♥️ Hearts Guide

What Is Hearts?

Hearts is a trick-taking game that turns the usual goal upside down: instead of trying to win tricks, you try to avoid the ones that contain penalty cards. The version most people know today, with the Queen of Spades as a heavy extra penalty, is the one many players first met on a Windows PC.

On PlayVersusAI you sit in the South seat against three AI opponents who each play for themselves. The game is played without the passing phase, so every hand begins straight from the deal.

The Rules

The whole 52-card deck is dealt, 13 cards to each of the four players. Cards rank from 2 (low) to ace (high), and there is no trump suit. The player holding the 2♣ must lead it to start the first trick.

• Following suit - you must play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. If you don't, you may play any card, except that on the first trick you may not throw a heart or the Queen of Spades unless you hold nothing else.
• Winning tricks - the highest card of the led suit wins, no matter what else was played. The winner collects the four cards and leads the next trick.
• Breaking hearts - hearts may not be led until a heart has been played onto an earlier trick, unless the leader holds nothing but hearts. Playing the Queen of Spades does not break hearts on its own.
• Penalty points - each heart you capture costs 1 point and the Queen of Spades costs 13, so 26 points are in play every hand.
• Shooting the moon - capturing all 26 points reverses the damage: you score nothing and each opponent takes 26.

Scores carry over from hand to hand. When any player reaches 100, the game ends and the lowest total wins; if two players share the lowest total, another hand is dealt. In your hand, the cards you are not allowed to play are dimmed, and the label beside each seat shows that player's running total plus the points taken so far this hand.

Core Strategy

Plan a void from the first trick

A void — no cards left in a suit — is the most powerful asset in Hearts, because whenever that suit is led you can throw away whatever you like. With no pass, you build it during play. If you are dealt only the 9♦ and 4♦, lead one the first time you must lead and follow with the other when diamonds come round. After two rounds you are void and can shed high clubs, spades and hearts onto diamond leads.

Handle the Queen of Spades deliberately

If you hold the Q♠ with only one or two other spades, she is in danger: once your small spades are gone, any spade lead may force you to play her. The best outcomes are to discard her when you are void in a led suit, or to drop her under the A♠ or K♠ when someone else leads them. Against Medium the second chance comes up often, because it leads its highest card outside hearts; Hard avoids leading high spades while the Queen is out. If you hold four or more spades including the Queen, you are usually safe; you can keep following low and let the ace and king fall on their own.

If you hold the ace or king of spades without the Queen, they are liabilities: discard them when you are void elsewhere, or play them once the Queen has been seen.

Spend your high cards early

On the first round of a suit everyone usually still follows, so winning it with an ace costs nothing and removes a dangerous card. By the third round someone is likely void and waiting to unload hearts or the Queen onto the winner.

Duck with your highest safe card

When following suit and you cannot be sure of losing the trick, play the highest card that still sits under the current winner. If the 10♣ is winning and you hold the 9♣ and 3♣, play the nine. Keeping the three gives you a sure way to lose a later club trick.

Count what matters

Track how many hearts have been played, whether the Q♠ has appeared, and who has shown out of a suit. Once a player discards on a club lead, any later club trick you win may carry their worst cards.

Shooting the moon

Consider shooting only with a hand full of high cards in long suits, such as the A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥ with several top spades, and only once it is clear that nobody else has collected a heart. The moment another player takes even one point, abandon the attempt and go back to dodging, because a failed moon shot usually lands you with most of the 26.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Leading a high spade while the Queen is unseen. You are inviting the holder to drop her on your trick.
• Hoarding aces and kings. They only get more dangerous as voids appear in the later rounds of each suit.
• Throwing your lowest card when void. When you can discard anything, unload your most dangerous card — the Queen, a high heart or a stray ace — not a harmless deuce you may need later to duck.
• Ignoring who has shown out. Once a player discards on a suit, leading that suit again hands them a free dump.

Playing Against Our AI

The three opponents never see anyone else's cards. Medium looks only at its own hand and the current trick and follows a fixed order of priorities: when it can follow suit, it ducks with its lowest card that stays under the current winner, and plays its highest card only when it cannot duck; when it is void, it discards the Queen of Spades if it has her, otherwise its highest heart, otherwise its lowest card; and when it leads, it chooses its highest card that is neither a heart nor the Queen.

Hard also remembers every card played this hand and which players have shown out of a suit. It ducks with its highest safe card, cashes high cards while a suit is still safe, leads low spades to smoke out the Queen, avoids suits an opponent is void in, and will take a heart itself to stop someone shooting the moon.

Difficulty	What to expect
Easy	Plays a random legal card. It often wins tricks full of points and throws hearts onto its own winners, so it is a good level for learning the rules.
Medium	Follows the priority rules above: ducks when it can, dumps the Queen and its highest hearts the moment it is void, and leads high non-point cards.
Hard	Tracks played cards and voids, dumps the Queen and stray high spades when void, avoids winning tricks with points and defends against moon shots.
AI Training	Still never sees your cards. Before each play it deals the unseen cards out many different ways that fit the voids it has seen, plays every deal to the end of the hand with Hard's rules, and picks the card with the lowest average cost, moon shots included. In mixed-table tests its seats took about 5.8 points a hand to Hard's 9.0.

Medium has two habits worth exploiting. Because it leads high, its aces and kings appear early, giving you chances to drop the Queen or a high heart under them. And because it discards its lowest card when it has no points to dump, its high side cards linger late, where they win tricks full of hearts. Hard has neither habit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is there no card passing?

This table plays without the pass to keep each hand quick. The hand is dealt and play begins immediately with the 2♣ lead, so voids have to be created by your choice of leads and discards rather than by passing cards away.

Can I lead hearts if I have nothing else?

Yes. Hearts can't be led before they are broken, but if your hand contains only hearts, you may lead one anyway.

Who wins a trick when nobody follows suit?

The leader. Only cards of the suit that was led can win a trick, so if the other three all discard, the card that was led takes the trick and any points discarded onto it.

Do the AI opponents know my cards?

No. Medium decides from its own hand and the current trick; Hard also remembers the cards played earlier in the hand. None of them can see your hand or the hands of the other players.