| Annual Holiday Hearts Quiz – The Answers!
1. What was the original name for the game of Hearts, and in what country did this mid 18th century version of Hearts originate?
Answers: Reverse (circa 1750) and Spain.
2. What is the original “mythological" name for the Queen of Spades? (Hint: It was made official in 1812.)
Answer: Pallas
3. The modern rule for the opening lead in Hearts requires that the holder of the deuce of clubs lead this card. What was standard rule for the first lead in Hearts prior to the modern deuce of clubs lead? (Hint: It is still used in some circles today and is described in some of the “Hoyle" books?)
Answer: Any card other than a heart.
4. Describe the two ways that Partnership Hearts (often called Variety I and Variety II) is played?
Answer: Variety I - The point totals of two players (N-S) are treated as one score versus the combined point totals of the other two players (E-W). (This is identical to the "we" and "they" scoring in a Bridge or Whist game. If any player shoots the moon, his side scores zero, and the other team is pinned with 26 points. The first team to reach the game limit (usually 100 points) loses.
b) Variety II - The scores of all players are kept individually. In order to shoot the moon, a player needs to capture all 26 points (by himself). When this happens, his partner, and two opponents are charged with 26 points. If any player reaches the game limit, the scores of both players on each team are added and the lowest total team score wins.
5. Who wrote the book, "Hearts In Atlantis" which was made into a movie in 2001?
Answer: Stephen King
6. Describe the other two most popular passing (of three cards) options besides the standard passes of three cards to the left, right, and across? (Assume a four player game).
Answer: Scatter pass (one card to each opponent) and Smoosh pass (all 12 cards are shuffled, and then three cards are dealt to each player). A player may receive one or more of the same cards he passed.
7. What is the synonym for "Comparison" Hearts (where players have the same cards in each direction and the results for each hand are compared)?
Answer: Duplicate Hearts
8. Describe the "spear" play in the game of Hearts relative to the play of the Queen of spades and show an illustrative example.
Answer: The "spear play" refers to counting the spade suit when one has the Queen of spades, and is missing the Ace and/or King of spades. If all spades below the Queen have been played or remain in your hand, you can safely lead the Queen of Spades to force the King and/or Ace of Spades to be played by the opponent who is stranded with the high spade.
Example: (Spade holdings)
North
 6, 4
East
 8, 7
South
 Q, J, 10, 9, 5
West
 A, K, 3, 2
South wins an early trick with his Ace of Clubs, assuming that he has this card (or another side suit winner), and everyone follows. Now he decides to (boldly!) try to mislead the opponents that he does not hold the Queen of Spades by leading a spade. The Jack goes around, after low spots are played by all players. South sees a chance of the pear play and tries his luck again (hoping for a fairly even distribution) with the 10 which again rides around. He counts that everyone followed twice (8 spades), he still holds Queen third. This leaves only the K and A sitting by themselves outside his hand. He decided to lead the Queen, as it must be taken by someone unless there is a revoke! In effect West is amazed by South's play but sheepishly has to follow suit, and plays the Ace. South has successfully "speared" West. Note - there are several examples of the "Spear play".
9. In which U.S. city was the first "National" Hearts Tournament held? (Hint: It was sponsored by MSN Games in 1999.)
Answer: Las Vegas, Nevada (at Harrah’s Casino.)
10. In the game of Hearts, describe the "depravation" play and describe the style of playing known as "Dirty Hearts". (There are two separate answers.)
Answers: a) The "depravation play" describes withholding the Spade Queen when a player is trying to shoot the moon. If a different player is able to stop the moon, the player withholding the Queen of Spades plays it on the person who stops the moon! This normally happens for several reasons:
a) The holder of the Queen of Spades (QS) was hoping to use this card as a stopper.
b) The holder of the QS sees the 'shooter' running the hearts but hopes someone might stop him in another suit (and by playing his QS then, he would stop the moon).
c) The holder of the QS thinks the moon-stopper might lead a spade back to his Queen.
d) The holder of the QS is a 'constant shooter' himself and wants to condition people not to be heroes and save the moon or otherwise expect to be punished.
e) The 'moon stopper' is the low man. Mixed feelings arise.
And the style of play known as "Dirty Hearts" can be summarized as 'ducking and dumping'. The ducking and dumping are wrong if one does not take into account who the 'low man' is and just dumps points to save his own skin.
11. What is the original "mythological" name for the Jack of diamonds? (Hint: It was made official in 1812.)
Answer: Hector
12. What is the only instance when it is perfectly legal to drop the Queen of Spades on the FIRST trick of a hand? Describe the layout or hand.
Answer: If a player holds only point cards, he is allowed to play either of them. Thus, if a player holds 12 hearts and the QS, he is allowed to drop the QS in the first trick. (Has anyone ever seen this happen?)
Layout: (After the pass)
 Void
 Void
 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 J Q K A
 Q
13. Who is the legendary east coast Hearts player of the 1970's who executed the first known pure (and documented) "squeeze" play in tournament competition?
Answer: The late Jack Soderlund, of Tewksbury, MA.
The Contest winner is "Daniel C". He answered 12 of 13 questions correctly. Nice job! Honorable mentions to "Eric R" and "Maureen S". | |
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September 6 - 8, 2006 in Lansing, MI.
Multiple Round Format - Guaranteed Prizes!
Check out: http://www.grandprixtournaments.com for more info!
I’d like to close this year's Hearts columns with a list of my favorite Hearts people (hosts or players) from the past ten years. (In no particular order).
1. Jack Soderlund (One of the best "live" Hearts event players of all time)
2. "Lady Lauren" (A true Hearts legend, and one of MSN Games original players)
3. Richard Freedman (A superb player with an excellent knowledge of Hearts math)
4. "Tybee Dave" (Another one of MSN Games long-time expert players)
5. George Coffin (Bridge author who helped with the 1970's "live" Hearts events)
6. Tom Walter - (An original Chicago Hearts League master player)
7. Amelia Rosner (NYC Hearts expert who created several innovative plays).
8. David Johnson (The only player to score a "perfect" game/no moons, no points)
9. Gardner Coughlin (Another of the original Chicago Hearts League organizers)
10. David Fanning (MSN Games Hearts regular, and superb "live" event player)
It's been a lot of fun writing this column.
Have a great Holiday Season!
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