HOWELL’S SETTLING. The great objection to the method of settling at Sweepstake Hearts is that it makes the game almost entirely one of chance. No matter how good a player one may be, good luck alone will bring success. In a four-handed game it is possible for one player to take in only 58 hearts in 60 deals, and still to be 46 counters behind; while another player may take in 500 hearts in 60 deals and be 46 counters ahead. It may be claimed that the player who has 46 counters ahead at the end was the better player, because he won; but most persons will agree that a player who takes in only 58 hearts in 60 deals is a much better player than one who has taken in 500 hearts in the same time.
It was to remedy this defect, and to give skill its proper percentage of value, that Mr. E. C. Howell of Boston proposed the manner of contributing to and dividing the pools which is now known as Howell’s Settling.
Each player begins with an equal number of counters, usually 100. At the end of the hand, after the hearts have been counted and announced, each player pays into the pool, for every heart he holds, as many counters as there are players besides himself. For instance: A, B, C and D play. A takes three hearts; B and C five each, and D none. There being three players besides himself, A puts up three times three, or 9 counters. B and C put up 15 each, and D none; so that there are 39 in the pool. Each player then takes out of the pool 1 counter for every heart he did not hold when the hearts were announced. D, having taken no hearts, gets 13 counters. A, having taken three hearts only, is entitled to 10 counters for the 10 hearts he did not hold, while B and C get 8 each. This exhausts the pool. There are no Jacks in this way of settling.
Matters may be facilitated by having counters of different colours, the white being the unit, and the red representing the number which it will be necessary to pay for one heart. Practice will make the players so familiar with the amount of the various profits or losses that they simply pay or take what is due to them.
The first time this is played it looks like a pretty severe game for a player who takes in a large number of hearts on one deal; but it will be found that he rapidly recovers. During a sitting of any length the player who takes in the smallest number of hearts must be the winner. In the case mentioned in connection with Sweepstake Hearts, in which one player lost 46 counters while another won 46, in 60 deals, the result at Howell’s Settling would have been that the player who took in only 58 hearts would be 548 counters ahead instead of losing 46; while the one who took in 500 hearts would lose 1220 counters, instead of winning 46.
METHODS OF CHEATING. Under the rule for dealing the cards one at a time, the greek must be very skilful to secure any advantage at Hearts. But when it is the practice to deal the cards three at a time, and four on the last round, it is an easy matter to get four small hearts together on the bottom of the pack. Any person who is observed to hold three or four small hearts every time he deals, should be carefully watched, and it will usually be found that he gathers the small hearts from the hands of the other players while the pool is being divided. Marked cards are of little use to the greek at hearts, because so much depends on what a player holds, and so little on his play.
VARIETIES OF HEARTS.
Before proceeding to suggestions for good play, it will be better to describe some of the variations of the game in common use, because what would be good play in one variation would not be in another.
TWO-HANDED HEARTS. The two players having cut for the deal, thirteen cards are given to each, one at a time, and the remainder of the pack is left on the table, face down. The dealer’s adversary, usually called the pone, begins by leading any card he pleases, and the dealer must follow suit if he can, as in the ordinary game. The winner of the trick takes it in, but before leading for the next trick he draws one card from the top of the pack lying on the table, restoring the number of his cards to thirteen. His adversary then draws the next card, and the cards are played and drawn in this manner until the pack is exhausted. The thirteen cards remaining in the hands of the two adversaries are then played, and after the last trick has been won, each turns over his cards and counts the number of hearts he has taken in. The object of the game is to take fewer hearts than your opponent, and the method of settling is either for the greater number to pay the lesser the difference; or, for the first six hearts taken by the loser to count nothing, but all above six to be paid for. The most popular way is to peg up the difference on a cribbage board, and to settle at the end of the sitting.