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.