| Beginner's Korner -- Tip of the Month
Managing the Heart Suit – Passing Scenarios
In recent previous columns, we have explored Spade-suit management, how to avoid taking in the Queen of Spades, passing technique, and defending against the Moon. An overlooked area is the Hearts suit itself. Seasoned players are very familiar with these Hearts-suit combinations (listed below). Assume that we are looking at Hearts holdings prior to the pass ("x" denotes a card lower than a 10).
a. A (singleton) | b. K x (doubleton) | c. Q x x | d. J x x x | e. 10 x x x x |
If you said: "These Hearts suits will prevent someone from Shooting the Moon provided they have at least one Heart in their hand," you may go to the head of the class! Check out your entire hand before making the pass. (On "keeper" hands, you have no options.) You may want to consider voiding a weak Diamond or Club suit before parting with a Heart from the above combinations. Of course, if you have a suspect Spade suit (such as an unguarded Queen, King, or Ace), you must take care of that situation first. A good rule of thumb regarding the passing of Hearts is never to pass the Ace of Hearts, unless you are unloading a smaller Heart with the Ace. And that may fail too, if the recipient of your A x Heart pass has the K Q J of Hearts, or the K Q of Hearts with a lot of length. The King of Hearts is best kept in your hand as well, unless you have the Ace, which is the natural stopper against the King. The Queen of Hearts with two small guards should be retained. However, if your Heart suit is Q J 10, Q J 9, Q 10 9, Q J 9 8, etc., my advice is to send all of this junk (the top three Hearts in the four-card holdings), along to whoever is scheduled to receive it. This is especially true if your other suits are rotten. You might not have a Heart passed to you, and thus, your odds increase for a chance at a Moon, if you were able to unload a bad three-card Heart suit. And if you do have a middle Heart passed to you, it could be an exit card, especially if you can strip the other suits. You may rest assured that some hands are real dogs without much room for improvement. By the way, some foxy players will pass a Heart from Q x x, J x x x, or 10 x x x x anyway, as they normally expect a Heart to be passed to them.
There are many questions to be answered here:
a. Do you have the Spade Queen in your hand, and is she protected?
b. Are your other three suits reasonably safe?
c. Do you have a shot at a Moon?
d. What is the score, and what position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th place) are you situated? If you are in first place with at least a 27-point lead, you can try to feed the Moon to anyone, as a Shoot will seal the game for you.
e. Are your opponents trustworthy and team players? Or do they play dirty Hearts -- duck and dump, and every man for himself?
f. Whom are you passing to -- the leader? the person in last place?
Next month, we will examine specific Heart-suit holdings after the pass.
2. Hand of the Month – “When will they ever learn?”
Every so often, this type of hand comes along. And more often than not, a player's greed often gets the better of him. This specimen comes from a Zone tournament game observed by yours truly. Here was the deal:
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In a close middle game, and after an across pass, South looked at his hand. He determined that if the Spade Queen was driven out, he would be stuck with 8 points, thanks to those two big Hearts. Perhaps, he could sneak his ratty little Diamond through, grab any Club lead on the second round, and then, lead those nice, juicy Spades. Maybe the first Diamond would be won high, and a Diamond continued. Then it would be sayonara to the Queen of Hearts (and 4 points saved). It was a good plan, and deserved a better fate. After all, the 4 of Diamonds sure looked like an "out card." Our hero won the Ace of Clubs with dispatch and, sure enough, led that lowly (and lonely) Diamond. Her Royal Majesty -- The Evil Lady -- made a majestic appearance, as well as the 3 and Deuce of Diamonds. South also won two later Heart tricks, and was toasted for 21 crispy, well-done, well-deserved points.
Was there a better way? You have the advantage of seeing all four hands. How would you have played it without this advantage? Win an autographed copy of The Complete Win at Hearts and two decks of cards. The first two persons with the correct solution (date of e-mail) will grab these prizes. Send entry to: heartsmoon@aol.com. The analysis must be logical and clear. The answer will appear next month.
3. "Live" Tournament Update
Sixth Grand Prix National Hearts Invitational Tournament
Sept 17-19: Chicago, IL
Grand Prix - World Series of Spades / Euchre / Hearts
Got game? Want to play? Do you enjoy competitive "live" Hearts? Send an e-mail to: heartsmoon@aol.com
Have a great summer! I will be back in August!
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