Hearts

Queen of Spades in Hearts

This page is the rest of the hand, after the pass. You already kept her, or someone already sent her. Now it is dump, smoke, or hold. Dump is a sluff: you are void, a high card already owns the trick, you throw her on it. Smoke is a lead: you do not have her, you lead a low spade, you force the holder to play her. Hold is a threat: you have the guards to duck, so the ace and king of spades sit there radioactive until you decide.

It is not the interactive lesson, and it is not the scoring chart. Which cards are point cards is the point cards lesson. Keep or pass, and why left is not the same as right, is what to pass. First-night rules live on how to play hearts. Replay the dump and the smoke on the practice table with every card visible.

Dump, smoke, or hold

Four people. No partner. Highest of the led suit wins. There is no trump, so a void is a discard, not a ruff. The queen is a spade. You must follow spades if you have one. You may throw her only when you cannot follow the suit that was led, or when you lead her yourself.

The pass is over. You are not choosing three cards. You are choosing a job for the one card that still decides the round:

Dump. You hold her. Get her off your pile onto someone else's, on a trick you will not win.
Smoke. You do not hold her. Lead a low spade and make the holder play her before your ace or king has to.
Hold. You hold her, and you can duck. Sit. Let the table guess. Dump later, on a pile you picked, or keep her because you are shooting.

Queen of spades during play
You hold	Usual play
Queen, void in clubs or diamonds	Sluff her on a high card of that suit after trick one
Queen, two or fewer other spades, no void yet	Do not lead spades. Hunt the void. She is not a threat. She is a timer.
Queen, four-plus other spades, mostly low	Hold. Duck every spade lead. Dump when a specific pile is open.
Ace or king, no queen	Smoke: lead a low spade. Do not cash the ace until she has fallen.
No queen, no ace, no king, a low spade	A low spade lead can still strip a duck so the holder has to eat her. Safer than leading a winner.
No spades at all	You cannot take her on a spade lead. You can still eat her if you win a club or diamond that a void dumps her on.

Which three you sent, including when four-plus guards meant keep, already happened on what to pass in Hearts. This page stays on the play.

When to sluff the queen

Sluff her the first time the dump is cheap. Cheap means: you are void, a card you cannot beat already owns the trick, and the player winning it is not running hearts.

Void in diamonds or clubs, after trick one. West led the ace of diamonds. You have none. Throw the queen. West takes the pile. That is the clean dump. A 9 of clubs on that same trick is a wasted void.
The trick is already lost. Do not wait for a prettier ace. A king that is currently winning is good enough. If you duck this void "to save her," the next diamond lead might be a 4, and you win it with a leftover jack because you already threw your only diamond.
You are short of spade guards. Two other spades is a clock. The first spade lead eats one. The second eats the other. The third is her, on your pile, because you had nothing left to play. Dump earlier than that.

You cannot dump her on the 2 of clubs. Kitchen-table Hearts, and CardPractice, keep the queen and every heart off trick one. If you are void in clubs on that lead, throw a diamond or a safe spade. Hold her until trick two. The lock, and the lead that eats her after hearts break, is when you can lead hearts.

Leading the queen yourself is always legal. She is a spade. It is also how you take her, unless you already know everyone else is following with a lower spade and someone else will overtake — which they will not, because nothing outranks a lead of the queen except the ace and the king. If you still hold those, you are not dumping. You are collecting. That hand belongs on shoot the moon.

Do not sluff her onto a moon. The tell is a player who is happy to take hearts. One heart from you kills that run. The queen is the last card they need. Bleed a heart onto your own score if you have to. Feeding them 13 is how 26 lands on everyone else.

When to smoke someone with her

Smoke is the other direction. You do not have the queen. Somebody does. You want that somebody to eat her, before your ace or king is forced to win the trick she rides.

On a spade lead, the queen beats everything except the ace and the king. If the holder has to play her, and you did not play a boss, they take 13. That is the smoke. Lead a low spade. A 2, 3, 4, maybe a 5. Everyone who still holds a spade has to follow. They duck with something under the queen, or they have nothing left under her and she wins the trick.

You hold the ace or the king, not the queen. Those two cards catch her. They are not point cards. They still win the trick that contains her. Smoke with a low one first. Cash the ace after she has fallen, or after you are sure the holder still has a duck.
You hold both bosses and a couple of low ones. Lead low, then low again. Two rounds of spades often strip the ducks. The third spade lead is when she has to appear. Stay under it. Then the ace is just an ace.
You hold a low spade and no boss. A 3 of spades can still strip a duck. If the holder then has to play her, she wins that trick. They eat 13. You only take her if you also play the ace or king, which you do not have. Safer than leading the ace of clubs into a void that dumps her on you.
Do not lead the ace of spades to "get it over with." That is not smoking. That is volunteering. If her last spade is the queen, she plays under your ace and you take 13. They cannot sluff her on a spade lead. She is a spade. They have to follow.

If you have no guess and no high spade, do not start a spade hunt just to look busy. Lead a club or a diamond. Smoking is for when the ace or king in your hand is a magnet, or when you already saw the holder follow small and you know they are short.

Night-one version of the same idea: do not lead a spade until you have a guess where she is sitting. That sentence on how to play hearts is this page, shortened.

When to hold her as a threat

Holding is not a personality. It is a count. You kept her because you had four or more other spades, or you received her behind a pile you can duck with. Now the table does not know who has her. The ace and king cannot cash. That is the threat.

Duck every spade lead. Play the 2, the 4, the 6. Leave her in your hand. Each duck is one less spade out. The player with the ace is sweating. That is working.
Dump later, on a pile you picked. West is closest to 100. West just led the ace of clubs. You are void. Now you throw her. Holding was how you waited for West, instead of sluffing her on the first diamond because you were nervous.
You are shooting. Keep winners and keep her if you can take her yourself. Passing and play for that hand live on shoot the moon. Do not dump her and then try to run hearts. You just gave away the 13 you needed.
Two little spades is not a hold. That was a pass, and if you still have her, it is a dump as soon as a void opens. Sitting on an unguarded queen so she "stays a threat" is how you eat her on the third spade lead.

Once she has fallen, spades are junk. Ace, king, 10, it does not matter. They win tricks with nothing in them. Until then, every high spade is a magnet. Track her. That is the whole count that matters on a first night.

Walk through one dump and one smoke

You are South. West, North, East around the table. Nobody has a partner. After the pass left, your thirteen cards:

Spades: queen, 9, 6, 3
Hearts: 8, 5, 2
Diamonds: none
Clubs: ace, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4

Queen plus three other spades. You can duck a lead or two. You are void in diamonds. That void is the dump, not the hold. West has the 2 of clubs and leads it. You play the 4. You cannot throw the queen on trick one. North wins with the king of clubs and leads the 9 of diamonds.

You have no diamond. East plays the ace of diamonds. There is no trump. The ace already owns the trick, even with West still to play. Throw the queen. East takes the trick, plus her. That is the dump. You still have the 9, 6, and 3 of spades for later ducks. You still have the 2 of hearts as a moon stopper.

The miss: you throw the 8 of hearts instead, "to break hearts," and save the queen. North leads diamonds again. You are still void. This time the lead is the 4 of diamonds, nobody has played an ace, and West sits after you. If you dump her now, West might win with a leftover diamond. The first diamond, with the ace already on it, was the cheap one.

Flip the hand. Same seats. You do not have the queen. After the pass you hold:

Spades: ace, king, 5, 2
Hearts: 7, 3
Diamonds: jack, 9, 6
Clubs: king, 8, 6, 4

Ace and king, no queen. Those two cards are magnets. West leads the 2 of clubs. You play the 4. North wins and leads a diamond. You follow small. You win a later club with the king. Hearts are still locked. You must lead.

Lead the 2 of spades. Not the ace. West plays the 8 and takes it. North plays the 4. East plays the 6. Queen stays out. You did not put the ace in the middle.

The lead comes back to you. Lead the 5 of spades. East had the queen and one leftover spade, played the leftover on the first spade, and now has to play her. You still hold ace and king. You do not play them. Queen is highest of the led suit. East takes the trick. East eats 13. That is the smoke.

The miss: you lead the ace of spades "to smoke her out." East's last spade is the queen. She plays under your ace. You take the trick. Thirteen. You did not smoke anyone. You collected.

Replay both layouts on the hearts practice table with every card visible. Watch the diamond-void dump land on the ace, and watch the ace-of-spades lead eat her. The slow version of which cards even score is still the point cards lesson.

After she falls

Spades are safe. High hearts are not, until you know who is void. The lock on heart leads is a different page: when you can lead hearts. A player who keeps taking hearts after the queen is gone is still shooting. Bleed one heart. The rest of that hunt is shoot the moon.

You know enough to sluff her on a void, smoke her with a low spade, and hold her only behind real guards. Keep the first-night rules nearby. The chart for what those piles add up to is Hearts scoring.

Frequently asked questions

How do you dump the queen of spades in Hearts?

Sluff her on a trick you cannot win, when you are void in the led suit. Wait until a high card already owns the pile — an ace or king of clubs or diamonds — then throw her on it. You cannot dump her on the first trick. You cannot dump her while you still have a card of the led suit.

What does it mean to smoke the queen of spades?

Lead low spades until the holder has no duck left and has to play her. On a spade trick she wins unless the ace or king is also there, so the holder eats 13. You do this when you do not have her, especially if you hold the ace or king. Lead a 2, 3, or 4, not the ace. Smoking is a lead. Dumping is a discard.

When should you sluff the queen of spades?

As soon as a safe void appears after trick one. A diamond or club already won by someone else is the clean dump. Do not sit on her hoping for a prettier trick if you are short of spade guards. Do not dump her onto a player who is already taking every heart — they may be shooting.

Should you lead spades if you do not have the queen?

Lead a low spade when you hold the ace or king and you want her off the table before those bosses have to play. Do not lead the ace or king themselves until she has fallen. If you have no high spade and no guess where she sits, lead a club or a diamond instead.

When should you hold the queen of spades as a threat?

When you have four or more other spades, usually low and middle ones, so you can duck every spade lead. Sitting on her makes the ace and king radioactive for everyone else. Hold her to dump later on a specific pile, or because you are shooting the moon. Holding her with two little spades is not a threat. It is 13 on your own pile.

Can you play the queen of spades on the first trick?

No, at a Midwest kitchen table and on CardPractice. The 2 of clubs leads. You may not dump a heart or the queen on that trick. Leading the queen later is always legal: she is a spade. She does not, on this site, break hearts by herself.

Practice this with all cards visible on CardPractice.

Sit at a hearts practice table and try the same queen two ways: sluff her on a diamond void, then lead the ace of spades and watch her land on you. For the slow version of which cards score, start the point cards lesson. Keep or pass is a different page.