Hearts program cheats! I've specifically caught the game cheating. Passed Ace & King Spades to the right & they ended up across the table. I think this is BULL I would expect a program to play by the rules!

You and others in this forum have obviously studied this game in a lot more depth than I have. Yes I have noticed a few of the patterns you mention, but not consistently enough to truly think they are out of the ordinary. Interesting comment about 55% being an apparent ceiling though. I have gotten slightly above 57% a few times but only briefly, then I always lose heavily for a while.

To me the win percentage isn't the point of the game, it's just a reflection of skill. It means nothing if you avoid losing by dumping out of the game.

I think East is merely the best player among the three AIs. East shoots the moon more often and seems the best at thwarting others shooting the moon. Paying particular attention to giving points to East will definitely help you win more often.

This is an interesting forum. I have been playing MS Hearts off and on for years. Periodically I get tired of it for a month or two but I always come back to it. I currently win 55% of the time (694 out of 1245 since I last reinstalled Windows) and I usually shoot the moon at least once per game. In fact, shooting the moon is the only way I can consistently win. Playing defensively doesn't do it.

The AIs in the Windows 7 version seem to play better than in XP and earlier. Back then I used to shoot the moon a ridiculous amount of the time. Two or three times per game wasn't all that unusual. The game seems more difficult now. In fact, I think the AIs now cooperate somewhat against the human player. For example, very often when one AI is in the lead, another will absorb points like crazy, as if deliberately trying to reach 100 before I can regain the lead. The AIs will avoid giving points to the leader. I have to very deliberately play hearts and the queen against the leader myself because the AIs won't.

Conversely, if I have developed a solid lead, the AI scores will tend to rise slowly in tandem; they will all be in the 80s and 90s before one of them finally hits 100.

I feel like these are pretty reliable patterns, but I'm not fanatical enough about the game to keep data to prove it. I just enjoy playing. However, I will go out on a limb and say there are definitely two things that happen WAAY too often to be random:

One is the 2, 3, 4 and 5 of hearts being distributed among all four players. This perfect distribution just doesn't happen all that often in the real world.

The other thing is that it is significantly easier to shoot the moon on the first hand of a game,  especially after a day or two of not playing. I have come to think of shooting the moon almost as a standard opening to a session.

I wouldn't say MS Hearts cheats as in not letting you win. I think a reasonably good player could win 25% of the time. A better player who knows how to shoot the moon properly can do a lot better than that. But I don't think the game is entirely straight either.

Shooting the moon five times in one game is impossible because if you shoot four times you win.