What to pass
- The Queen of Spades, unless you have four or more low spades to protect her. Then she's often safer in your hand than in someone else's.
- The Ace and King of Spades. They catch the Queen when spades are led. Without her, they're a liability.
- High hearts. The Ace, King and Queen of hearts tend to win tricks full of points.
- Short suits. Passing away your only two diamonds leaves you void, so you can throw points on diamond tricks later.
Duck
When you follow suit, play the highest card that still loses the trick. Your 9 under someone's Jack is a 9 you'll never have to worry about again. Keep your lowest cards for later in the hand, when tricks are full of points.
Know where the Queen is
- Until she's played, every spade trick is a risk if you hold the Ace or King.
- If you don't have her, lead low spades. Whoever does will eventually have to play her, and with luck it won't be on your trick.
- If you do have her, throw her the first time you can't follow suit.
Shooting the moon
Try it only with a lot of high cards, especially high hearts, and long suits you can run. Once one opponent has taken a single point, the moon is off and you should go back to ducking. And if a computer player is taking every trick, take one heart yourself to stop them.
Play to the score
Near the end of a game, look at who's leading. Giving the Queen to the player in last place doesn't help you. Giving it to the player with the lowest score might win you the match.