The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-16

out OF ten would start this hand with the
ace OF clubs, which acoomplishes nothing.
It is usually bad policy to return at once
the suit opened by the original leader
in the hand. He has picked that suit ouv
as his safest when he knew nothing about
any Of the other hands, and he has led it
with a view to putting some one in a hole
Although this original leader may be
the only player at the table that is safe
In the suit. you are taking your chances
with only two adversaries II you return
1t. II you started a suit Of your own
choosing you would have three adver-
saries instead Of two to share your risks.
The leader attacks. hoping to leadJthe
others or to get his own hand cleared
When a player is not the leader his.polioy
becomes defensive, because IL the leader
Is plotting to give hearts to every one
has to follow suit to the lead must be a
prospective victim and should do his best
to avoid the trap that rs set for him.
AS second or third player in any plain
suit 1t is usually best to play your highest
card unless you are safe In the, suit or
on the first round. Remember that the
leader il he is a good player seldom or
never begins with a short suit, and iflyou
are long on his lead the intermediate card
Is the better play. Do not risk an ace.
Many players make the mistake OF Lead
ing a suit that has been exhausted in all
the other hands. This error is due to in
attention or carelessness. When you are
not safe in a suit it is very important to
watch for the smaller cards, and suits
that always require close Watching are
those in which you have nothing smaller
than the six or eight.
II is never necessary to bother about
what denomination cards are out against
a suit in which Won are safe. All you need
do is to count the number Of that suit
played. 30 as to be sure some one still has
II. In safe suits o do not care whether
you or some other playet leads. You
cannot win the trick.
When you have a hopelessly bad hand,
with no prospect of a discard and nothing
safe. escape is practically impossible,
especially against good players. and the
best policy Is to cut down your losses by
taking in hearts on the plain suits one or
two at a time instead of having to TAX
them in in punches at the end
There is one point in heart tactics which
none but the best players seems to grasp,
and that is holding control OF the lead.
1t may seem paradoxical in a game In
which the chief object is not to win a trick
II you can help IL that one Of the fine
points should be to deliberately win i the
second round Of a suit when you need not
win either first or second. z
Nothing ls so helpless as the player
that can do nothing but follow suit to
trick after trick WITHOUT any choice OF
winning or losing or any chance to start
the suit he would like to see played. The
usual result is that he gets stuck with a
lot Of hearts by having to take In tricks
with sevens and Fights at the end OF I'D
hand. These small cards load him up
because a certain player gets the lead at
a critical stage n the victim can do
nothing to keep him out of it. ,
An observant player can usually 9
what is coming when another player Is
"a - f~r - nhn m 60 Nrn nm pufAh n p
suit that will load some one. III the VIC
tim has in his hand any cards in other
suits that are trick winners he can often
shut his enemy out by controlling the
lead. In holding on toihiAhigh cards until
the second round he increases his dhanoes
Of getting hearts OIL them, but this chance
is infinitely better than the certainty
that III will be loaded il a certain player
Is allo wed TO get in.
In the first example hand given. in
which the leader started with a long dia
mond suit headed by ace and king. he
held up the club king on the first round.
although he had only king and deuce. SO
as to get into the lead on the second round
and load the player that had the six OF
diamonds before he could discard it,
But the player that held the six Of dia-
monds knew what was in store for him
and held up the ace OF clubs until the
second round so as to control the lead In
that suit himself.
When Il player is trying to load every
one at the table but himself IL is very
important that he should be able to con-
troll h course of play in some name
This is impossible if he simply sits still
and follows suit. He must be able to
assume the lead himself at least once or
twice in order so to change the course of
the play as to CARRY out his W plan.
IL he has a dangerous hand In plain
suits but is safe i'll hearts and decides
that his host chance ia td Lead hparfR at
every opportunity so as to exhaust them.
the other players will see through his
game and do their best TO stop II. In
order to carry out his plan in spite OF their
opposition it will he necessary for the
individual player to get into the lead a
certain number of times and so force his
game on the others by repeating the heart
lead.
The discard is an important thing in
hearts. To take an extreme example, A.,
suppose you hold the A, X, Q Of a plain
suit. which you know means that IL ts
5 TO / that you will get stuck with at least
one heart on the third ound. If you can
get one discard in that suit you imme-
diately change these odds to > to l against
your getting any hearts in that suit. even
IL you win two tricks in ii.
II is always gUod policy to get rid OF the
dregs of a snit that has been led once. or
twice il You have not the lowest card OF
it because some player at the table has
a scheme on foot and that scheme is di-
rected against those who still hold cards
Of his suit. Even very good players
make the mistake of keeping tenaces
under the impression that they are safe.
Holding the 4 and .. for instance, with
the g and a higher card still TO come. they
argue that il the trey is led they can
n~nderplay with the deuce and remain
with the lowest. or + the high card is led
they ge: rid of the four. But they over
look the possibility of their, being put
in the lead on another suit and being
compelled to lead away from that tenace
and so getting a trick with it.