| A variant of Black Lady for 6 or more players | |
 The penalty cards in Cancellation Hearts (each card occurs twice) | |
| Origin | Polignac, Reversis, Four Jacks |
|---|---|
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Players | 5-11 |
| Skills | Card counting, Tactics, Teamwork |
| Cards | 2 packs of 52 cards each |
| Deck | French |
| Rank (high→low) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2, no trump |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Playing time | 10 minutes per hand |
| Chance | Low – moderate |
| Related games | |
| Black Lady, Black Maria, Hearts | |
| Aim: Avoid capturing Hearts or the ♠Q | |
Cancellation Hearts is a variant of Hearts for six or more players.
With a large number of players Hearts can be played with two packs. This allows each player to hold more cards and gives a four-person feel to the game. However, this means that there are two of each card and can lead to confusion about which is the highest card to take the trick. The normal convention when playing with two decks is that identical cards cancel each other out. For example, if hearts is lead, and both Aces (of Hearts) are played, then they cancel each other out (yet still count as points) and the next highest card takes the trick. If all the cards on that trick are either cancelled out or do not follow the suit, the whole trick is cancelled and the cards are given to whoever takes the next trick. If the trick happens to be the last one of the hand, then the trick is won by the player who led it (regardless of the card he/she played).
This double-pack variation also adds a strategy often called "The Aardvark", in which a player leads the queen of spades hoping that the other player holding the queen of spades will also play it, thus cancelling them out from being the highest cards, and giving 26 points to the unfortunate player who takes the trick.