Breaking Hearts: When Can You Lead a Heart?

Exactly what breaks hearts

Hearts are broken by one event only: a heart being played on a trick. Since you cannot lead a heart while they are unbroken, that first heart is almost always a discard. Someone leads a suit, a player holds none of it, and instead of following they throw a heart on the trick, which is known as sloughing, dumping or painting the trick. Whoever wins that trick takes the point, and hearts are now broken for the rest of the hand.

It must happen on a trick after the first. Under the common rule CardCouch uses, no heart may be played on the opening trick (the one led with the 2 of clubs) unless the player holds nothing else, so in practice the earliest a heart can be broken is trick two.

It does not matter which heart it is or who wins the trick. The 2 of hearts thrown on a diamond lead breaks hearts just as surely as the Ace. Once broken, they stay broken until the next deal, when the count starts over.

What does not break hearts

The Queen of Spades does not. She is worth 13 points, as much as every heart put together, but she is a spade, and the breaking rule is about the heart suit. On CardCouch, and under the common rule, you can play or lead the Queen on any trick after the first and hearts remain unbroken. Some home games use a house rule where any penalty card breaks hearts, Queen included; if you learned it that way, expect the difference here.

Nor does a trick being won with a high card, or a player running out of a suit, or anything else that merely makes a heart likely. A heart has to hit the table.

The exception: a hand of only hearts

If it is your lead and every card you hold is a heart, you may lead one even though hearts are unbroken. The rule exists to stop players forcing points onto the table at will, not to leave anyone with no legal play. Your heart then breaks hearts for everyone.

CardCouch never offers an illegal card, so you do not have to remember this yourself: while hearts are unbroken and you hold another suit, the hearts in your hand simply are not playable on a lead; once only hearts remain, they are. A small "Hearts broken" chip appears in the corner of the table as soon as the first heart falls, so you can always see which situation you are in.

Why the rule exists

Without it, a player with a single low heart could lead it on the second trick and hand a point to whoever is forced to win, then do it again with the next one. The breaking rule makes the first heart a decision somebody has to take, usually under pressure, and it gives the early tricks a different character from the late ones: the opening tricks are about cashing high cards and emptying short suits while everyone can still follow, and the points only start to flow once voids appear.

How it plays out at the table

• The standoff. Nobody wants to be first to give away a point, so in some hands the clubs, diamonds and spades go round and round with hearts still unbroken. The player who runs out of a side suit first is the one who ends it, often happily, because painting an opponent's trick costs them nothing.
• Leading spades while hearts are unbroken. Since the Queen is not covered by the rule, spade leads are the normal way to force her out before anyone can lead hearts. Lead low spades to smoke her out when you do not hold her; never do it while you do.
• Breaking them on purpose. When you are void in the suit led and someone else is clearly winning the trick, a heart is often the best card to throw: it takes one point away from you and puts it on them. Dumping a high heart this way also gets rid of a card that would otherwise win a late heart trick against you.
• After the break. Once hearts are broken, a low heart becomes a safe lead for whoever holds one, and the player holding the Ace and King of hearts is suddenly exposed. That is why the passing guide recommends passing high hearts early and keeping a low one back.

The one time you want hearts broken as late as possible is when someone else is trying to shoot the moon: a high heart kept back is your stopper, because winning one heart trick with it ends the attempt.