Basic Whist Strategy

Though there is some luck involved in whist (particularly if you’re playing with honors as part of the scoring), whist is largely a game of strategy. Following a number of basic strategic guidelines is a good way to avoid basic beginners’ errors when playing whist. These guidelines also apply to most other trick-taking games, such as hearts, spades, bridge, or any of the whist variations.

General Tips for Playing Whist

A few general guidelines apply at all times in whist.

Organize Your Hand

To better enable you to assess and play the cards in your hand, and to ensure that you don’t revoke, divide the cards in your hand into suits and organize the cards within each suit from lowest to highest. Most players also recommend placing the cards in the trump suit at the far left or right of your hand.

Evaluate Your Hand

To evaluate your hand and develop a strategy for playing it, look for the following:

Trumps: The more trumps you have in your hand, the stronger your hand is.
Suit length: If you hold more than four cards in a suit, you’re considered to be long in that suit. Length is helpful because it allows you to play weaker cards in that suit, holding back your stronger cards in that suit until other players have already played theirs.
Winners: Cards that are strong enough to win tricks. For example, any ace is a potential winner because it is the highest in a suit (though it can always be trumped, of course). Suit length can also make weaker cards in your hand into likely winners. For instance, a queen backed up in your hand by two lower-suited cards is also a potential winner because you can avoid playing the queen until after the ace and king in that suit have already been played.
Voids: A void refers to when you have no cards of a certain suit, which allows you to play a trump when that suit is led. If you have no cards of a certain suit, you can take advantage of the void early in the round to win tricks using your lesser trumps. If you have just one or two cards in a suit, you can create a void by playing those cards.

Consider the hand show here, with diamonds as trump.

This hand is fairly strong, with a strong trump holding, and potential winners in the king of spades and the queen of clubs. Also, the short spades holding may enable you to create a void in that suit early in the round.

Pay Attention to Cards Played, Especially Trumps

Successful play in any trick-taking game depends on knowing which cards have already been played, and by whom. Keeping track of cards, and particularly of the trump cards, is important because it’s the only way to know which cards in your hand are winners. For instance, if you have a card that may or may not be a winner (for example, the queen of clubs in the hand shown previously), then by remembering whether the king and/or ace of clubs have been played, you will know when your queen is a winner.

If you find it hard to keep track of every card played, start by counting which trump cards have been played and which still remain. Once you’ve mastered the ability to count trump, concentrate on remembering which high cards have been played in every suit as well, and so on.

Pay Attention to Your Partner

Don’t try to win every trick yourself. Instead, play with your partner. Rather than lead with your own strong suit, you may want to lead in a suit in which your partner is strong. You’re not allowed to talk with your partner about your hand during the game, but you can get a sense of his hand by watching how he plays.

Strategies for Leading in Whist

If you win a trick, or if you’re sitting to the dealer’s left when the game begins, you will lead the trick. Leading provides you and your team with a decided advantage because it allows you to determine which suit is played and to control the flow of the game. The following two guidelines can help you to make the most of your opportunities to lead:

Lead with your longest and strongest suit: If you’re not sure what to do, lead with the top card of your strongest suit. If you hold the top card left in that suit, you’ll win the trick (provided it’s not trumped). If you hold the second or third best card, then by playing it you may be able to pull cards from your competitors—pulling cards means that you force another player to play a top card in that suit to win the trick, making the rest of your holdings in that suit more valuable.
Lead back to your partner’s strong suit: As a round progresses, you’ll know from your partner’s leads what his strong suit is. When you get a chance to lead, try to play a low card in your partner’s strong suit, setting him up to take the trick.

Strategies For General Whist Game Play

If you’re not leading, two additional strategies for winning at whist apply:

Second player low, third player high: This rule arises from the notion that the player who leads a suit is trying to pull the high cards in that suit from opposing players. If you’re the player who sits second in trick play, it can be useful not to play your highest card in that suit. By playing a low card and holding onto your high card, you may lose this trick. But you also may protect your control over that suit, allowing you to win an extra trick or two later in the round.
If you have a long trump suit, pull trump early: If you’re lucky enough to have four or five trump cards in your hand, it may be in your interest to play a lower trump early in order to pull trump. Since you’re likely to have the most trumps in the round, forcing others to play their trump cards early will ensure that you hold the only trump cards in the game later, turning your trump cards into automatic winners.
Finessing: Finessing is a tactic in which you try to win a trick without using the highest card in a given suit in your hand, thus making two cards into winners. Consider the following scenario: you hold the ace and queen of hearts, your partner leads a low heart, and the player sitting second plays another low card. You choose to play your queen, hoping that the second player was following the “second player low” rule and holds the king. If you’re right, you’ll win this trick with your queen and still be able to beat the king when it’s played later on. Though using the finesse tactic can be effective, it’s not advisable to finesse in your partner’s strongest suit. In that situation, it’s better to play your highest cards and let your partner control the play in that suit.
Discarding: At first, it may seem irrelevant which card you choose to throw away when you discard. But you don’t want to discard a potential winner. Try not to discard low cards from your partner’s strongest suit, since you may need them to lead back to your partner later.

Acknowledgments & Disclaimer

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How to Play Whist

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Whist Variations

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