Rules of Hearts

These rules refer to the modern version of Hearts where the queen of spades and the jack of diamonds are used for special scoring.

Object of the Game

The lowest score wins so the object of the game is to not take any plus point cards (hearts and the Queen of Spades) and to take the Jack of Diamonds to receive minus points.

Deck

A standard 52-card deck of playing cards is used (without the Jokers).

Players

Three to six players may play, but four is best. 

Scorekeeper

The group decides who will be the scorekeeper. To keep score, the scorekeeper uses either:

• • an official paper scoresheet (available online for printing),

  • an online scoring spreadsheet,

  • a paper version of an online scoring spreadsheet,

  • or a sheet of plain paper.

Dealer

• • Players draw cards to determine the first dealer. The player with the lowest rank card is the dealer. 

  • The dealer shuffles the deck, has it cut, and then deals the required number of cards.

Number of Cards Dealt

• • For three players: The 2♣ is removed from the deck and each player is dealt 17 cards.

  • For four players: No cards are removed from the deck and each player is dealt 13 cards.

  • For five players: The 2♣ and 2♦ are removed from the deck and each player is dealt 10 cards.

  • For six players: The 2♣, 3♣, 2♦, and 3♦ are removed from the deck and each player is dealt 8 cards.

Passing Phase

After the deal, the passing phase begins. Passing is a way to pass your bad cards to another player and to prepare to receive possible bad cards from another player. 

Passing cycle

Passing involves a cycle of four passes (the cycle repeats until the game ends):

• • 1st hand: Each player passes three cards to the opponent on their left.

  • 2nd hand: Each player passes three cards to the opponent on their right.

  • 3rd hand: Each player passes three cards to the opponent across the table.

  • 4th hand: Each player retains their hands without passing.

Passing procedure

• • Each player arranges the cards in their hand by suit and rank. 

  • After consideration of their hand (some passing strategies are provided at the end of the rules), each player chooses three cards to pass that will strengthen their own hand while possibly weakening the hand of the receiver of the pass. 

  • To pass your cards properly:

    • • select your three cards,

      • put them face-down in front of you, and then 

      • slide or pass those cards to the player to whom you are passing before looking at the cards that have been passed to you.

Playing  

• • The player holding the 2♣ makes the opening lead. If the 2♣, then the 3♣ is led. If the 3♣, then the 4♣ is led.

  • Players must follow suit if able; otherwise, they may play any card except in the first trick a heart or the Queen of Spades cannot be played. 

  • The highest card of the suit led wins a trick. There is no trump suit.

  • Hearts may not be led until a heart or the Queen of Spades has been played: however, the queen can be led at any time after the first trick.

  • The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit that was led.

  • The trick and any subsequent tricks taken are placed face-down in front of the player in a single pile.

  • The winner then leads the next trick.

Scoring

• • Each player receives +1 point for each heart taken (there are 13 points available).

  • The player who took the Queen of Spades receives +13 points.

  • If a player takes all the hearts and the Queen of Spades, it is called Shooting the Moon and the player receives -26 points. Shooting the Moon is rarely an option and rarely accomplished since you must have an optimal hand and, once players think you are going for it, they will try to ensure at least one of them takes a heart.

  • The player who took the Jack of Diamonds receives -10 points.

Winner

The winner is either:

• • the player with the lowest score after an agreed number of deals or

  • the player with the lowest score when any player reaches a previously agreed upon target score; usually 100 points.

Strategy

Leading hearts early

Although it seems like a promising idea to play your low hearts first, it is usually better to hold onto them until it is clearer from the cards played who will be taking the tricks. Low hearts are useful for passing the lead over in the final few tricks when taking the lead may be disastrous. The exception is when your non-heart cards are high or dangerous, but your hearts are relatively low; in this case, it may be better to get rid of the hearts earlier.

Flushing out the queen of spades

Because the Queen of Spades is a greater penalty than that of the individual heart cards, leading spades early often ensures that someone else takes the queen even if you must take a few hearts. As long as you don’t leave either the Ace or King of Spades unprotected by small cards, leading spades early is usually safe.

Voids

When a player does not have any cards of a certain suit, a void is created. Usually, this is a good situation to be in since it prevents the player from winning any tricks in that suit and provides a way to dispose of bad cards. Voids may be intentionally created by using a good passing strategy, or they may just appear by themselves.

Shooting the Moon

Shooting the Moon is riskier than you may think; you lose more points in unsuccessful attempts to make it than you gain by making it. To prevent other players from trying for it, you may choose to take an early trick with one or two hearts in it or to give hearts to two different players.

Passing strategies

When passing cards, carefully consider your hand before making your choices. 

• You may assume that because hearts and the Queen of Spades score points and the King and Ace of Spades could take the queen that you would always want to pass them; however, this is not always the best strategy.

• If you are short in either hearts or spades, you may want to pass your high hearts and spades to lessen your chances of taking a trick with them. However, if you have plenty of low hearts or spades, you can safely hold on to your high hearts and spades, including the Queen of Spades. 

• Passing low spades is a tactical blunder because you help a player guard the Queen of Spades and you may get passed the queen.

• If you do pass the Queen of Spades, remember to whom you passed it. Knowing who has the queen of spades will sometimes allow you to discard the Ace or King of Spades safely when a spade is led.

• If you have plenty of low hearts, instead of passing them, pass all the cards in another suit to try to create a void so you can play whatever you want when another player leads the suit.

• Since taking the Jack of Diamonds earns you -10 points, high diamonds may increase your chances of taking it; however, they also expose you to taking the Queen of Spades. You may want to keep the top diamonds to try for the jack; however, you may find taking the jack is easier if you pass it. Because players rarely get the chance to take an early diamond trick with the jack, it tends to get discarded near the end of the hand.

• The more times a suit is led, the more likely it is that the Queen of Spades will be played the next time it leads. If you have mostly middle cards of the suit, you will probably take the Queen of Spades; whereas, having some low cards in the suit may help you avoid taking the trick with the queen in it. Therefore, when passing, try to prevent having a lot of middle cards after the passing is completed. Any suit where you cannot avoid taking the trick will expose you to taking the Queen of Spades.