Most card games require good memory to dominate your opponents, and Hearts is no different.
Since most of use are not like Rain Man and are not able to remember every detail of the hand, here are a few things that you really need to keep track of:
- Where is the Queen of Spades. In case you ware the one that passed it, you should remember that you did so. This will really help you when you want to dump A or K of Spades, or when deciding to pick up a trick and unload a high card or playing it safe with a low card.
- Which of the Queen-or-higher Spades ware already played. Especially important when you are actually holding one of them. In case you have the Queen, it’s also great, if you can keep track of all the Spades. That way you might be able to know exactly when to lead with it.
- Who is out of which suit. By keeping track of this you can predict what they will play and play accordingly.
- Keep track of Hearts! You should always do this. Not only will you know, if you are in danger of picking one up, but you’ll might also be able to spoil someones attempt to shoot for the moon. Keep track of which of the high ones ware played, who took them and how many ware played altogether.
- Keep track of suits that you have a lot of. You don’t want to get stuck leading the game and taking all the tricks (unless you want to shoot for the moon).
That’s it! It might seem like a lot… and it is, but you’ll probably get a pretty good feeling for it after a while and you’ll start keeping track of most of these things subconsciously.
Another good thing is that you’ll give your brain a good exercise by doing this:)
Enjoy playing!
