When it comes to playing Hearts, once you've made your passes you have to play your

cards as best you can. While shooting the moon (getting all 26 points) is possible for
experienced players, these beginner tips will presume that you are not trying to shoot
the moon, and are just looking for some basic Hearts strategy tips.
THE FIRST TRICK
Not many options here. If you have the Two of Clubs, you're

leading it. Since no points can fall on the first trick, play your highest club. If you are void
in clubs, then use the opportunity to trash an otherwise dangerous high card (like an
Ace or King of Spades), or try to void yourself in a second suit. More voids means more
opportunities later.

BLEEDING SPADES
Generally speaking, after the first trick falls, any player who is not in danger of taking the
queen of spades will want to lead spades as much as possible. The main theory behind
this is simple: If spades keeps being led, the players with the A, K and Q will eventually
have to play them. If you're not holding any of those cards, you want to force them into
play as soon as possible, so someone else gets stuck with those 13 points.

If you fail to bleed spades, the player holding the queen may be able to create a void in
another suit (such as clubs or diamonds) and then dump the queen on an off-suit trick.
Unless you are holding a near-perfect hand with no high cards likely to win any tricks,

your battle plan should probably involve leading spades as much as possible until the
queen has fallen on someone else.

DEFENDING SPADES
Conversely, if you are stuck with an undefended Q, K or A of spades, you are in danger
of taking the queen if spades keeps being led. Your goal should be to create a void as
soon as possible, by leading suits of which you only have one or two cards. By dumping
your only two diamonds, for example, you can hope that someone else leads diamonds
and allows you to drop your bad spade.

If you are holding the Queen of Spades, another option is to lead your longer suit (clubs
or diamonds) and hope someone else is void. Since you hold the Queen of Spades, the
worst that will happen is that a few heart points will fall on you. Once this happens,
hearts will have been broken, and people may lead hearts instead of spades. If you
have few hearts and can dump the queen on a hearts trick, this is ideal.

HEARTS
These are the bad cards. Once you avoid the Queen of Spades, you want to try not to
get many of these. Sounds easy, right? Well, it depends what cards you have in your
hand. If you have low hearts, you don't have to worry, since you can duck under any
hearts lead. If you're holding high hearts, you want to try to dump them on someone
else as soon as possible, and not lead hearts.

VOIDS
If you can create an early void, by getting rid of all your cards of a single suit, you
should almost always do so. Doing this means that the next time that suit is led, you can
get rid of your worst card, which is a very powerful position.

Likewise, it's important to keep track of other players at the table who have voids, so
you don't lead a suit you might get stuck with.

COUNTING
While not strictly necessary to play Hearts, you will do a lot better if you can keep track
of how many of each suit has been played. This is less difficult than it might sound; until
someone reveals a void by dumping an off-suit card, the number of cards played of any
suit will be divisible by 4.

This is important information to keep track of to avoid playing into other players' voids.
For example, if three full rounds of clubs have been played, and you have a club in your
hand, it is the last one. Leading it will let everyone else dump cards on you.

Choosing the three cards to pass at the beginning of the round is a key part
of Heartsstrategy. This is the best opportunity you will have to improve your hand,
especially by getting rid of cards that could be problematic for you.
After the pass, the only way to get cards out of your hand is to play them, so if a card is
too dangerous to play, it's best to pass it.

SPADES
In spite of the game having
the name of "Hearts", the most important suit in a game of Hearts is actually spades.
Why? Because the Queen of Spades is worth 13 points, which is as much as all the
hearts combined. Avoiding the Queen of Spades (when not shooting the moon) is your
primary goal each round.
Because of the Queen of Spades, the three most dangerous cards in the deck are the
Ace of Spades, King of Spades, and the Queen of Spades itself. These are the three
cards mostly likely to result in the person who plays them winning the queen, and thus
suffering the 13-point penalty. Generally speaking, these three cards are problems that
you should pass on to someone else.

First, though, count the spades in your hand. If you have four or more, spades is a
reasonably "long" suit for you, which means you have enough of them not to worry
about your high spade. In fact, if you have at least four spades, it's usually better to hold
onto the queen rather than passing it. This way, you can control what trick the queen
falls

on, and hopefully dump it off on someone else.

Any spades lower than the queen should always be held onto.

HEARTS
While not as dangerous as high spades, hearts is the other suit that is full of points. Low
hearts are actually quite valuable, since they will keep you from winning tricks full of four
hearts. High hearts (jack or better) should generally be passed for the same reason,
unless you are long in hearts.

CLUBS AND DIAMONDS

High cards here aren't as dangerous as the other suits, but they're a lot less dangerous
if you have low cards to back them up. If you only have one or two cards in one of these
suits, you should pass them both, in order to create a void suit. By getting rid of all your
cards in one suit, you can get rid of your trash whenever that suit is led.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Aces are the best cards to pass to the left. The reason for this is that aces are the most
likely cards to win tricks, and you want the player on your left to win tricks. If she does,
she will lead the next trick, allowing you to play last in the trick, so you can see exactly
what to play.
The Queen of Spades is a good card to pass to the right, because the player on your
right always plays before you unless you lead the trick. This means that on any trick you
don't lead, you will know before you play your card whether the Queen of Spades can
possibly fall on the current trick. This is a tremendous advantage.

Generally speaking, your goal in a round of Hearts is to take the fewest points.
However, if you manage to take all 26 points in a round, this is called "shooting the
moon", and you get to subtract 26 points from your total instead.
Although difficult to do and generally not recommended for beginners, here are some
tips on how to shoot the moon in Hearts:

Consider the possibility of failure.

If you try

to shoot the moon, and miss by a single heart, you will instead gain 25 points. If you're
at 75 points or more, then this will end the game with you in last place. Be sure you can
afford to fail -- or be sure that you are good enough not to.

Check your hand.

You don't just need some high cards to shoot the moon; you need most of them. You'll
also generally want a long suit in which you hold at least six cards, including most (if not
all) of the royalty. Every hole in your hand, every missing ace, is a trick someone else
could take to ruin your plan.
Pass wisely.
If you are trying to shoot the moon, you can't afford to have any cards in hand that will
force you to lose a trick with points in it. If you have a suit with only low cards in it, get
rid of those cards. Passing low cards may make it obvious to your recipient that you are
trying to shoot the moon, so be aware of this fact.

Also, keep in mind that some players will hold on to a high card, rather than passing it,
precisely to prevent

other players from shooting the moon. If the player passing to you is likely to do this, it
will make shooting the moon much harder.
If you are missing some important cards (especially aces), and you pass away all your
low cards, you may end up with a 25 point hand if the player next to you holds an ace.

Pay very close attention to the "holes" in your hand once the round starts.
If you have the K, Q, J, 8, 7, 3 of diamonds, look to see when someone plays the ace.
Once they do, you hold the three highest diamonds and can likely go on a run later in
the game if you get the lead.

But until the ace of diamonds falls, you don't hold the highest card, and someone else
can stop your run. Until that ace falls, you may not want to tip your hand and make your
moonshot attempt too blatant. Otherwise that annoying missing ace may come back to
take one heart at the wrong time and ruin your plans.

Once the cards that can stop you have been played, it's time to take control.
A popular method is to use your high cards to take tricks repeatedly, and then play your
long suit starting with the highest card to run the table. By the time you hit the lower
cards in your long suit, everyone else should be void, so you should win the tricks even
with a three.

Be sure you have some high hearts.

Once hearts are broken, you may want to be able to lead A, K, Q of hearts, in order to
take three rounds of hearts from other players. It's okay to have a single low card like a
five of clubs lingering in your hand at the end of your run, so long as you have already
taken all the hearts.

What you want to avoid is the scenario where you run the table but on the final trick, you
play a five of clubs, your neighbor plays the jack of clubs she was saving, and someone
else drops a heart to give her a point -- and ruin your moonshot.

If you can clear out all the hearts early on, all you have to worry about is the queen of
spades. Once you get all of that, it doesn't matter if you have a few cards stuck in your
hand that will lose you tricks, because you have all the points.

Above all, remember that shooting the moon is a rare occurrence.

If you aren't sure if you should take the risk with your hand, it's probably safer not to try.

How to remember the cards that have been played

To be a great euchre player, you have to be able to remember the cards that are played.
Foreuchre where there are only 24 cards, this is not nearly as difficult as it is for a game like bridgewhere
there are 52 cards. But even with 24 cards it is easy to forget “what’s out there”. Here is a (nearly)
practical method you can use for remembering the cards that are played. It takes some practice but once
you get it, it’ll be much easier and your natural memory skills will

improve immensely.

Pictures are easier to remember than cards

The key to memorizing cards is to substitute a memorable picture for each card. Cards themselves are
not very memorable but your pictures can be.

The system works like this. Suppose Spades were trump and you wanted to keep track of the Ace of
Spades. It’s relatively easy to do if this is the only card you are trying to remember. Essentially, you will
just keep paying attention to what is played until you see the Ace of Spades. But if you were trying to
remember every spade that was played along with all the off-suit cards, you would soon find it nearly
impossible.

That’s where the substitution system comes into play. To use the system you substitute a different word
for Ace of Spades and then create a memorable picture about the card when it’s played. A suitable
substitute word for Ace of Spades is the word Suit. To remember when something is played, it is useful to
picture a destroyed version of you substitute word. For example, when the Ace of Spades is played you
picture in your mind’s eye a suit that has been ripped, torn and worn. The more damaged the suit the
better. When you wonder whether a card has been played or not you look at the substitute word in your
mind and see its condition. If it’s destroyed, the card is played. If not, the card has not been played.

Here is a complete list of substitute pictures you can use for each card. For the system to work you need
to memorize these substitute words.

Ace of Spades - Suit

King of Spades - Sing
Queen of Spades - Steam
Jack of Spades - Spade
10 of Spades - Sauce
9 of Spades - Soap

Ace of Clubs - Cat

King of Clubs - King
Queen of Clubs - Cream
Jack of Clubs - Club
10 of Clubs - Case
9 of Clubs - Cob
Ace of Diamonds - Dot
King of Diamonds - Drink
Queen of Diamonds - Dream
Jack of Diamonds - Diamond
10 of Diamonds - Dice
9 of Diamonds - Diaper

Ace of Hearts - Hat

King of Hearts - Hinge
Queen of Hearts - Queen
Jack of Hearts - Heart
10 of Hearts - Hose
9 of Hearts - Hoop

Practice makes perfect.

The way to practice these is to take a euchre deck and shuffle them up. Deal 4 cards face down and keep
them separated from the rest of the cards. Next, flip over cards one at a time creating pictures in your
mind of the destroyed substitute words. For example, the 10 of diamonds would be crushed dice, the
Queen of hearts would be a beaten queen, etc. Don’t move on to the next card until you’ve created a
memorable picture in your mind. When you get to the end of the deck try to guess what the four face
down cards are.

You should practice this exercise a couple of times a day until it becomes second nature. After that you
will need to do it once or twice a week just to keep in practice. And you should use it during a euchre
game. At the very least using a system will make you pay more attention to the cards which will
automatically make you remember better.

For more information about memorizing things like cards, numbers, faces and other things check out the
excellent book by Harry Lorayne, Super Power Memory.
Hearts Strategy - Passing

With considerable latitude in play, Hearts allows players to create and improvise
strategies that can make the game exciting and fun. Obviously, it is of prime
importance to avoid taking points, but it is often a better strategy to plan on taking just
a few at every hand. This keeps opponents from running and delivering 26 points to
your scoresheet.

What to pass from your hand during the passing phase is the first place that strategy
comes into play. First, it is nearly always a mistake to pass low spades (jack or under).
A low spade is usually the safest lead for any player except the one who holds the
queen, thus they are handy cards to have. Also, you might be passed the queen of
spades and it is always good to have this card backed up by as many other cards as
possible to prevent other players from playing low spades until you have to play the
queen of spades on yourself.

If you are dealt the queen of spades the decision to pass it can be excruciating. It is
almost always wise to hold it if you have at least three cards behind it. It should
probably be passed with two or less spades behind it. The great thing about holding it
is that you know where it is and when it can be played and you can sometimes
orchestrate play so that it is played on your leading opponent.

If you absolutely must pass the queen of spades, don't forget where you have passed
it. You may be passed the ace or king of spades and must know when it is safe to play
(behind the player with the queen once he has played a different spade).

It should be an object in passing to void yourself in either diamonds or clubs. To be

void in one of these suits helps to slough hearts onto your opponents and also relieve
yourself of high cards in other suits. But this is merely a broad objective. Since the
player passing to you will have the same objective in mind, you are quite likely to get
cards similar or worse than to those you are passing. However, if you are lucky, you
will acquire an unbalanced hand with many of one suit and few or none of another.

Should you pass hearts? No, and then again yes. Generally, it is best to keep your
hearts for sloughing on your opponents. It is better to be void in another suit. Yet ...
there is one good reason to pass a middling heart to your opponent. If he is
considering running, this will nearly always provide a "poison pill". For during play,
if you hold a high heart and your opponent must play the middling heart, you hold his
stopper. If you take four points as a result, it is a small price to pay to prevent a run.

Now, if you are dealt a hand full of high cards, with no hearts or the ace, king, queen
of hearts you can throw all of the above advice out the window. You may be in a
position to "run". In this case, you want to hord your high cards and pass your low
stuff. If you have any low hearts, pass them (unless you have so many high hearts as
to make them safe) so they will not act as a "poison pill". Remember, to run, you do
not need all the tricks, merely all the points.

A good pass is half the battle in hearts. You can also read passes from other players as
unintended signals. A player passing ace, king or queen of spades is likely short of
this suit. A player passing low hearts (especially two or more) is contemplating a run.
A player passing a low spade is probably a novice. A pass of low cards in general
means possible run.

Passing is somewhat of an art and somewhat of a science, but, ultimately, hearts is just
a game and it is well not to take it too seriously
Hearts Play Strategies

Knowing what to play on the first trick is easy. If you have the two of
clubs, you must lead it. As you cannot slough any points on the first trick,
use this opportunity to get rid of a high club, if you are void in clubs,
slough another high card, perhaps a king or ace of spades - two cards that
could lead to trouble later if they are not sufficiently backed up.

Many players go right into leading spades. This is done in order to force
the queen out, and it is considered the safest lead possible. The worst that
can happen is the trick could draw a heart or two. This is something that
the holder of a shallow queen of spades will dread. Her best strategy is
then to seize the lead, if possible, and divert her opponents by leading
back diamonds or clubs. An alternative strategy is to come back with high
diamonds or clubs in order to draw a heart. Once the heart is broken she
can dish out a low heart which can cause a heart war that might create a
distraction from her precarious spade position, and for a shallow queen of
spades, any distraction is a good distraction.

This heart war may occur because of a common tactic when playing the
heart suit. When a player must take a trick, he should do so with as high a
card as possible. This leaves him with the opportunity to dish out a low
card in the same suit, getting rid of the lead and forcing another player to
take several points. This can create a vicious cycle, especially where
hearts are involved.

Of course, playing low and avoiding the queen are paramount, but this
does not mean that a player should avoid points altogether. Taking a few
points in every hand is generally a good idea because it prevents any
other player from running. The best way to stop other players from
running is to save a high heart and not slough it until at least two people
have points. Holding back a stopper to prevent a run is only good sense,
especially if you are sure your opponents have a middling heart losers
(which you may well have passed at least one of them).

In games with sharp players, a successful run is infrequent. This is

because a table of sharp players will generally pass a middling heart and
orient their own hand in such a way as to prevent the run by their
opponents while minimizing their own exposure to points, especially the
queen of spades. But there will be times when the cards align to almost
make a run seem inevitable. The best configuration for a run will be when
no heart losers are held or only the very highest hearts in sequence. Ace,
king and queen of hearts is nice, but trying to run with the king, queen,
jack is a dangerous maneuver.
If such a run were to be attempted, the running player should try to draw
the ace before making his intention to run perfectly obvious. Otherwise,
the ace will be a sure stopper. If a player has a mere middling heart loser,
another strategy is to lead high in clubs or diamonds until a heart has been
drawn and then lead back the middling heart. If the opponents are not sure
of his intentions they might let the trick slide and put the prospective
runner in a good position to run.

Hearts is as much a game of personalities and bluffing as is poker. It

requires skill and intuition to determine how opponents will react to
certain styles of play. For example, a player who tries and fails to run
frequently will be watched so closely in subsequent play that his
prospects of any deceptive plays become impossible. Also, inexperienced
players tend to shy away from running, so they usually need not be
played closely. This means that when passing to such a player, you do not
have to worry so much about making certain they have a middling heart
or that by passing them three low hearts you are sending a clear signal of
your intention to run.

There are so many possibilities of different hands that it is impossible to

make provision or comment on every circumstance. The key to remember
is that Hearts is only a game. Play it well, but play it to have fun.

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