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Hearts Tips & Strategies
Start up your copy of Championship Hearts All-Stars because we have some expert tips and strategy from former National Hearts Champion Joe Andrews. Andrews is tournament director for several live tournaments nationwide and he has authored several books, including Win at Hearts available through Amazon.com. Pay attention because he's ready to share his tricks to help you improve your Hearts game!
Do you have your own copy of Championship Hearts All-Stars? Try a free trial of this popular game title, available for Windows, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC and Palm OS devices. Our interactive tutorial and five different skill levels make game play enjoyable and challenging for beginners and experts alike. Read the following tips, then try out what you learn when you play your copy of Championship Hearts All-Stars!
Tips for getting started with Championship Hearts All-Stars:
- Use the Difficulty menu to quickly set the "intelligence" of your opponents with five levels of difficulty.
- Adjust game speed and other options in the Settings menu.
- Click on the trickcard to quickly show the last trick played.
- Try all Game variations, or make your own!
- Play the Hearts 101 tutorial to improve your game.
- Get hints and undo bad plays, or disable practice options to resist the temptation!
- Change the look of your game with free skins and art selections.
- Partner or opponents frustrating? Throw a pie at them!
- Track your improvement with detailed history and statistics.
Tips From Joe Andrews:
In his book Win at Hearts, Joe Andrews shares techniques and strategies he has acquired through extensive play and competition. Take a look at three tips excerpted from his acclaimed book below:
Planning & Strategy
After the pass has been made, and the Club Deuce has been led -- you are ready to go! If you have the Spade Queen with sufficient "backers" (supporting Spades), you are already in good shape. You will be extracting the opponents' Spades, and cashing out winners in your side suits -- and attempting to strategically unload the Spade Queen. Another good technique is taking the first played Heart -- which removes the threat of an opponent Shooting the Moon. If you do not hold the "lady," you must be prepared to watch every card, and make some logical assumptions. For example, if the player who wins the first trick does NOT play Spades, it is quite obvious that he/she has Spade problems. He may begin to strip his hand of high minor suits (Clubs/Diamonds), and then exit safely with a low card. You may rest assured that he will want to dump his Spade Queen. If he has a short Ace or King of Spades, he may try to maneuver his opponent on the left to lead into his high Spade. Your mission should be to lead low Spades repeatedly so as to smoke out the enemy Queen -- or to avoid taking the lead in a risky situation. "Cutthroat" Hearts is a game of collusion. Temporary Partnerships are often formed for these objectives:
- Smoking or driving out the Spade Queen
- Stopping a potential Slam (Moonshot)
- Dumping the Spade Queen on the person who has the low score
- Protecting the person who has the high score (in order to prolong the game -- especially if you are in third place)
- Allowing a certain player to Shoot the Moon -- if the result does not hurt you -- or end the game prematurely
If you are in third place toward the end of a game, it does not make sense to pass the Spade Queen to the person in fourth place -- and then lead Spades after you take the first (or any subsequent) trick. If you must pass the Spade Queen in this situation, by all means, pass one or two "backers," and hope that your opponent receiving your pass does not panic and dump the lady on you! On the other hand, (no pun intended!), if you are in first place, you want the game to end. You will do anything to drive the last place player over the top!
Remember, the object of individual (cutthroat) Hearts is to WIN! You must be able to determine who might want (or be forced) to give you help at a given moment. Always stay alert!
The Pass
An essential part of the game of Hearts is the ability to make the proper pass. The correct technique will save you many points during the course of a typical game. Since you must face a passing decision (of 3 cards) at the beginning of every hand, it is in your best interest to learn this aspect of the game. (Note that some events and sites have a "keeper" or "hold" hand on every fourth deal, and there is no pass for these hands.) The primary feature of the pass is the opportunity it provides for you to improve your hand. Of course, if you can hurt a particular opponent with a brutal pass, that is ideal. Once you have sorted your cards and analyzed your holding, you must decide what to do. We will break down the passing technique in a specific order by suits: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. The latter two are equal and often referred to as "minor" suits ("X" indicates a non-face card).
1. Analyze the Spade Suit
The first rule of passing is to analyze the Spade suit. The Spade suit is the most critical, and the top three honors (Ace, King, and Queen) are concerns. If you are dealt the Ace or King with fewer than three other Spades lower than the Queen (e.g. A-9-7; K-7-5; A-J-3; K-2, etc.), you are urged to pass the Ace or King. These high Spades are tailor-made for gobbling up the Queen, and you don't want either one in your hand without sufficient protection. An interesting gambit is the voiding of either minor suit, while retaining a weak Ace or King of Spades. If you are passed no cards in the suit you voided, you will be able to discard the high Spade. Or -- you may get lucky and have your left hand opponent win the first trick and conveniently lead a low Spade -- to your Ace or King in fourth position. The drawback to this technique is that you may be passed cards in the suit you voided, and worse yet, your right-hand opponent may grab the first trick, and lead through your Ace or King of Spades. If you are dealt the Queen of Spades with less than four accompanying Spades (often called "backers"), you should pass her. Otherwise, the opponents may drive her out with repeated Spade leads. There are times when you have to gamble and keep the Queen with only three backers -- especially if the rest of your hand is very bad. There is a case to be argued for keeping the Spade Queen with three low Spades -- and hoping to receive the Ace or King. Obviously, Q-x-x or Q-x demands that the Queen be passed. I will review "Spade Suit Management" in greater detail in a future column.
2. Analyze the Heart Suit
The second rule of passing is to analyze the Heart suit. You have already determined that your Spade suit is safe, or you have made the appropriate pass of the Ace, King, or Queen. Now it is time to review your Hearts holding. Each high Heart in your hand represents a potential of four points. Unless you hold Ace, King, Queen with great length (six or preferably more), or Ace, King, Queen, Jack, with a few low cards as well -- your high Hearts may fetch a bushel of points. Thus, you should make every effort to pass two or three of these high Hearts. This may allow an opponent to "shoot the moon" -- a far better result than eating 20 or more points all by yourself. Of course, if your high Hearts are accompanied by low spots such as the Deuce, Three, and/or Four or Five, you can now pass your second-highest Heart only. (It could stop a potential Moon.) Never pass a singleton Ace or King (from K-x or K-x-x). When you pass a middle Heart, you must plan on winning this trick, especially if the Spade Queen has appeared, and the Heart you passed is now led.
3. Analyze the Minor Suit
The third and last rule of passing is to analyze the minor suits. You have already taken care of the Spade and Heart suits. Hopefully, you had minimal problems there, and you had the chance to take care of a weak Club or Diamond suit. A suit with low cards is a lot safer than one with middle and/or higher cards. A suit such as K-J-10-9-8 is a very strong candidate to fetch the Spade Queen, whereas a suit such as A-K-Q-10-8-5-3-2 is ironclad and virtually immune for attack. Why is this so? The answer is the control of those nice low cards. Every effort should be made to pass two or three cards from a very weak minor suit holding. If your hand is loaded with high cards in both minor suits, consider unloading a Heart suit of less than four-card length -- with the idea of Shooting the Moon (especially if no Heart is passed to you).
In summary, it is not the high cards in the minor suits (I suppose this can apply to Hearts as well) that cause problems. It is the lack of low cards in a weak suit that ultimately collapses the hand. Any suit (other than Spades) with which you cannot duck a trick when you want to, is a most inviting situation for a player to blast you with the Queen of Spades. Of course, all hands are different, and you must make decisions based on priorities.
Left Passing Situations
Here we want to utilize certain card combinations in the Spade and Club suits. Let us look at two hands. It is the beginning of a game, or the pass is to the left during the course of a game. Assume in the latter case that the score is close:
| Hand #1 |  A 10 3 |
 K 10 2 |
 K Q 6 5 |
 A 5 2 |
| Hand #2 | K J 5 |
A Q 9 4 3 |
Q 9 4 |
A 10 |
| Hand #3 | A 5 3 2 |
K Q 7 |
K |
A K J 3 |
Remember the pass is to the left here. In each of these hands, you hold a high spade, the Ace of Clubs, and no reasonable expectation for a Moon, barring poor defense or a ridiculous pass of high Hearts. Here is the best way to handle the pass for each hand.
Hand #1
You have a very flat hand here, that is, there are no distributional features. The impulse is to pass the Ace of spades and two other cards. Give yourself a better chance! Pass the Ace of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, and a high Diamond. Keep the big Spade! The idea is to induce West to take the Ace of Clubs on the first trick and to lead a Spade to your Ace. This strategy might backfire if West holds the Queen of Spades (a one out of three possibility). You have a really bad Diamond suit, and two rather chunky Hearts. Passing the Ten of Hearts will save four points, and will stop a possible Moon by West. Shortening the Diamond suit is an improvement. Unloading the high Club helps as well. Finally, if the Spade Queen is passed to you, the Ace is another backer.
Hand #2
This is a lot easier. Drop the two Clubs and the Nine of Hearts. I like keeping the Queen of Hearts here, in case the player on your right is greedy and passes the King of Hearts and the Jack of Hearts to you. Now, you have a void in clubs, and a possible place to unload the Spade King, if you don't receive a Spade lead from the left.
Hand #3
This hand gets mixed reviews. You do hold Ace - fourth of Spades, and I recommend that you always keep the Ace or King of Spades whenever you have at least three low supporting spades. The only kicker here is that accompanying Spades are really small and Spades leads from the right could be a problem. Drop the stiff Diamond, the Ace of Clubs, and the Queen of Hearts. Now you have a potential void in a minor suit, and the same chance of receiving a favorable Spade lead. If the Spade Queen is passed to you, she will fit in nicely with those four Spades. I would not object to the alternate pass of the Ace and King of Clubs and the Heart Queen.
Summary:
When holding Ace or King of Spades and at least two other smaller Spades, as well as a side Ace of Clubs, keep the big Spade, and pass the Ace of Clubs, a middle (stopper) Heart, and another card of your choice. This technique will save you a lot of points.
Counting to 13 - the Spades suit.
Spades important in Hearts? Yes!
In the game of the Hearts, the Queen of Spades is the key card. Understanding the basics about the Spades suit can often make the difference between avoiding the Evil Lady and taking an unnecessary 13 points! Take a look at this layout of Spades after the pass to the left. (Assume that there is no possibility for a Moon, and the game is in its early stage.)
| North:K 7 6 5 |
||
| West:J 10 9 |
East:4 2 |
|
| South: (You)A Q 8 3 |
||
You have received the Ace and the Queen of Spades from East. At first glance, you appear to be in trouble. You have only three guards ("backers") for your Spade Queen, and anyone with four small Spades will be on your case. However, his Royal Majesty, the King of Spades, may be favorably located, and perhaps you will have a chance for salvation. West wins the Ace of Clubs on the first trick, and plays the Jack of Spades -- a card that is very pleasing to you. North must duck, unless he has good reason to believe that West is underleading the Queen -- a rather remote possibility. East plays low, and now, you must duck, too. Taking the Ace would make no sense here. Let the hand play on! West continues with the tenspot, and two more low Spades appear, as you drop your 8. The 9 (a card that warms your Heart) initiates the third round of Spades, and now North is squirming. His last low Spade appears, and East drops a middle Heart. NOW, you win the Ace.
Many lazy players would shift to another suit. Perhaps North might discard that "hot" Spade King on a Club or Diamond lead. You are not lazy. You can count to 13, and you know that the King is still out. After all, three rounds of Spades have been played, and the count is 11. Your Queen is the 12th Spade, and his Nibs is #13! Thus, you make the bold play of the Queen of Spades, and sure enough, she catches the King, and the opponents are impressed. (Well, maybe they aren't; it all depends on who is sitting at the table.) In any case, you have avoided 13 points. In the early days of the New England Hearts Players' Association, this maneuver was called "The Spear Play." In summary, when you hold the Spade Queen and a short suit as in the example above, be on the lookout for the favorable lead, and watch the cards that appear, and count those Spades!
Now you've read all the tips and tricks to help you become an expert Hearts player, so pick up your copy of Championship Hearts All-Stars and test your skills! Play at five different skill levels and keep track of your game using the detailed statistics option. Once you've mastered Championship Hearts All-Stars, the games have just begun!Championship Hearts is available for Windows, Windows Mobile/Pocket PC and Palm OS platforms today!
