| Three-Handed Hearts - Part IV of a Series About Hearts Variations
"Trio" or Three-Handed Hearts is a very challenging variation, and the perfect solution for those occasions when you have only three players available for a game of Hearts. The deck must be reduced to 51 cards, and I suggest removing the deuce of diamonds. (In some circles, a 52-card deck is used, and the player who is dealt the extra card plays two cards on the first trick.) Seventeen cards are dealt to each person. The pass rotation is Left, Right, Hold (Keeper), then repeat. The pass (two hands out of three) consists of four cards, in order to compensate for the extra cards in each hand. The deuce of clubs is still the opening lead and, of course, there is no "painting" of the first trick. Otherwise, all of the standard rules apply.
Shooting the Moon is generally more difficult, as the distribution is somewhat erratic. After the pass, a suit of seven, eight, or even nine cards is quite common. A low heart pass usually kills a Moon! As for the heart suit itself, you must have tremendous length or strength in order to be able to run this suit while attempting a Moon. The spade Queen protection is also a factor. Queen fifth (Q x x x x) is very shaky, as the suit must break 5 - 4 - 4 in order to survive. However, if you have the spade Queen with high card guards (A K Q 10 8), you can stop the spade drives, and continue stripping a side suit. A spade Queen with six or more accompanying spades is usually quite safe. I also like the idea of holding the Queen and four small spades, and hoping to have an Ace or King passed to you. Hold or Keeper hands are crap shoots, as in the standard game. You must hope that you won't be served with a weakly supported spade Queen and/or long, middle hearts; otherwise, it will be lights out!
Strategy
Because there are only three people in the game, experienced Hearts players should have little problem in aiming for the low man. Passing at least one middle or low heart will certainly save a lot of anxiety. And it is quite easy to form a temporary alliance for the common cause. It is also essential to count suits and to strip exit cards from the opponents, especially when you do hold the spade Queen. Three-handed Hearts is rarely played in live events, unless there are exactly three additional players (and a fourth is not available). In this instance, the Director will make sure that nobody is required to to play the three-handed game more than once.
You will find that this is a high quality game, and will improve your counting and play of the hand skills.
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| The Lighter side of Hearts, or "Bonehead Blunder of the Year"
If there was ever an occasion for awarding a dunce's cap, this would be it. The scores in a game were: West 77, North 68, East 75, South 72. Obviously, in this close game, defense was paramount. The pass was to the left. West picked up this collection:
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This was a really nice hand. And the pass of the Queen of hearts (to the low person, North) was a must. Our hero West opted for the Queen of hearts and the A - Q of clubs. (I would have passed the diamond ten and the Queen of clubs, retaining the Ace of clubs for early control, and a tempo to start the spade suit.) The actual pass was quite acceptable, however. West received the eight of hearts, and two middle diamonds from the South player.
The play proceeded. Two of clubs from South, ten of diamonds, four of clubs (a very fishy card) from North, and the Jack of clubs. The spade five was led by East, as South played low, and West's Jack won. The spade ten caught North's Ace, a middle heart from East, and a low spade from South. North then exited with the deuce of diamonds. South won this trick with the nine-spot and proceeded to lead another spade, as West ducked, and North's glorious Queen came crashing down. Now North played the Queen of hearts, and two middle-spots appeared. West hesitated, and dropped the eight of hearts. The Queen was the only heart which North held, and the rest of his hand was a slew of good clubs and diamonds. North said "thank you", and proceeded to run the hand out for the Moon and First Place. West promptly buried his hand into the pile of cards in the table and then made the comment, "Who had the Ace of Hearts, and why didn't you stop him?"
South, who did hold the hearts Ace, turned over West's hastily buried cards, and said "Is that the King of hearts, as well as the deuce and three"? Thus, West came in dead last, when he could have kept the game going for only four points, and dumped a few more points on South and/or East with the lead of a low heart. Here we had a player who passed the stopping card to the low man, held a nice hand with safe hearts and spades, and then chose to allow a Moon to go through for a well-earned last place.
I nominate the West player for "Dunce of the Year"!
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| Live Hearts Tournaments
Lords & Ladies Live!
June 3-5, Charlotte, NC
Live Hearts events are relatively rare. This event looks like a winner... and a lot of fun. It is organized and directed by Zoners. For more info, send an e-mail to lordsladieshearts@hotmail.com Check it out!
And if you want to play in the World Series of Hearts (Sept. 16-18 in Cleveland, OH), please stop by the Grand Prix Site:
GrandPrix Tournaments - Officially Sanctioned Classic Card Game Events
or send an e-mail to heartsmoon@aol.com for an invitation.
See you next month! | |
