How to Play Hearts for Beginners With Passing Tips

You keep ending Hearts games with the queen of spades in your pile and a score that climbs past 100 while everyone else sits at 40. The rules are simple, but the game punishes players who only know the rules. If you want to learn how to play Hearts properly, the two skills that matter most are what you pass at the start of each hand and when you choose to take a trick.

This guide covers the full rules for the standard four-player game, then the passing and play tips that will stop you from collecting every penalty card at the table.

How to play Hearts: the basic rules

Hearts uses a standard 52 card deck with no jokers and four players, each playing alone. Aces are high. Every player is dealt 13 cards.

Goal: score as few points as possible. The game ends when someone reaches 100 points, and the player with the lowest score wins.
Penalty cards: each heart is worth 1 point. The queen of spades is worth 13 points. That makes 26 penalty points in every hand.
Tricks: the player holding the 2 of clubs leads it to the first trick. Everyone must follow suit if they can. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and that player leads next.
If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, which is how you get rid of hearts and the queen of spades onto other players. The one exception: on the very first trick, you may not discard a heart or the queen of spades.
Breaking hearts: you cannot lead a heart until a heart has been discarded on an earlier trick, unless you hold nothing but hearts.

Shooting the moon

If one player takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in a single hand, they score 0 and every other player takes 26 points. It is the big comeback move, and the main reason you cannot simply dump every penalty card on the same person.

The pass: where most hands are won or lost

Before each hand, every player passes three cards. The direction rotates: left, then right, then across, then a hand with no pass, and the cycle repeats. Most beginners pass their three highest cards. That is not terrible, but it is not good either.

What to pass

The queen, king or ace of spades, if you have few spades. Holding the ace or king of spades with only one or two low spades means you will probably be forced to win the queen. With four or more spades, keep them; you can protect yourself.
Cards that empty a suit. If you hold only two diamonds, passing both creates a void. A void lets you discard penalty cards the first time that suit is led, which is worth more than passing any single high card.
High hearts. The ace and king of hearts often win tricks late in a hand when hearts are flowing. Pass them if you have no low hearts to protect them.

What to keep

Keep low cards like 2s, 3s and 4s. They are your escape cards. Also keep the queen of spades if you hold five or more spades, because you can usually wait until someone else is forced to play the ace or king.

Play tips that cut your score

Count the spades

Track how many spades have been played and whether the ace, king and queen are gone. Counting all 52 cards is hard, but counting one suit is easy and protects you from the biggest penalty.

Lead spades to flush the queen

If you hold low spades and not the queen, lead them early. Each spade lead forces the player with the queen closer to playing it, and if you are not holding the ace or king, you will not be the one who wins that trick.

Take tricks early, not late

Winning a trick on the first two rounds is often harmless because no one has a void yet and hearts are not usually broken. Use those tricks to get rid of awkward high cards like a king of clubs. Late in the hand, every trick you win is far more likely to carry hearts.

Watch the leader

Whoever is lowest in the score late in the game is the player everyone should push points toward, carefully. Dumping the queen on the player at 85 might end the game while someone else is winning.

Why "never take a trick" is bad advice

Beginners are often told the safest strategy is to avoid taking any trick at all. We disagree. Ducking every trick means saving your high cards for the end of the hand, and that is exactly when hearts are flowing and every other player has voids. You end up stuck with an ace of diamonds on the last trick, catching four hearts.

It is better to take one or two clean tricks early, while they carry no points, and use the lead to steer the game. Taking a trick on purpose also tells you who has voids, because you see what each player discards. Reading what others hold from what they play is the real skill in every trick-taking game, and it is easier to teach with open hands first, as our piece on teaching card games to someone who hates rules explains.

Variants worth trying

Jack of diamonds: the player who takes the jack of diamonds subtracts 10 points. It rewards bold play.
Three players: remove the 2 of diamonds and deal 17 cards each.
Omnibus Hearts: adds the jack bonus and the moon rules together, popular in clubs.
Black Maria: the British cousin, where the ace and king of spades also carry penalty points.

If you enjoy trick-taking, the rules of Euchre with trump calling make a good next step, and our beginner's guide to classic Rummy variants covers a different family of card games that pairs well with Hearts on game night.

Frequently asked questions

How do you win at Hearts?

You win Hearts by having the lowest score when any player reaches 100 points. Avoid taking hearts and the queen of spades, use the pass to create voids, and get rid of high cards early when tricks carry no points.

Can you lead hearts on the first trick?

No. The first trick is always led with the 2 of clubs, and players cannot discard hearts or the queen of spades on it. Hearts can only be led after a heart has been discarded on an earlier trick, unless a player holds only hearts.

What happens when you shoot the moon in Hearts?

If you take all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in one hand, you score 0 and each other player adds 26 points. Some groups let the shooter subtract 26 from their own score instead. Agree on the rule before the game starts.