Hearts Strategy
Any single hand of Hearts has plenty of luck in it, but over a game patience and card counting win out. 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. The exception is a long spade suit: with four or more spades, the low ones guard the high ones, so you can keep the Queen (or the Ace and King) and follow low until you choose the trick she falls on. Dangerous singletons and doubletons in the other suits are good passes too. Whatever you pass, keep a low card or two in every suit as "stoppers" — a hand of nothing but high cards is forced to win tricks all afternoon. The Queen of Spades guide covers passing her in detail, including why the direction matters.
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. The exceptions are the tricks that cannot hurt you: no points can be played on the first trick under the rule CardCouch uses, so play your highest club on the 2 of clubs, and cash your Aces and Kings in clubs and diamonds early, while everyone still has to follow suit. Count the hearts as they go and remember who showed a void — that is who will throw points on your late winners.
4. Hunt the Queen of Spades
The Queen is 13 of the 26 points — where she lands decides many hands. If you don't hold her, or the Ace or King above her, leading low spades can flush her out of an opponent's hand. Never lead low spades while you hold the Queen yourself, and never win a spade trick with the Ace or King while she is unplayed. If you hold her, wait for a trick someone else is winning and drop her there. 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 high cards in most suits, very few low cards and can control the lead — and decide after you have seen what the pass brings you. For the full decision, read when to shoot the moon (and how to stop it).