Part 41

_=HEARTSETTE.=_ Heartsette differs from hearts only in the addition of a widow. When four play, the spade deuce is deleted; twelve cards are given to each player, and the three remaining form the widow, which is left face downward in the centre of the table. When any other number play, the full pack is used. If there are three players, three cards are left for the widow: two cards are left when five play, and four when six play. The player winning the first trick takes in the widow, with any hearts it may contain. He is entitled to look at these cards, but must not show or name them to any other player. The game then proceeds in the usual way. Payments are made to the pool for all hearts taken in, and the pool is then won, divided, or remains to form a Jack, just as at Sweepstake Hearts. The chief difference in the game is that the other players do not know whether the winner of the first trick is loaded or not, and he is the only player who knows how many or what hearts are still to be played.

_=DOMINO HEARTS.=_ In this variation, six cards only are dealt to each player, the remainder of the pack being left face down on the table. When a player is unable to follow suit, he must draw cards from the stock, one at a time, until he can. The last player with any cards left in his hand must take what is left of the stock, if any. The hearts taken in are then counted as usual. Thirty-one points is game, and the winner is the player who has the least hearts scored when some other player reaches thirty-one.

SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD PLAY.

A good player, after sorting his hand, carefully estimates its possibilities. The hand may be such that it is evidently impossible to avoid taking some hearts. The player must then decide whether he will play to give each of the others hearts, or will take them all himself. If he succeeds in either object he has a chance to win back his money in the ensuing Jack. In deciding on his chances to get clear without taking a single heart, the player must first consider the advisability of beginning with a heart, or with a plain suit. If hearts, he should know the probability of the heart he leads not winning the trick; if a plain suit, he should know the probability of the suit going round one or more times without hearts being discarded on it, especially if he intends to lead high cards. These chances must then be balanced one against the other and the more favourable selected.

_=LEADING HEARTS ORIGINALLY.=_ When your hearts are so small as to be absolutely safe, such as the 7 5 3 2, it might be supposed that the best play would be to lead them at once, in order to get a large number of hearts out of your way. But with such cards it is usually much better play, unless you have a very dangerous hand in plain suits, to reserve these small hearts until you have a more definite idea, from the fall of the cards, to whom you are giving them. Such cards are particularly useful for getting rid of the lead at dangerous stages in the end-game.

When the plain-suit cards are high or dangerous, but the hearts are reasonably safe, it is usually better to lead the hearts, and to continue leading them every time you get in. By following these tactics it is quite possible for you to take almost every trick in the plain suits, and yet to win the pool by rapidly exhausting the hearts.

If you lead the ♡ 4, the only chance for it to win is that one player has no hearts, and that the 2 and 3 are divided. The odds against this combination of circumstances will vary with the number of hearts you hold with the 4, but may be generally stated on the average as about 50 to 1. It is usually considered a safer lead than a high card of a plain suit, even if you have only three of the suit.

If your only heart is the 5, and you propose to lead it, the chances that the 2, 3, and 4 are not each in separate hands are about 19 in 25, or 19 to 6 against it, which is about 3 to 1. If you lead the 5, the odds against your winning the trick decrease as the number of hearts you hold with the 5 increases. If you have four hearts, the 5 being the lowest, the odds against its winning the trick, if you lead it, are about 29 to 11. If you have eight hearts, the 5 being the lowest, it is about an even chance. If your only heart is the 6, it is about an even chance that it will win the trick; but the odds against you increase rapidly with the number of additional hearts that you hold. If you propose to lead the 7, the chances that it will win the trick are 2 to 1 under the most favourable circumstances, which are when it is your only heart. These odds against you increase rapidly with the number of additional hearts that you hold.

_=LEADING PLAIN SUITS ORIGINALLY.=_ It will often happen that you will have to decide between the lead of a comparatively dangerous heart and a risky plain suit. Your knowledge of probabilities should enable you to select the safer course. The odds against getting a heart on the first round of a plain suit depend upon how many cards of the suit you hold. If you lead an Ace, or any card which is sure to win the trick, the odds against your getting a heart on it are as the following:--

If you have 4 cards of the suit, 22 to 1. ” 5 ” 15 to 1. ” 6 ” 7 to 1. ” 7 ” 4 to 1. ” 8 ” 2 to 1.

These odds may be slightly increased by taking into account the fact that players who cannot follow suit do not always discard hearts, having perhaps more dangerous cards to get rid of.

The odds against a suit going round a second time may be influenced by the cards played to the first round; but it sometimes happens that you have to calculate in advance for two rounds of a suit, regardless of the cards that may be played by others. This is especially the case when you fear that the suit will be led to you, and you have such cards as must win two rounds. If you have 4 cards of the suit the odds _against_ your getting a heart in two rounds are 2 to 1. The odds _in favour_ of your getting a heart in two rounds are:--

If you have 5 cards of the suit, 4 to 3. ” 6 ” 2 to 1. ” 7 ” 6 to 1.

As an example of the value of a thorough knowledge of these odds to a careful player, suppose he had to win two rounds of a plain suit, of which he held six cards; or to lead the ♡7, having three higher. The suit would be the better play, because it takes in only one heart, while the lead of the heart might take in four.

The following table shows the exact number of times in 1,000 deals that a heart would probably be discarded on a plain suit led, according to the number of cards in the suit held by the leader, and the number of times the suit was led:

Cards held by the leader. | 1,2,3,4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 ----------------------------------+---------+------+------+------+----- Times hearts will be discarded:-- | | | | | On first round | 44 | 63 | 122 | 200 | 315 On second round | 358 | 430 | 659 | 857 | 1000 On third round | 842 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000

This shows that 158 times in 1,000, when the leader has 1, 2, 3, or 4 cards of the suit, it will go round three times, because 158 is the balance necessary to bring our last figure, 842, up to 1,000. Reducing this to a small fraction, the odds are about 5⅛ to 1 that a suit will not go round three times without affording to some player the chance of discarding hearts on it. This calculation shows the hopeless nature of all hands that contain at least three cards of each suit, unless the smallest card in every suit is below a 6; for if any one of the suits is led three times, it is even betting that you will have to win the third round, and 5⅛ to 1 that you get a heart on it if you do.

_=PLAIN-SUIT LEADS.=_ The favourite lead with most heart players is a singleton; or, failing that, a two-card suit. This is a mistake, unless the singleton is a high card; for if the adversaries are sharp players they will at once suspect the nature of the lead, and carefully avoid the suit. But if you wait until some other player opens the suit, it will very probably be led twice in succession. The best original plain-suit lead is one in which you are moderately long, but have small cards enough to be safe, and from which you can lead intermediate cards which probably will not win the first trick.

A very little experience at Hearts will convince any one that it is best, in plain suits, to play out the high cards first. This agrees with the theory of probabilities; for while the odds are 22 to 1 against your getting a heart on the first round of a plain suit of which you have 4 cards, the odds are only 2 to 1 against it on the second round, and on the third they are 5⅛ to 1 in favour of it. Accordingly, on the first round most players put up their highest card of the suit led, no matter what their position with regard to the leader; but in so doing, they often run needless risks. The object in Sweepstake Hearts is to take none, and the most successful players will be found to be those who play consistently with the greatest odds in their favour for taking none.

Suppose that you hold such a suit as A 10 9 7 4 2. This is a safe suit; because it is very improbable that you can be compelled to take a trick in it. The best lead from such a suit is the 10 or 9. If the suit is led by any other player, the same card should be played, unless you are fourth hand, and have no objection to the lead. This avoids the risk, however slight, of getting a heart on the first round, which would be entailed by playing the ace. In Sweepstake Hearts it is a great mistake to play the high cards of a suit in which you are safe; for no matter how small the risk, it is an unnecessary one. In the case we are considering, when you have six cards of the suit, the odds are 7 to 1 against your getting a heart if you play the ace first round. That is to say, you will probably lose one pool out of every eight if you play it. Take the greatest odds in your favour, when you have only four cards of a suit; they are 22 to 1 against your getting a heart the first round, so that you would lose by it only once in 23 times. But this is a heavy percentage against you if you are playing with those who do not run such risks, for you give up every chance you might otherwise have in 5 pools out of every 110.

When you have a dangerous hand in hearts, but one absolutely safe long suit, it is often good play to begin with your safe suit, retaining any high cards you may have in other suits in order to get the lead as often as possible for the purpose of continuing your safe suit, which will usually result in one or more of the other players getting loaded.

When you have at least three of each plain suit it is obvious that you cannot hope for any discards, and that you must take into account the probability of having to win the third round of one or more suits, with the accompanying possibility of getting hearts at the same time. If you have the lead, this probability must be taken into account before any of the other players show their hands, and as it may be set down as about 5⅛ to 1 that you will get a heart, any better chance that the hand affords should be taken advantage of.

It will often occur that a player’s attention must be so concentrated on getting clear himself that he has no opportunity to scheme for “loading” the others. But if it unfortunately happens that he is compelled to take in one or more hearts, he should at once turn his attention to taking them all, or to loading the other players, with a view to making a Jack of the pool. Should he succeed in either object, he has another chance for his money.

It is usually bad policy to return the suit opened by the original leader. He has picked that out as his safest suit, and although he may be the only one safe in it, by continuing it you are reducing your chances to two players, when you might share them with all three.

_=FOLLOWING SUIT.=_ When a player is not the original leader, his policy becomes defensive; for, as the first player is plotting to give hearts to every one but himself, each of the others must be a prospective victim, and should do his best to avoid the traps prepared by the one who plans the opening of the hand.

When you are second or third player, the first time a suit is led, it is usually best to play your highest card, unless you are safe in the suit, or have so many that there is danger of getting a heart, even on the first round. As fourth player, you should always play your highest card, unless there is already a heart in the trick, or some decided disadvantage in the lead. The risks you run in playing high cards while following suit must be judged by the same probabilities that we examined in considering the original lead. The fact that one or more players have already followed suit, and perhaps the cards they have played, may enable you to arrive at a still closer estimate of your chances. It is generally conceded, that the odds against a player who holds up on the first round are about 1 to 11. That is to say, in 12 pools, he will sacrifice his chances of one simply by holding up.

After one or two tricks have been played, the conditions may be such that it becomes necessary to hold up, in order to win the second round. This is especially the case after you have been loaded, and are anxious to keep a certain player out of the lead. For an example see Illustrative Hand No. 4. in which Y holds up the ♢ King to keep A from getting in and leading another round of hearts. In the same hand Z tries hard to make the pool a Jack by holding up the ♣ Q. Had not A been entirely safe in diamonds the stratagem would have succeeded.

In following suit it is important to keep count of the cards played, in order to avoid the unwitting lead of a suit of which the other players have none. The suits that need close watching are those in which you have nothing smaller than a six or eight. You should be careful to note which player appears to have the smaller cards, after the suit has been led once or twice, and be on the watch to take the lead away from him in other suits if you can, or he may load you by leading the small cards of your dangerous suit, in which he is safe. When this danger is apparent, it is best to retain, until the second round, such high cards as Kings and Queens of the suits led. Even if you have four of the suit, you run only a 2 to 1 risk in winning the second round instead of the first, as against a certainty that you will be out of the pool at once if the dangerous player gets the lead. For an example of this, see B’s play in Illustrative Hand No. 2.

Where you have a certain safe card, and others of another suit not absolutely safe, it is better to keep the safe card, in order to be sure of getting rid of the lead if you are put in on your dangerous suit.

In following suit, the most annoying hand that one can hold is one containing at least three cards of each suit, none of them below a 6. There is no hope of a discard, unless two players make a fight in some one suit, which they lead four or five times in order to load each other, regardless of the escape of the other players. This very seldom occurs, and never among good players. With such a hand escape is almost impossible, and it is usually best to make the losses as small as possible. Many good players, with such a hand, will deliberately take in hearts on the plain suits, hoping to escape with only one or two in each trick, instead of having to carry the whole load by getting into the lead at the end. It should never be forgotten that when you must inevitably take some hearts it is cheaper to take them in on plain suits than to win heart tricks.

_=CONTROL OF THE LEAD.=_ One of the strongest points in good heart play is the proper control of the lead at certain times. A player whose hand contains no commanding cards, and who is unable to do anything but follow suit on the first two or three rounds, will often find himself compelled to win one of the later rounds with a small card, taking in one or two hearts with it; and this misfortune usually overtakes him because a certain player gets into the lead at a critical period of the hand. If he sees the impending danger, and has K, Q or J of a suit led, he will not give up his high card, even if the ace is played to the trick; but will retain it in order to prevent the possibility of the dangerous player getting into the lead on the second round of the suit. In doing this, he of course decreases the odds against his getting hearts, by deliberately winning the second round. But 2 to 1 in his favour is a much better chance than the certainty, almost, that he will be loaded if a particular player is allowed the opportunity to lead a certain suit again. See B’s play in Illustrative Hand No 2, and Y’s in No 4.

A player may have no desire to prevent any particular adversary from getting the lead; but may be anxious simply to carry out a certain line of play. In order to do this it may be essential that he should have some direction of the course of the hand. This is impossible if his play is confined to following suit helplessly, whatever is led. He must be able to assume the lead himself in order so to change the course of the play as to better suit his game.

Let us suppose that he has a dangerous hand in plain suits, but is safe in hearts, and decides that his best chance is to lead hearts at every opportunity; or that he has a certain safe suit which it is manifestly to his advantage to have led as often as possible. The other players, being the ones who are to suffer from this line of play, will of course prevent it if possible; and in order to carry out the plan in spite of their opposition, it will be necessary for the individual player to gain the lead a certain number of times, and so force his game upon them.

Again, a player may know that he can load a certain adversary if he can get in and lead a certain suit or card; or he may know that by giving one player the lead, that player can load another. In such cases commanding cards must be held or retained, in order to give the player a certain control of the lead.

When a player is attempting to take all thirteen hearts, the control of the lead, especially in the end game, is very important; because the design of each of the other players will be to get the lead into some other hand, in the hope that they may load the player having it, and so at least divide the pool.

_=THE DISCARD.=_ One of the most important elements in heart play is the discard. The beginner is too apt to discard hearts at every opportunity; but a little experience will teach him that even a 3 in a plain suit may be a better card to part with.

The most important thing in discarding is to reduce the odds against your winning the pool. Let us suppose that you have the A K Q of a plain suit. It is 5⅛ to 1 that you get a heart if this suit is led a third time. If you can get a discard, the odds are at once reduced to 2 to 1 in your favour, that being the probability that you will escape, even if you have to win two rounds. This is a very large percentage, and should never be lost sight of. If you have a choice between two discards, one being from the K Q J 2 of hearts, and the other from the K Q J of a plain suit, select the plain suit. You can improve your chances little or none in the hearts, while you not only bring the odds to your side in the plain suit, but secure a chance of discarding on the third round of it.

Following the same principle, it is evidently good play to discard from a suit which has been led once or twice, if you have a dangerous card or cards in it. Even if you have a safe tenace in a suit, such as 4 and 2, the 5 and 3 being still out somewhere, it is better to discard from it if there is the slightest danger of your getting the lead. Tenaces are only safe when led up to.

In _=Howell’s settling=_, the object is not so much to load the others as to escape yourself. It is never advisable to attempt to take all thirteen hearts, because there are no Jacks; but there are many cases in which it is better deliberately to take three or four, in order to avoid the chance of taking six or eight. For an example of these tactics adopted by two players, see Illustrative Hand, No. 3. On the same principle, there are often cases in which it is advisable to take a trick with one heart in it, in order to get rid of a dangerous card, which might bring you in several hearts later on. The general principles of leading and discarding are the same as in Sweepstake Hearts; but it is not necessary to take such desperate chances to escape entirely.

_=THREE-HANDED HEARTS=_ is more difficult to play than any other form of the game, partly because there are so many rounds of each suit, and partly because the moment one player refuses, the exact cards of that suit in the two other players’ hands are known to each of them.

There is usually a great deal of cross-fighting in the three-handed game, during which one player escapes by getting numerous discards. When all three have refused, each a different suit, the end game becomes a question of generalship, and the preservation of one or more commanding cards, with which to control and place the lead, is usually the key to the situation. A player who has no high cards for the end game, unless he is quite safe, is almost certain to be loaded in the last few tricks.

_=TWO-HANDED HEARTS.=_ Before opening the hand, the player should carefully consider what suits are safe and what are dangerous. It is usually best to preserve the safe suits and to lead the dangerous ones, which you should clear your hand of, if possible. It is a great advantage to have a missing suit, and equally disadvantageous to have a number of a suit of which your adversary is probably clear. If a card of a missing suit is drawn, it is usually best to lead it at once, so as to keep the suit clear; but in so doing, be careful first to place the card among the others in the hand, or your adversary will detect that it is a missing suit.

The lead is a disadvantage if you have safe hearts; but toward the end of the stock, from which cards are drawn, it is an advantage to have commanding cards, with which you can assume the lead if necessary.

There is some finesse in determining whether or not to change the suit often in the leads. If you have a better memory than your adversary, it may be well to change often; but if not, it may assist you to keep at one suit until afraid to lead it again.

In Two-Handed Hearts, keeping count of the cards is the most important matter, because the real play comes after the stock is exhausted, and the moment that occurs you should know every card in your adversary’s hand. The exact number of each suit should be a certainty, if not the exact rank of the cards. Until you can depend on yourself for this, you are not a good player. The last thirteen tricks are usually a problem in double-dummy; but the advantage will always be found to be with the player who has carefully prepared himself for the final struggle by preserving certain safe suits, and getting rid of those in which it became evident that his adversary had the small and safe cards.

Some very pretty positions arise in the end game, it being often possible to foresee that four or five tricks must be played in a certain manner in order to ensure the lead being properly placed at the end, so that the odd hearts may be avoided.