In this note I wrote about a short guide on how to play "Hearts". If you are not familiar in this game Hearts is a card-tricking game that have 4 players to play with a standard 52 deck of cards each player will be given randomly shuffled 13 cards.
General Rules
At the start of the game 4 players have their 13 cards, whoever has 2 of clubs will lead the trick first. On round 1 choose 3 cards from your hand and pass it to your opponent to the left, round 2 pass it to the right, round 3 pass it across, and on round 4 no passing is allowed. Do this cycle until the game ends. Each of player takes turn, playing in clockwise rotation. Match the suit of the player's leading card otherwise play the other card if you can't match the same suit. The player who plays the high value card will take the trick and lead the next trick. You cannot lead with a heart until the hearts has been broken. Queen of spades and Hearts are cannot be played on first trick. Don't play any high value card if you want to avoid taking points/ trick. Whoever has a lowest score and the other player hits 100 points, the player with the lowest score won the game.
Card Value
The highest value card in this game is Ace and below that are the face cards and the numbers (2 is the lowest) Highest ⬆️ Ace King Queen Jack 10 - 2 Lowest⬇️
Scoring System
Every heart is worth 1 point and Queen of spades worth 13 points. Heart = 1 point Queen of Spades = 13 points
Shoot the Moon
If a player takes all hearts and Queen of Spades, instead of taking 26 points the rest of the players will take 26 points each.
Gameplay
In this part you'll see a series of pictures from my game (first and last round only). I pointed out what I did and what should I do in the particular spot.
I got a good draw of cards here, 1 Ace, 5 face cards, and 8 numbers.In this spot I will pass the high value card which is the Ace and Jack of diamonds, and Queen of Clubs. My East opponent passed 9 of clubs, King of Diamonds, and King of Spades.North leads the trick with 2 of clubs and unexpectedly the East plays Ace of spades which is good move considering that this player have no clubs suit.So I played my highest club card. West took the trick, lead the next, and received zero point.In this turn everyone has to play spade and I play my highest spade card because I don't want to take trick in further turns.I drop out my King of Spades, take the trick, lead the next trick and received zero points.Here I did play my High Diamonds.West ended up taking 1 point due to North opponent broke the Hearts. West leading the next trick.West played low spades and also the other players.I play 10 of spades here and take the trick.In this spot I would play for either of clubs or diamonds but the safer option is to play the low diamond card. Playing clubs in this spot is fine and playing 7 of spades here is risky because you will have to play Queen of Spades in next turn and taking 13 points (if they play spades).You can't play hearts unless you have not the card of the leading suit. Everyone played Diamonds except North. East taking 1 point here due to North played a heart card. East lead the trick with 3 of Hearts.I follow up with 4 of Hearts, West played 6 of Hearts, and North played 2 of Hearts. Thus, West taking the trick and received 4 points.West and North played spades suit then East played a high Hearts.So I match the suit and played 7 of Spades. I can't play Queen of Spades here. West took the trick again.Here, this is the good scenario of dropping out the liability .I can't match the suit so I immediately played the Queen of Spades. West took the trick and received 15 points.West lead the trick with diamonds.Everyone played diamonds except North. East took the trick and will lead the trick next turn.East leads 9 of Hearts……and I played my highest clubs. West played Jack of Hearts and will take the trick.West lead the trick with 10 of Hearts, Me and North can't match the leading suit so we played our spare cards. East matched it with King of hearts, took the trick and received 2 points.The round ends after that turn even though we had 2 cards each left on hand because all the hearts and Queen of Spades has been played. Me and North won the round.
Last Round
In this round someone attempted the "Shoot the Moon" and I'll show you on how to play in this situation.
Started the round with 1 Ace, 4 face cards and 8 numbers. I got another pretty decent cards and hearts to play a trick.I raised two of my High Spades and hesitated to pass another high value card but……I ended up giving all my spades to West. What I did was a gigatroll because East could've gave me an Ace of Spades and take a trick from that.But luckily, East gave me a 7,8, and Queen of Diamonds.North leads the trick and……I match the suit with my highest clubs. I'm taking the trick and leading the next trick.In this spot I have an option to play high diamonds but I'm thinking that West might play Queen of Spades……so I decided to play my 7 of clubs. East took the trick and leading the next trick.East lead the trick with 7 of spades but I can't match the suit so I'm thinking of breaking hearts on this spot however…… I decided to play my highest Diamonds. North took the trick and leading the next trick.North lead the trick with 2 of spades but I can't match the suit again so I did what I did on previous turn…… I played my highest diamonds. You sent West took the trick and leading the next trick.West lead the trick with 4 of clubs and they matched it with clubs. Again.I can't match the suit so I played my highest diamonds. North took the trick and leading the next trick.North lead the trick with 2 of diamonds…… and we matched it with diamonds. East took the trick and leading the next trick.Okay, East played Ace of Spades maybe this player is out of playing a low value card. This is a bad spot for East.I can't match the suit again and West played the Queen of Spades. In previous turn I carefully watched West because it might play Queen of Spades that I gave earlier considering that I had 3 High diamonds. East took the trick and received 13 points.East lead the trick with Jack of Hearts and we all matched it with low hearts…… but still ended up taking the trick and received 4 points.In this turn I'm taking an eye of East because it might do a "Shoot the moon" mechanic. I decided to play low hearts instead of high hearts. If you played high hearts in this spot you're dogshit.We matched the suit except for West. East took the trick and received 3 points.East lead the trick with King of hearts……I matched I with 7 of hearts, West played 5 of spades, and North played 5 of diamonds. East took the trick again and received 3 points.East lead the trick with 2 of Hearts which is a bad move because I ended the possible 26 points slam.Me and 2 other players are bailed out. If East played a higher hearts than me, it could've continue the 26 points slam and we received 26 points each instead of East. I took the trick and received 3 points.I've successfully beat the "Shoot the moon" attempt by East and taking the rest of the trick.I won this game with lowest score among them and East exceeds 100 points.
Shoot the Moon tip
In this game shooting the moon is a "high risk high reward" move. Watch out the other players who have a high card and want to slam 26 points. If you want to avoid that keep your high card whenever possible. With a high card you can deny the slam if the player leads a low card.
Hearts is fun if you have friends to play with and I hope you've learned much on how to play hearts in this note. If you have a question drop it to comment section below.
