Whoever has the 2 of clubs leads the first 'trick', or round of play, by laying that card face up in the center of the table. If playing with 3 players, the three of clubs is removed and everyone plays with a 51-card deck when playing with five players, the three of diamonds and spades is discarded as well so everyone gets 10 cards.Īfter a hand is dealt, but before the first trick is played, each player passes three cards to another player in the following order: In a four-player game, everyone gets thirteen cards.

This is known as 'running' or 'shooting the moon'.Īll the cards are dealt out to each player evenly. However, if one player can succeed in getting all the cards that carry points - all the hearts plus the queen of spades - that player gets no points, and every other player gets 26 points. In a common variation, the jack of diamonds subtracts ten points (although this is not a universal rule). In addition, the queen of spades (also called the 'Black Lady') carries 13 points.

Every heart taken in a trick is one point. The winner is the person with the lowest score when one player reaches a pre-determined score, usually 100. The object of the game is to receive as few hearts as possible and avoid the queen of Spades.

4 More than Five Players: Double-Deck Variants.

Jack of diamonds play