player from an easy moon-shot when they pass themselves out of low hearts (since they will eventually need to either lead the low heart or surrender it).
Pass to void a suit if possible. Running yourself out of a suit on the pass enables you to get an early advantage when discarding cards. Clubs are slightly less valuable to pass out of (since you cannot dump a scoring card on the first trick) but if you can pass yourself down to one club you will be in good shape. Passing out of hearts increases your chances of shooting the moon, especially against weaker players who are less likely to pass you a covering heart.
Passing the two of clubs to another player will enable you to dump a higher club on the first trick.
Track your passes. At the start of every hand with a pass, you know where three of the cards in the deck are in addition to your hand. Use that to your advantage, especially in spades if you pass the queen or other high spades.

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Trophies

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