Rules and Gameplay of Hearts

The primary object of the game is to get as few points as possible.

All hearts cards are worth 1 point each, and the Queen of Spades is worth 13 points. So you need to avoid winning these cards, especially the queen of spades.

After cards are dealt you pass 3 cards to an opponent. This normally follows the rules of pass left, pass right, pass over, no pass. You are effectively swapping the 3 cards with the opponent. The cards you pass very much form part of the tactics of the game.

The player with the 2 of clubs leads, and the opponents follow in clockwise order. The winner of that trick is the player who has to lead the hext hand.

You must follow suit at all times if you have a card of that suit. Otherwise you can discard any card.

The games proceeds until all 13 tricks have been played out, and then the winners of the tricks count up their points and they are noted down.

For example:
Player A: 2h, 3h, 7h, Jh = 4 points
Player B: No hearts, No Queen Spades = 0 points
Plater C: Ah, Kh, Th, 8h, Qs = 17 points
Player D: Qh, 9h, 6h, 5h, 4h = 5 points

Most games are played up to a pre-set score, normally a minimum of 53, in order to prevent any player from winning in 2 rounds or less.

You need to be a little careful not to allow all the 26 points in any one round go to a single player. If this happens they are said to have "shot the moon" and can either add 26 points to all 3 opponents, or can subtract 26 from their score, whichever suits them best at the time.

To try to prevent players shooting the moon, often players will pass 1 low heart to their opponent, which they know can be beaten in all cases except if the player has long & strong hearts.

Hearts is a lot of fun and can be enjoyed by players of all abilities. To truely master hearts you need to be able to count cards to some degree, and need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of all types of hands you are dealt, and react accordingly