#Hearts io games how to#

By voiding or shorting a suit, you also usually guarantee that someone else will be 'long' in the same suit (having many cards of the suit in their hand), which can force that player to take a lot of tricks (and points) if they are forced to lead their 'long' suit late in the game after everyone else has voided it. By voiding a particular suit, when that suit is led you may play any card you choose you may try to void another suit, or you may play dangerous cards (like the AKQ ♠, high Hearts, or face cards of any suit) to get rid of them, in the process possibly foisting off penalty points on another player. Voiding may be done by passing cards or through play of the first few tricks, or a combination. Voiding/Short-Suiting Īn elementary strategy in Hearts, as in many Whist-family games, is to void or short-suit a particular suit in their hand that is, to have very few or no cards of that suit in their hand as play begins. If you get suspiciously low, unimportant cards, that might suggest he's trying to hoard all the strongest cards and shoot the moon, which you should consider taking your own steps to defend against (see the Shooting the moon section below).

Receiving the Queen might mean he's low on Spades. If you get lots of cards of one suit, that usually means the opponent wants to shortsuit himself of the suit. Pay attention to the cards passed on to you they might reveal something about your competitor's hand. Because that card always starts the game, and the first trick is safe from any point-taking, not having to lead the 2 ♣ allows you to play a high Club (which you may receive from the other player) 'safely'. If, on a trick, you play after him, you can safely take the trick without risking taking the Queen.Īn interesting strategy is to pass on the 2 of clubs if you have it. If you do pass the queen, remember to whom you passed it. If you are rich in low spades, it is safer to keep it, because you always know where it is and have control over when it is discarded. Keeping low hearts can actually be advantageous because if anyone leads a heart, you can play a low one and not win the trick.īear in mind that you do not always have to pass on the Queen if you have it. High hearts are also dangerous if you do not have low hearts as well (2-6), and should probably be passed on.

They become increasingly more dangerous the fewer low spades you have, because if someone leads spades more than a few times you'll have to play them and likely take the Queen. The most dangerous cards are the Queen, King, and Ace of spades. If you have four or more low spades, then you don't have to worry if you have any of the high spades and should concentrate on discarding another suit. Never short suit yourself of spades below the Queen always keep spades valued Jack or lower. (However, you may get other cards in that suit passed right back to you by an opponent who also wants to shortsuit himself of it.) As a general rule, you want to get rid of the most dangerous parts of your hand and, if possible, short suit(also known as void) yourself (i.e., no cards in one suit) of clubs or diamonds.

#Hearts io games how to#

One of the most important strategies is knowing how to pass.