Don't just let points get distributed randomly; your goal isn't to have your opponents take points, it's to win. Distribute points with a goal, even if it's just the few hearts you have in your hand.

Your first goal needs to be to Gain Separation. This just means, get a bit of a margin for error or bad luck -- say 15 points. Try to distribute points around fairly evenly in this phase, with the goal of getting an advantage of 15-20 points on all other players. Depending on your opponents, you may be able to do this fairly easily, without them trying to pile on you.

Once you've gained this separation, you've gained a cushion to protect your lead from an unlucky (or single poorly-played) hand. Now, use that cushion to springboard yourself to victory.

No longer do you want to distribute points evenly; instead, you want to pile points on one player. Why? Well, just do the math! Say you're playing to 100; if you distribute points evenly, two players might get 84 points each and the third 104. If you've kept your cushion, you might have 64 points. Altoghether, that's 21 hands you'd have to play to get that many points out there; 21 hands in which something could go wrong.

Suppose that, alternatively, the loser gets the same 104 points, but each of the other two players only takes 40 and you take 24 points. That's only 13 total hands, 8 fewer hands in which something can go wrong.

Why worry so much about something going wrong? Well, if you're playing well and using the tips here and gaining marginal advantages on each average hand vs. your opponents, then you'll be building a sustainable advantage; but you're only gaining an advantage of a few points per hand. That advantage can disappear if you play a single hand awfully, or just get unlucky and get a deal and pass that guarantee you 20 points. If we assume that you'll play 10% of your hands badly, then that's 2 bad hands if you last 21 hands and just 1 if you last only 13; that one extra bad hand will be the difference between a reasonable-sized pad protecting you and needing 30-40 points to be sure that bad luck won't get you.

So win fast. Pile it on the guy with the most points, end the game fast. If your pad isn't too big, the other two players will think they're playing great and can win too, and so may well help you out; but, in the end, that separation you built up will ensure you the win.