What Does the Queen of Spades Mean in Hearts?

In Hearts, the lower your score, the greater chance you have of winning the game. When playing a game of Hearts online, there’s one card you really need to avoid if you want to win: the Queen of Spades.

The Queen of Spades is an unlucky card to be handed. It means you’re facing a large number of penalty points: thirteen penalty points, to be exact!

Basics of Hearts

Hearts is one of many card games similar to Spades. However, in this game, the Queen of Spades will net you penalty points rather than a successful trick.

The number of cards in a Hearts deck is fifty-two. Inevitably, someone will be dealt the Queen of Spades. The challenge is avoiding this card and what to do if you have it.

How to Avoid the Queen of Spades

After you’ve been dealt your thirteen cards, you check your hand and find it contains the Queen of Spades. Now what?

Some Hearts players say the best way to avoid the Queen is to own it. However, this requires careful attention to the cards other players hold during the game, especially Spades. If you can play your Queen of Spades before the Ace and King of Spades have been played, you may succeed in getting rid of it.

If you don’t have the Queen of Spades, it’s important to play the Ace of Spades and King of Spades as soon as possible if you have either of those cards.

When to Pass

Passing cards is a part of any game of Hearts, and knowing which cards are worth passing or keeping can be tricky. Many people say never to pass any Spades cards because passing the Queen, King, or Ace of Spades could backfire.

Consider this scenario: You have the four, King, and Ace of Spades. You opt to pass the King and Ace to another player. But, if you receive the Queen from another player, you could be left very vulnerable. If you had kept one of those two cards, either would beat the Queen.

Instead of passing high Spades cards, try this: pass all your Clubs so you don’t hold any cards of that suit. This way, if you have the Queen of Spades, you can play that card when Clubs lead because you won’t have any Clubs in your hand and can’t follow suit.

Keeping the Queen of Spades

In Hearts, shooting the moon is a strategy in which you attempt to collect every Heart card in the deck and the Queen of Spades. If you succeed, you’ll subtract twenty-six points from your score or add it to another player’s score.

Practice Makes Perfect

Hearts can be hard to wrap your head around, but practice makes perfect. On Hearts.co, you can play as many rounds as you’d like and build your strategic skill sets. With our help, you’ll be an expert Hearts player in no time!