Hearts Strategy
Hearts rewards patience and card counting far more than luck. These tactics will steadily lower your score.
Play Hearts Now1. Pass your danger cards
The best cards to pass are high hearts (A, K, Q, J), the Queen of Spades, and the Ace and King of spades — those high spades can be forced to capture the Queen. If you keep the Queen, keep low spades with her as "guards" so you're not forced to play her early.
2. Create a void
If you can pass away all your cards of one suit, you create a void. Being void lets you legally dump the Queen of Spades or high hearts onto a trick you can't follow — one of the most powerful tools in the game.
3. Play low and duck tricks
You usually want to lose tricks. Play just under the current high card when you can, keeping a few low cards in reserve so you always have a safe card to play late in the hand when points come out.
4. Hunt the Queen of Spades
The Queen is 13 of the 26 points — controlling her decides most hands. If you don't hold her, leading spades can flush her out of an opponent's hand. Track whether she's been played; until she has, every spade trick is dangerous.
5. Watch for the moon
If one opponent is suspiciously taking every trick with points, they may be shooting the moon. Take a single point yourself to break it up — far cheaper than eating 26. Only attempt to shoot yourself when you hold strong high cards in a couple of suits and can control the lead.