Hearts Strategy: 9 Tips for the Pass, the Queen and the Moon

Good Hearts strategy comes down to three habits: pass to protect yourself, get rid of the Queen of Spades before she finds you, and keep an eye on anyone collecting every heart. Get those right and your scores will drop fast.

The tips below fit the standard rules: four players, the 2 of clubs leads, each heart is 1 point and the Queen of Spades is 13, and when anyone reaches the target the lowest score wins. You can try every one of them in Hearts on HulaGames, free in your browser, against Pip, Coral and Sal.

1. Pass your dangers, not just your high cards

Passes go left, then right, then across, then nobody passes, and round again. Use the pass to get rid of the cards most likely to cost you: the Queen of Spades, the Ace and King of Spades when you hold few spades, and high hearts.

Low cards are your friends in Hearts. Keep them: a hand full of twos and threes can duck under almost any trick.

2. Empty a short suit

If you hold only one or two cards in a suit, pass them. Once you’re void in that suit, every time it’s led you can throw away whatever you like, including the Queen or a high heart. A void is the best defensive tool in the game.

3. Keep the Queen only with cover

Holding the Queen of Spades isn’t a disaster if you also hold four or five other spades. When someone leads spades, you can play low and wait for the right moment to drop her on someone else’s trick. With fewer spades, she’s a liability: pass her.

4. Watch who passes to you

What you receive tells you something. Three high spades from your right means that player was afraid of them, and probably holds few spades now. Remember who passed what, and who is likely void in which suit.

5. Lead low spades to flush out the Queen

If you don’t hold the Queen, and you do hold low spades, lead them. The player with the Queen and few spades will eventually have to play her, and with luck on someone else’s trick. Don’t lead spades if you hold the Ace or King without the Queen: you might win her yourself.

6. Lose the lead with low cards

Winning a trick means leading the next one, and leading is risky once hearts are broken. When you do win, try to lead a low card in a suit where others still have higher ones, so the lead passes on.

7. Spot a moon shot early

Shooting the moon means one player takes every heart and the Queen. Then everyone else takes 26 points. If one player keeps winning tricks with hearts in them, they may be going for it.

To stop them, all it takes is one heart on a trick they don’t win. Keep a middle heart back for exactly that moment, and play it on a trick someone else is taking.

8. Try the moon only with the right hand

A moon try needs long, high cards: several top hearts, the Ace or King of Spades to catch the Queen, and strength in another suit to keep the lead. Without that, a moon try usually ends with you taking 20 points instead of 0.

On HulaGames, today’s Daily, the Moon Hunt, gives everyone the same deal, checked so a moon line is really there. It’s the best place to practice spotting one.

9. Count the hearts

There are 13 hearts. Keep a rough count of how many have been played, and who took them. Late in a hand, knowing that only two hearts are left, and which one is the highest, tells you exactly how safe your next lead is.

Practice at the right table

Hearts on HulaGames has three tables: Casual for your first games, Sharp for an even match and Shark when you want a real fight. The first hand is a short tutorial that teaches the pass, the lead and dodging the Queen. Then play a Quick Match to 100 (or 50), a single hand, or today’s Moon Hunt.

Play Hearts free, with no download and no account needed to start. Like trick-taking? Our Spades strategy tips cover bidding, Nil and bags.

Want more card strategy? See the best free card games on HulaGames.