Hearts (game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hearts is a trick-taking card game normally played by four players but it can be modified for other numbers of players. A standard deck of 52 playing cards is used. The objective is to avoid taking tricks containing the ♠Q and any ♥. It has several other names, including Black Lady, Black Widow, Chase the Lady, Slippery Anne, Ricketty Kate, Catch the Bitch, and Black Bitch some of which are variants of the basic game.

1 How to play
2 Variants
- 2.1 Play variants
- 2.2 Scoring variants
3 Strategy
4 Cheating
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] How to play

The basic game requires four players, a standard deck of playing cards and a pen and paper for scorekeeping.
The ranking order of the cards for trick taking purposes is (from high to low) ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. There is no trump suit.
The objective
- Traditional: - Each player is given the same number of chips, and the player who wins all the chips wins the game.
- Black Lady: - To avoid scoring points; when one person scores a specified number (usually 100) the game is over, and the winner is the person with the lowest score.
Overview: Hearts is played in rounds, each of which includes a deal, a player-to-player pass (only in the Black Lady variant), the play of tricks, and a scoring phase. Play continues indefinitely, until the game's end. In the traditional game play, each player will ante up the same number of chips before the round begins.
The deal - Which player deals has no effect on play, but dealership is normally rotated left with each new hand. All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player.
Passing cards - In the Black Lady variant of hearts there is a "passing" phase. In 3 out of 4 rounds, players passes any three cards from their hands to another player, and receive 3 to replace them. Players select which cards they will pass before viewing the cards passed to them. The pass sequence, repeating every four rounds, is as follows:
- Rounds 1, 5, 9... : Pass Left.
- Rounds 2, 6, 10... : Pass Right.
- Rounds 3, 7, 11... : Pass Across.
- Rounds 4, 8, 12... : Hold; no passing occurs
Trick play - The play is as in other trick-taking games; there is no trump suit. The 2♣ is a round's initial lead: the person holding this card, after the pass, leads it to the first trick. All players, if able, are required to follow suit.
Penalty cards - All ♥ and the ♠Q (when playing the black lady variant) are penalty cards which players avoid winning in the tricks.
"Gentleman's Rules" - By local agreement, some or all of these "rules" are played in certain quarters (checking is advisable):
- A ♥ may not be led until a penalty card has been played (or until forced by having nothing else); this is called the "breaking of hearts" or "breaking the ice".
- A penalty card ("blood") may not be played on the first trick, unless a player has only penalty cards; this is called "bleeding on the first trick" This is a relatively modern addition to the rules.
- The ♠Q must be played at the first legal opportunity where it cannot win the trick, for example, if the ♠Q is led, or an opportunity to discard arises. This rule is rarely played in the modern game.
- The ♣2 and the ♠Q may not be passed in the passing stage.
Scoring
- Traditional - At the end of the round if a player has taken no hearts he gets the pool of chips. If two players take no hearts, the pool is divided, etc. If all the players have taken hearts (called being "painted") or if one player has taken all the hearts, then the pool remains on the table. When this occurs the pool is called a jack. If a player has won all the chips he has won the game, otherwise a new round begins.
- Black Lady - At the end of a round, penalty points are assessed according to the cards taken in tricks. Each ♥ gives 1 point to the person taking it, and the ♠Q carries a penalty of 13 points. Therefore, 26 points are assessed each round. However, if a player takes all the penalty cards (known as shooting the moon, going for control, or running hearts) they take no penalty points, and the other players take 26. Alternatively, some circles will have the individual subtract 26 points from their score, "add" 26 to their score, or no scores are given to any of the players for that round.
- Finally, the scores are checked against the game-ending score (usually 100) and the game ends or a new round begins.

[edit] Variants

There are many variants played in the USA and other countries and on the Internet. Variants are of two types:

Play variants - where the game itself is different
Scoring variants - where the game's rules are no different, but objectives and scoring are altered: this may only slightly alter the game, or (via emergent effects) make it utterly different.

[edit] Play variants

There are many variants with additional local rules operating in some areas:

Open lead - The first lead is made by the player at dealer's left; this player may lead any card not in the heart suit.
Split pass - This involves a single extra passing phase, just before the players hold, thus passing in successive rounds is left, right, across, split, hold. The split pass requires players to pass one card to the left, one card across, and one card to the right.
Hoosier Hearts, Indian Hearts and Hearts in Indiana - Each passing phase is a split pass.
Two and two pass or Aldergrove pass - Passing in successive rounds is left, right, across, "two and two", where two and two involves passing two cards left and two cards right. There is no holding stage.
Chinese Hearts - The ♣10 doubles the number of points received by the player who wins it unless that player wins no point cards in which case it is worth minus five points. It may be played in the first round.
Dutch Hearts (unsurprisingly popular in the Netherlands) - A deck of 32 cards is used (2 through 6 being removed). The hearts are 1 penalty point each, the ♠Q is 5 penalty points and the ♣J is 2, thus 15 points are assessed each round. No cards are passed at the start of a round. A game of Dutch Hearts is divided into two parts: the first part is identical to “Black Lady Hearts” in which rounds are played until one player surpasses the maximum amount of points allowed: then in the second part "penalty" points are subtracted players' scores rather than being added. The first player whose score reaches zero or lower (in some variants you have to reach exactly zero points) wins.
Dealer's choice - Dealer has the authority to determine that round's passing structure, before viewing own hand. A locally determined limit is set on the number of cards that may be passed, but the dealer may have cards passed in an unconventional manner (e.g. "pass two left, one right").
Variants for three players
- Basic - The ♣3 is removed from the deck and 17 cards dealt to each player; the "across" passing stage is omitted.
- Kitty Hearts - Cards are dealt 17 to each player and one card face down in the middle; this is known as the "kitty". Whoever takes the first trick (or, in some circles, the first trick with a penalty card) takes the kitty as well, and only that player may see what it is. Some play "open lead" with this variant.
- High-Low Hearts or High-Low Joker Hearts or more rarely Hello Hearts - Two jokers are added to the deck and 18 cards dealt to each player. Jokers count as hearts, with the first joker played being high and ranking above the ace, and the second joker played being low and ranking under the deuce. Scoring is generally 1 each for hearts and jokers and 15 for the ♠Q (in the Black Mary variant) making 30 in total.
Variants for more than 4 players
- Five players - The ♣3 and ♦2 are removed from the deck, and hands of 10 cards are dealt. The passing cycle, then, is L1-R1-L2-R2-Hold, where "L2", for example, represents a pass two players to the left. As an alternative a full deck and two kitties may be used.
- Cancellation Hearts (a Black Lady variant) - This is used when six or more wish to play.
  - Two decks are used, yielding 52 penalty points. If two identical cards appear in a trick, they "cancel" each other and are unable to win the trick; the highest "uncancelled" card of the suit led wins. If all cards in a trick are cancelled, then the person leading to that trick also leads to the next trick, and the winner of that trick gets credit for that trick as well any previous unclaimed tricks. If the last trick is cancelled, the cards are not counted. Cancellation only applies to trick-winning; cancelled cards retain their penalty points. If the number of players does not divide into 104, kitties are used.. Passing cycles are modified to suit.
  - If 11 or more wish to play, 3 decks are used. When identical cards meet in a trick only the first two are cancelled.
- Extreme Hearts - Specifically for 8 players, two decks used giving 13 cards to each player. The first hand is played by the person who has one of the 2♣ and is closest to the dealer in a clockwise direction. Unlike Cancellation Hearts, if two of the same card are played to a trick, the first played ranks higher.

[edit] Scoring variants

Omnibus - Probably the most popular scoring variant adds two rules to the Black Lady variant. The J♦ is a bonus card players desire to take in tricks, worth -10 points (or -11). However it is not normally required to shoot the moon. In some circles, this card is the 10♦. Because this slows the progression of scores, Omnibus hearts is normally played to a lower threshold score of 52, 61 or 75. Some people also play that taking no tricks is worth -5 points. Shooting the moon may require taking all of the hearts and J♦ and Q♠. Also shooting the moon may be worth either -16 to the winner or +26 (some circles +36) to the other players. Note with J♦ = -11, and Q♠ = +13 and 13 hearts, the total score for each turn is 15, making adding up the score easier if only one player has taken the majority of the tricks.
Target scores - Hearts is sometimes played with positive bonuses applied to attaining certain exact scores: it is sometimes played that any player able to score exactly 50 points is reset to zero, and any player scoring exactly 100 is reset to 50 or 0.
Ten of clubs - Sometimes, the 10♣ is played as a penalty card, doubling a player's take for the round. In the Omnibus variant, the 10♣ may be either a penalty or a benefit card, depending upon other cards taken by that player. This rule is rarely observed today.
Shooting the Sun - Some hearts players assign a premium to the accomplishment of taking all tricks, doubling the 26-point bonus for Shooting the Moon to 52.
Spot hearts - This is a hearts variant where higher-ranking hearts carry greater penalty values than lower-ranked hearts. Specifically, each heart is worth its numerical value in points (2♥ = 2, ..., K♥ = 13, A♥ = 14). The Q♠ is then worth 25 penalty points. There are now 129 penalty points assessed each round, and the threshold score is usually 500. Shooting the moon may be worth either the sum of all the cards combined, or the rule may simply not be observed. In variations on this the points are as follows: 2♥ = 2, ..., 10♥ = 10, J♥ = 10,Q♥ = 10,K♥ = 10, A♥ = 15 and Q♠ = 25.
Complex heartsComplex Hearts is a variant reportedly invented by Richard Garfield.

[edit] Strategy

Passing - Heart's strategic element first appears in the 3-card player-to-player pass for the Black Lady variant. Intuitively, the function of this pass is to rid one's hand of undesirable cards, or to get a head start on clearing a suit. However, this is not always the best strategy.
Teamwork - As there is only one winner and three losers in hearts, the most advanced strategy appears when the three losing players team up to give the leader points. Playing the queen and other point cards only when the player with the lowest score can take them, passing favorable cards to trailing players, and setting up the leader all require teamwork and unselfish play. Second place is no better than fourth place, and thus it profits a player nothing to give points to the player with the highest score ending the game while sitting in second place.
Spades - This strategy is only useful in the black lady variant of hearts.
- Imagine a hand containing the 3, 4, and King of Spades. It would seem that to pass these spades would be a great decision; it would rid the hand of a usually undesirable card (the King) and open a void in the spade suit. Yet in fact, most Hearts players would consider this a poor decision; were this player passed a Queen, and no other spades, he would now hold a singleton Queen, one of the worst hand configurations in the game. Holding the Queen of spades is considered desirable if the Queen is "protected" by at least three (ideally four or more) other spades. If this is not the case, the Q♠ is a liability and should be discarded at the first possible opportunity.
- If a player is passing to the right, the player will often pass an unprotected Queen, since playing after the Queen minimizes the risk of taking it with a King or Ace. Passing the queen is usually not a good idea when passing left or across, as the player may be passed the King or Ace.
- If a player is dealt only high spades (Queen, King and/or Ace) the player will generally pass them, as the odds are in their favor they won't be passed the remaining spades, however it occasionally happens that one will be passed the remaining high spades.
- If a player has several low spades (lower than Queen) and a King and/or an Ace, these cards are generally high priority to pass, unless passing to the right. When a player has several spades and a high spade and is passing to the right, generally they will have an opportunity to get rid of the high spade (or choose to use a lower card to avoid the Queen) when the player to their left starts a trick.
Hearts
- Low (2, 3, 4) hearts are considered highly desirable, high hearts (Q, K, A) are highly desirable provided one has an adequate opportunity to 'shoot the moon' - that is, to win all the heart tricks, and force one's three opponents to increase their scores by 26 points.
- The term "covering" is used to describe the common practice of passing the second highest heart (generally the 10 or lower) in order to prevent anyone else from shooting the moon. Occasionally, a player will pass a Jack or Queen as their cover card if they only have high hearts. This player is responsible for playing the higher heart to stop a player if they attempt to shoot the moon. Passing the highest heart (thus making it possible one player has all the high hearts), or not playing the cover card is called "dodging" or "ducking" and is considered poor sportsmanship normally.
Clubs
- Since the 2 of clubs is always the first card played, some players opt to pass this card as if it were a high card. The reason being that having the 2 of clubs does not enable you to play a high club on the first hand. If the game is being played with the optional restriction on playing point cards on the first trick, the first trick must be safe and the player should try to use his high clubs immediately.
- When point cards are not allowed on the first trick, the Ace of Clubs is considered by many a great card, and is generally not passed. Having the Ace of Clubs enables a player to start the next trick with whatever suit they desire. This can be especially useful if the player only has one card in a suit left. Passing a high club is generally considered foolish, because it will just be played on the first hand. The most dangerous clubs are the 9, 10 and J, as the 2, Q, K, and A generally see play on the first hand, thus making those three the highest three cards left.
- When point cards are allowed on the first trick, however, many players adopt aggressive passing strategies to void themselves in clubs so as to play high hearts or the Queen of Spades on unsuspecting players following the strategies outlined in the previous paragraph. Under these rules, it is sometimes advisable to keep the 2 of clubs and pass higher clubs to cover the initial trick. When a player has all high clubs, it is advisable to pass them, especially if it is possible to get rid of all of them through passing and then begin laying points immediately.
Diamonds - Diamonds are generally passed in an attempt to short them. Generally passing all of the highest diamonds is the preferred strategy of most players as there is very little risk in shorting Diamonds. In some variations of the game, the 10 or J of Diamonds subtracts points, in which case high Diamonds are preferred.
Balanced hands - Balanced hands (4-3-3-3 or 4-4-3-2 suit split) are undesirable because they make it difficult to clear a suit.
Clearing a suit - During play, a common strategy is to attempt to clear or short a suit, or to make a void in it so that potentially dangerous cards can be ruffed to future tricks of that suit. One or two cards in a suit are relatively easy to clear; while a 3- or 4-card suit can be cleared, doing so may exhaust most or all of the cards in that suit, making the clearing useless.
Taking an early trick - Early in a round of hearts, players often try to take the lead when they believe they can do so safely, because of the liberty offered by having the lead. Sometimes a player holding a doubleton King or Ace of Spades (but not also the Queen) will attempt a "finesse" by playing the King or Ace if third to play to a spade trick, in the hope that the fourth player is not the one who holds the Queen. Later, as penalty cards begin to emerge, players try to lose tricks. Often a player taking the lead late in a round of Hearts will be stuck with it.
Shooting the moon - The above criteria of desirability, one should note, only apply to a player not desiring to "shoot the moon". Otherwise, many of these criteria are reversed. A hand that appears doomed (by virtue of being capable of winning almost all the tricks) may be excellent for the purpose of moon-shooting. The element of risk involved in shooting the moon is one of the appeals of the game, since a player may attempt to get all 26 points and fail by only getting 24 or 25, in which case the player suffers a massive penalty. This element provides much of the appeal of the game, along with the cutthroat aspect associated with a player holding the queen of spades possibly having the option of dropping it on another player's trick (sometimes called Q-bombing or 'Impregnating' in slang). Often the player who has the fewest points (and is thus leading) is the one people try to give the queen to; however, there is always the risk of giving it to a player who then uses it as part of shooting the moon. Players must always be on the lookout for another player trying to shoot the moon, in the hopes that they can stop it. In addition, the element of passing cards allows players to attempt to control their destiny and influence that of their fellow players. Receiving a pass of low cards is a red flag that the other player is attempting to shoot the moon.
Advanced Passing - It is important to vary the strategy of the three cards being passed because advanced players will begin to count on your continued strategy. If you constantly pass high cards, your opponent may opt to shoot the moon by passing his or her low cards. If you constantly pass cards of a particular suit or suits, your opponent may pass cards from the suit or suits that you never pass knowing that a void in that suit is nearly guarenteed. It is also advisable to pay attention to the types of cards your opponents pass to you, as you can use these strategies to your own advantage.
Getting a Long Suit - If you receive five or more cards of one suit, you have an advantage that can help you avoid tricks or shoot the moon. If you do not pass any of them and try to create a void in another suit, your opponent may give you even more cards for your long suit. When you are wanting to stay low, you can be reasonably assured that you do not have to worry about your long suit and begin to sluff cards in the other suits. Because everyone will run out of your long suit first, they will have to play from suits that you are low or void in, and allows you to clear out those suits, leaving you with your long suit. If you are the only person with Clubs and you have 5 of them on the last 5 tricks, then you know you cannot be touched; just don't be caught with the lead when this happens -- unless you are trying to shoot the moon. Because everyone else will run out of the cards in your long suit first, even the 5 4 3 2 in your hand are as good as Aces because no one can take them from you. A void in hearts is preferable in attempting to shoot the moon when you have a long suit. This allows you the possibility to shift gears from shooting the moon to avoiding tricks if a heart unsuspectingly painted a trick you didn't pick up.
Leading a High Heart - This is a quick tip. If hearts was broken and you picked up that painted trick and you have been fearing the high heart in your hand (10, J, Q, K), play it! If anyone is paying attention, they will play their higher heart to take it so that you cannot shoot the moon. If they do not take it, keep trying to shoot the moon -- you might just do it!

[edit] Cheating

It is difficult to cheat at hearts due to the common practice of dealing one card at a time. There are however two main methods. One way is to look at the cards passed to you before you pass. Also if one can control an overhand shuffle then they can place low hearts in their hand. Done skillfully this is undetectable so it is important to be wary of anyone who collects low hearts at the end of a deal before they start to shuffle.

The easiest (and most unsportsmanlike) way to cheat is not to play a card one is forced to play, violating the honor system of the game. For example, if one finds themselves out of spades except for the queen of spades, and faces a trick containing only low spades, they may try to pass off a card of another suit as though they did not have the queen in order to prevent taking the penalty. Deliberately not playing a card of the trick's suit when one possesses a card of that suit often incurs a heavy penalty and even expulsion from the game. Honest mistakes (forgetting one has one last diamond tucked behind a series of hearts, for example) may or may not be forgiven depending on how sincere the other players in the group think the offender is. Hearts is fundamentally based on the honor system, and players that routinely violate that system will find themselves short of potential partners.

Electronic versions of the game (such as the one included in the Microsoft Windows operating system) do not allow for such cheating and will not allow a player to play a card not of the trick's suit if they do indeed possess such a card. Players interested in fundamental violations of their fellow player's trust would be better advised to take up Poker or BS where such deceit is encouraged and necessary.

[edit] Trivia

Hearts is one of three card games bundled in several versions of Microsoft Windows.
Hearts is the favorite game of the former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
The title of the Stephen King book, Hearts in Atlantis, refers to Hearts, and the title story is about college students who get addicted to playing Hearts so much that they risk to fail.