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!

It certainly does cheat in the manner you quoted, I know its a fun game however it should be programmed not to make errors like this.

That only works in the XP version of MSHearts.  I have pulled my old XP system out of the store room and I am now playing the game with all the cards face up.  It is fascinating.

I have played 30 games this way so far and have won 15.  It should be more but I made some tactical blunders not related to the cheating.  

Seeing all the cards is frequently a big help.  Knowing where the QS is hiding is one thing.   But it also helps you avoid trying to shoot-the-moon when one bot has all the stoppers.  And you can avoid leading a card in a suit that the QS holder is void in and the other two will get under.  If I have AK Spades and can see that I'm going to be passed the Q I will hold the AK.  It helps.

On the other hand, seeing the cards shows so clearly how MS has rigged the game when your win percentage gets too high.  For me that point seems to be 50%.   The “deals” become ridiculous.  At that point you just have to sit back and get nuked, no way to stop it.  And that bot player who won’t take any tricks?  Nothing you can do even when you know all the cards.

Some games you will lose and there’s no way to fight back.

I have read that some players have figured out how to quit when they’re going to lose and so the loss doesn’t count on their score.  As a result these guys have win percentages in the 90’s and they say that the deals become other-worldly as the game tries to make you lose.  I wish I knew how to do that.

I have observed cheating, too.  I think the goal of the program and the reason for the cheating is to keep the home player at roughly 25% of the wins.  I can confirm/have experienced every example you quoted. 

In addition - if you quit a game, you can expect a really punishing hand in your next one or several uses of the game.

I have noticed that with a regular frequency, each player is given a hand that's so good, it is impossible to lose the game.  I suspect that it happens when someone's average is slipping lower than the programmer wants it to.

I have also noticed that East almost always has low card value hearts.

I almost never have tricks taken by West, which would give Home an advantage.

My husband says that if you play erratically, it makes it more difficult for the system to sport a pattern and use it against you.  I can't confirm this, because he is too annoyed to play it very often, but he does win a higher percentage of games than I do, so I suspect he may be right.

If anyone knows of a Hearts game where the shuffle and deal are random rather than controlled, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks!

I found no Hearts in Applets, just Paint, Regedit, SysTray, and Wordpad.