Hearts how do you play

Hearts is easy to play, yet there is plenty of room for high strategy. Many trick-taking games are not directly related to Bridge or Whist. Perhaps the foremost one is Hearts, which is truly one of the greatest card games ever devised for four players, each playing individually. To be the player with the lowest score at the end of the game.

When one player hits the agreed-upon score or higher, the game ends; and the player with the lowest score wins. At the end of each hand, players count the number of hearts they have taken as well as the queen of spades, if applicable. Hearts count as one point each and the queen counts 13 points. Each heart - 1 point The Q - 13 points The aggregate total of all scores for each hand must be a multiple of The game is usually played to points some play to When a player takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in one hand, instead of losing 26 points, that player scores zero and each of his opponents score an additional 26 points.

Deal the cards one at a time, face down, clockwise. In a four-player game, each is dealt 13 cards; in a three-player game, the 2 of diamonds should be removed, and each player gets 17 cards; in a five-player game, the 2 of diamonds and 2 of clubs should be removed so that each player will get 10 cards. The player holding the 2 of clubs after the pass makes the opening lead. If the 2 has been removed for the three handed game, then the 3 of clubs is led.

Each player must follow suit if possible. If a player is void of the suit led, a card of any other suit may be discarded. However, if a player has no clubs when the first trick is led, a heart or the queen of spades cannot be discarded. The highest card of the suit led wins a trick and the winner of that trick leads next. Two people may play Hearts with an alteration to the deck.

In Two Player Hearts, 3's, 5's, 7's, 9's, Jacks, and, Kings are removed from the deck, leaving 13 cards to be dealt to each player. All general rules remain the same.

Omnibus Hearts incorporates the 10 of Diamonds. In Omnibus, if one wins a trick that contains the 10 of Diamonds, 10 points are subtracted from their score. Subsequently, for one to Shoot the Moon, a player must win all of the Hearts, the Queen of Spades, and the 10 of Diamonds. The shooter decides which option best advances their play. Cancellation Hearts is a version of Hearts for large amounts of players, typically In Cancellation Hearts, 2 packs of cards are in play.

Because there are doubles of every card, a new strategy of cancellation emerges. If a pair of cards is played, they cancel each other out in trick ranking but, still count as points.

So, if both Ace of Hearts are played, the next highest card wins the trick but, the winner still takes two points for the Hearts. If 2 pairs of any card are in play, the trick is voided and cards are given to the winner of the next trick.

In Cancellation Hearts, a common strategy is to pair up the Queen of Spades so that the winner of the trick gets a devastating 26 point addition. For 5 players, one Joker is added, 21 cards are dealt to each player, and the Joker leads the game. For 6 players, a 2 of Clubs, and a 2 of Diamonds are removed, 17 cards are dealt to each player and the remaining 2 of Clubs leads the game.

For 7 players, a Joker is added, 15 cards are dealt to each player, and the Joker leads. For 8 players, a Joker is added, a 2 of Clubs is removed, 13 cards are dealt to each player, and the Joker leads. For 9 players, a 2 of Clubs, both 2 of Diamonds, and both 2 of Spades are removed, 11 cards are dealt to each player, and the 2 of Clubs leads. For 10 players, a 2 of Clubs, both 2 of Diamonds, and a 2 of Spades are removed, 10 cards are dealt to each player and the 2 of Clubs leads.

Finally, for 11 players, a 2 of Clubs, both 2 of Diamonds and both 2 of Spades are removed, 9 cards are dealt and the 2 of Clubs leads. At the end of the game, the player with the lowest score wins. Your goal in each hand is to:. In a 4-player game of Hearts, each player gets 13 cards. In a 3-player game, the 2 of diamonds is removed, and each player gets 17 cards.

In a 5-player game, the two of diamonds and two of clubs are removed; each player gets 10 cards. In a 6-player game, the two and three of diamonds and the three and four of clubs are removed; each player gets 8 cards. In a 7-player game, the two and three of diamonds and the three of clubs are removed; each player gets 7 cards. After looking at his or her hand, each player chooses three cards and passes them face down to another player.

All players must pass their cards before looking at the cards received from an opponent. The passing rotation in a 4-player game is: 1st hand to the player on your left, 2nd hand to the player on your right, 3rd hand to the player across the table, 4th hand no passing. The rotation then repeats until the game ends. When other than four players are involved, the passing rotation is: 1 to the player on your left, 2 to the player on your right, then repeat.

The player holding the 2 of clubs after the pass plays that card to start the first trick. Whoever wins the trick leads the next trick - play proceeds in this way until all players have no more cards in their hands.

As we'll see below, usually, you don't want to win tricks. So, for example, if the person who led the trick played a Queen of Diamonds and we have an Ace of Diamonds and a Five of Diamonds in our hand, we have to play one of these Diamonds. The Ace will win the hand for us because it's the highest card of the same suit as the lead card, while the Five won't beat the Queen.

In most cases, since we usually don't want to win hands, we'll probably play the Five. Avoid Hearts and the Queen of Spades. In Hearts, like in golf, all players want to gain the lowest amount of points possible - whoever has the fewest points at the end wins. The cards that are worth points are the Hearts [worth 1 point each, regardless of value] and the Queen of Spades [worth 13 points by itself]. These are the only point cards. All other cards are worth no points, so you may collect these without fear.

Since it's difficult to tell whether another player will play a Heart or the Queen of Spades after you, usually, you want to avoid taking tricks altogether, even if no point cards have been played yet. There is one important exception to the goal of avoiding points. So, if a player is losing badly and has collected every point card in the hand so far, he or she may risk an even-worse score by trying to collect every Heart and the Queen of Spades.

Calculate your score at the end of each hand. When all players have played their last card, the hand is over. Players look through the cards from the tricks they took during the hand and calculate a score for the hand based on the number of point-scoring cards they took. As noted above, each Heart is worth 1 point and the Queen of Spades is worth 13 points.

The players add their score from the most recent hand to their cumulative score from previous hands and, finally, the person to the left of the last dealer deals a new hand. Play continues in this fashion until one player reaches some agreed-upon number of points often points. When one or more players reach this point limit, the game stops and whichever player has the fewest points wins. Be aware of common rule variations. The rules outlined above constitute the most "basic" version of Hearts.

Though these rules are accurate and perfectly acceptable for play, in reality, many variations on these standard rules exist. Listed below are some of the most common rule variations. After being dealt cards, each player passes three cards of his choosing to another player. Usually, in a 4-person game, players pass to the player to the left at the start of the first hand, then to the right on the second hand, then across on the third, then refrain from passing on the fourth, then repeat this cycle.

The player who is dealt the Two of Clubs or is passed it starts each hand, rather than the player to the left of the dealer. This player must lead with the Two of Clubs as her first play of the game. The "hole" cards leftover after dealing the deck out to a number of players other than 4 are given face down to whoever takes the first heart.

On the first trick of each hand, no point card may be played. In some variations, if a player shoots the moon, he has the option to subtract 26 points from his score rather than adding 26 points to the other players'. This is a good idea if adding 26 points to everyone else's scores would put one or more players over the score limit, ending the game and causing the shooter to lose.

Method 2. Start the game by passing your highest cards. When everyone has selected their three cards, everyone passes at the same time. Usually, since you want to avoid taking tricks, it's a smart idea to pass your highest-ranking cards to another player. Another passing strategy is to "short-suit" yourself see below. Passing direction changes every hand. On the first hand, pass to the player left of you. On the second hand, pass to the right.

On the third hand, pass to the player across from you. On the fourth hand, no cards are passed. At the fifth hand, the cycle starts again. There may be different house rules on passing depending on where you play. Begin playing, following suit when you can. The player with the Two of Clubs must lead with this card as the first play of the game. Each player after the lead must follow suit if he can.

If a player cannot follow suit on any trick , they may play a card in any other suit. A player wins a trick when he or she plays the highest card of the suit that is led. The winner of the trick leads the next. On the first trick of each hand, no points Hearts or the Queen of Spades may be played, even by a player who can't follow suit. Such a player must play a card of a non-scoring suit. If you lead a trick, try to play a card that is likely to be beaten. It's "tricky" to have to lead a trick.

Unless you're starting a hand off by leading with the Two of Clubs, most of your cards are valid possibilities, so it can be difficult to decide how to proceed. When in doubt, go low - play a low-ranking card from a suit that hasn't been played heavily in the current round. Odds are that most, if not all of the players will have cards of this suit in their hands. If you play a low-ranking card, most of the time, someone will be forced to play a card of the same suit that's higher, ensuring that you don't take the trick.

You also may be forced to lead high as you run out of cards. As noted above, you can't lead with a Heart until Hearts are broken when a player lacks a card in the suit that has been led, so he or she throws down a heart instead.