It’s quite interesting that as I grew, my exposure to trick-taking card games was at first quite limited. The general feeling I have from my early days is that my family and friends were more interested in Rummy-type (therefore strictly melding) games or card-capturing games like for instance Bella Donna (was tempted to include Scopa but this was a game I learned much later), a game I have mentioned on a number of occasion on this blog.
In an attempt to ratify the situation, perhaps in the process fill in a lacuna in my card-gaming knowledge, I started to research trick-taking games. To begin with from a historical perspective, trick-taking games were all the rage in the early days of continental card playing. From the original game of Tarot, to Whist, Hearts and Spades, trick-taking card games appear to have been by far amongst the most played. One cannot claim that this is the same today, particularly with the overwhelming popularity of Poker (in particular Texas hold ‘em) through televised cash-games and tournaments.
So what’s a trick anyway? In trick-taking games, each player is normally dealt a number of cards (one quarter of a standard deck of 52 cards in a four-handed game). Starting the game would then involve either determining a Trump suit or perhaps there would be a specific Trump card that would be required to be played first. Either way, a player will “lead” a trick by playing a card from his hand to the table. The player who would be the next in line to play would then try to either play in the same suit as the player leading the trick (if he can) or otherwise play any other card he might hold.
Of course winning a trick, once all players would have committed their chosen card to the table would depend on a number of factors. For instance, a more common mechanism to determine the winner of a trick would be to determine the player who played the highest card in the lead or trump suit. Whether it is determined by the leading player at the beginning of a trick, or by some form of random selection at the very beginning of a hand depends on the game being played.
It is then normally the scoring that differs substantially from one trick-taking game to another, but other than that the basic game play described above is almost always the same.
As an example let us consider the trick-taking game called Hearts.
Hearts descends from a much older family of trick-taking card games called Reversis. The original version of Hearts is thought to have been developed from the aforementioned game at around the middle of the 1800’s. That original version of Hearts lacked a number of rules now accepted as forming part of standard Hearts. For instance there was no penalty for capturing the queen of spades and nor was it possible to “Shoot the moon” both rules which I will describe later. Hearts is still fairly popular today (and maybe Microsoft have contributed significantly to this game’s popularity by including it in their Windows Operating system) and is played both live and on computer-based, multi-player games. As with all trick-taking games, in Hearts the deck of 52 cards is dealt out evenly among all four players. Before any hands commence, each player then passes three of his cards to the player to his left. This gaming mechanism is specifically a Hearts thing. In subsequent hands these three cards are passed to the right and then, in the following hand, across. The rotation of passes is repeated for as long as the game lasts.
The player who is dealt the 2 of clubs must lead the first trick of a hand. If a player has another Club-suited card he should play it, otherwise he should lead with any other card instead. Capturing cards from the hearts suit will score points against you with each card costing the capturer 1 point. The Queen of Spades then must also be avoided at all costs since she will cost the player capturing her 13 points. There also appears to be a rule which states that the Queen of spades may not be played on the first trick nor can she be passed with the three cards at the start of a hand, but I have still to confirm this one. Hearts may not lead until they are broken, or basically until one player is forced to play a heart on someone else’s lead because he does not have a card in the same leading suit. Some rules add that playing the Queen of Spades during a trick also qualifies as breaking hearts. As scoring goes the rules for standard Hearts hold a notable exception to the above, a rule called “Shooting the moon”. If a player successfully manages to capture all 13 heart cards plus the Queen of Spades, he not only does not score the resultant bad points but his overall score will be reduced by 26 points while his opponents' score will be increased by the same amount. A full game of Hearts is normally concluded when one player scores or exceeds 100 points; the winner would be the player holding the smallest (penalty?) score.
For the uninitiated folk, and that included me for a time, Hearts may appear to be elusively simplistic, involving game play that appears to be held in sway by the luck of the draw. While admittedly, as with all card games, luck does effect the evolution of play, over a number of hands it’s not only luck but conscientious and strategic use of the cards dealt that really effects the final score.
The above applies to Hearts as to any other trick-taking card game (and not only) in existence. If we were to disassemble the strategies for specific trick-taking card games to their simplest possible form, we arrive to a set of guidelines that will tend to apply for all similar trick-taking card games.
This information which follows is the result of research as well as contributions from fellow card players and I will therefore not attempt to claim exclusivity over it. What I do suggest is that if you do try out these concepts, give them a few good rolls, perhaps over a number of complete games since statistically significant results can only be attained over a sizeable amount of gathered data.
Let’s first of all consider two aspects of Hearts that could give a player a strong say into whether he will win a hand or not.
The first relates to the Queen of Spades. She is worth 13 bad points and you definitely need to get rid of her as soon as possible. Some players like to keep her a bit longer especially if they also hold an additional 3 (or more) high spade cards like K-J-10 or J-10-9. Holding these more powerful cards ensures that no one else can effectively lead using Spades, allowing the holder of Q of spades more versatility into when exactly to drop the bomb on someone. Spades lower than Q should not be passed on pre-hand as these might actually allow you to dodge the black Queen when someone else drops her on any given trick.
The second aspect relates to “Shooting the moon”. If you hold a suspicion that any player at the table might be trying to achieve his goal, you might want to work out a means to capture a heart or two in your next trick. Those cards may cost you 1 or more points but they would also ensure that the player who might be trying to “Shoot the moon” does not reap the benefit of seeing his score reduced by a whopping 26 points.
Other points to consider if you really intend to “Shoot the moon” would include being in a position of strength at the start of a hand, which would translate to holding as many of the higher ranks from the hearts suit as possible. This will guarantee to an extent that you will hold a high probability of winning all the tricks that matter and as a consequence achieve your goal.
So the main strategy that one needs to adhere to and make his own is to ensure a sensible amount of control over the way tricks are won or lost. This can be attained by first and foremost controlling the stronger cards you are dealt while also paying close attention to what cards are won from one trick to the next. In Hearts for instance it makes sense to keep tabs on all the hearts that have hit the table as well as all the higher ranking spades. In other trick taking games were the suit may be decided at the beginning of a match, you would have to keep a sharp eye for any cards that are played in that Trump suit. Most trick-taking games allow you to as a minimum to execute moves that allow you to control any damaging effects you will incur as a consequence to an unfortunate draw. Over the course of a many hands, the effects of those negative draws can only be offset against a proper and diligent use of strategy when it comes to the play of cards.
