| 1. Hearts Pioneers / Terminology -- Part II
Contract Bridge has many conventions and bidding systems named after its legendary players. Although the game of Hearts is older than Bridge, organized "live" events and tournaments are relatively infrequent. However, there are terms and strategies named after some very fine players. Continuing from last month's column:
Firstly, let's look at the "Suicide Pass," devised by Amelia Rosner of NYC. Suppose you pick up this hand:
 Q 2
 K J 7 3
 A Q 10 4
 K Q 5
The pass is to the left. A lot of players would pass the Heart Jack, Spade Queen, and Club King. (Another choice is the Spade Queen, and both top Clubs -- a bit dangerous to be sure.) You are still stuck with a bad hand. Rosner, instead, would pass the Spade Queen, Spade Deuce, and Heart Jack. The logic here is that voiding Spades allows dumping opportunities on subsequent Spade leads. If you receive the A or K of Spades, you are still in the same bind as if you had kept the Deuce. A variation on this theme is passing any Singleton Spade you are dealt. My comment is that any Spade from the Deuce through the Jack is valuable and should be kept. Furthermore, passing a low Spade may help to strengthen the hand of one of your opponents. Keep any low Spades (2-J), and shorten a dangerous Club or Diamond suit.
Now we come to "Harriet's phony Spade Queen lead." Harriet S., who lives in the greater Boston area, is a terrific player, who will not give up Moon Shots that easily. She also has a very sneaky side to her game! Suppose you pick up this collection on a "keeper" or "hold" hand situation.
 Q
 Q 10 9 6 2
 A Q 9 3
 A K 4
Not a very nice situation! Your Spade Queen is "ready to go." You may rest assured that if you take the A-K of Clubs, followed by the 4, the ops will know you have the Spade Queen or Spade trouble, as you did not lead Spades. Do you really expect to have a fourth round of Clubs played for your convenience? The opponents have 12 Spades among them, and entries galore in the red suits. Harriet suggests that you try this: Give the hand a few extra seconds of thought. Take the Ace of Clubs, and cash the Ace of Diamonds. If the Diamond King is dropped, play the Diamond Queen. Otherwise shift back to Clubs by taking the King. Do not attempt to exit with a low Club or Diamond. Now, after a slight, but discernible pause (as if you were checking the score), lead the Spade Queen. For a "special effect," ask if points for a Moon can be subtracted! LOL You will be amazed at just how many people will grab the Spade Queen! You have nothing to lose, and some paranoid opponent may think that he or she is stopping the Moon!
2. "Dirty" Hearts By Tanya Brown
Tanya was attending Norfolk State University (VA) when she sent this article to me. I really like this variation. Try it out sometime -- it is a lot of fun!
Introduction: Hearts is a trick-taking game. Similar to other styles of the game, this variant is a competitive four-player game. There are no formal partnerships.
A Standard 52-card deck is used.
Aces are high and Deuces are low. There is no trump suit and no bidding is necessary.
The Queen of Spades, “The Lady,” is worth 13 points. The 10 of Diamonds, “The Dime,” is worth 10 points. Each Heart is worth 1 point. The other cards have no point value. There is a total of 36 points to be scored per round.
Object of Game: To avoid scoring points and to hold a seat. The game is ended when one person reaches 52 points. In this version of Hearts a player does not want to take all the points in a round of play. If a player does, the 36 points are added to his or her score. That can be embarrassing and put the player closer to losing their valued seat. Players will talk about a person who doesn't avoid taking all the “numbers.”
This version usually draws a “waiting list” of people who want to play. If only one person totals 52 or more points, only that person loses his or her seat. However, if at least two people are waiting to play and two people take52 or more points, then they both lose their seat, and so forth. Note: I have on occasion seen an entire table lose their seats to four waiting players.
The Deal and Passing Cards: The entire deck is dealt out clockwise. Each player receives 13 cards. The dealer announces what pass will be made by the players. Each round of passing cards from one player to another will contain three cards. Again, each set of passes consists of three cards.
Dealer's calls for passing cards:
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| Passes below are called “Personal Passes” or “Personals”:
“1-2-3” or “Around the Table” -- in order -- clockwise, the first person and the dealer exchange a pass. Then the second person and the dealer exchange a pass. Lastly, the third person and the dealer exchange a pass.
“2-3-1,”“2-1-3,”“3-2-1,” and “3-1-2”-- are all the additional personal calls. They are simply variants in the order of the one pass exchanged between the dealer and the other players. For example: in 2-3-1, the second person clockwise from the dealer (sitting across the table) would pass first, the third person clockwise (person sitting to the right) would pass second, and the first person clockwise (person sitting to the left) would pass last.
The dealer must call the choice of passing before he looks at his hand. If he looks at the hand before he calls a pass, the only pass he can call is “3 to the left or right.”
Strategy: Through practice, you'll learn to improve your passing. Think about where cards will likely end up and what cards you haven't seen. In this version, low cards (“duckers”) are good cards to have and good cards to keep. A player who manages to have a three- or two-suited hand has some passing skills. High cards can mean trouble to the player who doesn't have enough of the suit to duck under a Queen of Spades or 10 of Diamonds. Often players exhale that sigh of relief when they have last play and can get rid of a high card.
Personal passes are called as such for a reason. Players tend to call personal passes to place cards in the hands where they think it will help them get another player. Players also call personals if they have a lot of numbers (points) and they are trying to create a safe hand for themselves. Those who excel at strategizing can get the person they wish to (ex: person with highest score) easily. Sometimes it is smarter to hold on to cards rather than pass them. Often in this game a “hot seat” is created. In this case, three players are going after the one player who is sitting in the seat that everyone is losing in or who is talking the most trash. Players also like to “get the man across the table” from them; passing across the table is one of the harder passes to make.
There is more strategy in this version of Hearts than a person can imagine or than will be revealed in one or two hands. The more you play this game, the more you'll learn about strategic card playing and passing.
The Play: The play begins with the person to the dealer's left. He leads off with any card he chooses. Usually the lead-off player immediately goes to “the hunt” (looking for the queen of Spades, or 10 of Diamonds) in order to make something fall. The player will not hunt for something that may fall on them. Let me explain. The Queen of Spades can be played on the Ace and King of Spades to give to whoever played the higher of the two on that particular hand. It also can be played off on any other suit when the holder doesn't have any cards of that particular suit in his hand. The 10 of Diamonds can be played on the A, K, Q, or J of Diamonds to 5 points. It also can be played off on any suit when the holder doesn't have any cards of that particular suit in his hand. The person with either of those two dangerous cards must play them off on the first opportunity; there's no sense in waiting for someone you may be aiming to “serve” with the points. If somebody happens to get in the way of a player's strategic passing (for example, changing passes when you asked them not to, taking points that should be going to someone else, etc.), then that player may decide to go after the person who didn't cooperate.
Hearts cannot lead or be played until somebody is “painted” (given a point). There is some strategy behind when a person should and should not break or paint. A player may be looking for a way to avoid taking a lot of points if they have a bad hand, and by not breaking paint they may be stuck playing all the high cards in their hand. Players also like to break paint at first chance if they have a high Hearts that they think may bring them points.
Teaming up during play: Often the two or three low men at the table will take into consideration that others are waiting to play and decide to team up to create the vacant seat. Those players who count cards and remember passes can orchestrate and time the falling of “the Lady” and “the Dime” and who will get the points. Excellent players can orchestrate what is called “the Mother Lode.” The “Mother Lode” is when both "the Lady” and “the Dime” fall at the same time. In this instance the last player will “paint” (play a Heart) to add insult if they also don't have any of the suit played.
Please note: at N.S.U., somebody hits the light switch a few times when a player takes the “Mother Lode.”
Writer's note: This game is most fun when many people know how to play. When others are waiting on what may be your seat, each play becomes more important. I have learned other ways to play Hearts, and in my opinion this is the most exciting, most challenging and aggressive way to play the game, by far. The more a person plays, the better a strategic card player they will become.
Pretty far out -- but you will like it once you have learned all of the nuances! | |
