Hearts Strategy
It is not necessarily desirable to pass hearts to the right. If you have a good run of low hearts, it is best to keep them, because they cannot be forced to take tricks, and you may be able to use them profitably to get off play after taking tricks in safer suits. Any high hearts you then receive from the left will be guarded by the low ones, which you throw out when others lead hearts, so as to be left with the high members of that suit when there are no more left for others to lead against you.
Similarly, it is not necessary to pass on the Queen of spades, if you have sufficient spades to avoid being forced into capturing a trick with her. The Ace and King of spades are good hand-outs, and for this reason it is normally essential to keep hold of all spades lower than the Queen; otherwise the receipt of Ace/King may force you to capture the black lady.
Most penalties are usually taken towards the end of the trick-play by players who take over the lead late in the game, and then find themselves unable to lose it. To avoid this danger it is normally best to lead Aces and Kings of safe suits as soon as possible - in general, to take all the tricks you have to take early in the game, so as to thwart attempts to put you in the lead later.
When able to discard, do not automatically put on penalties, but look over the hand first, and use the opportunity to get rid of cards that may put you badly in the lead later. This applies especially to cards of middling rank, when you have none lower.
Much information can be gained from the cards you receive from the left, and built up during the play by observation of opponents' discards and preferred leads. Experts can usually place every remaining card by half-way through the tricks. A method of reducing the effectiveness of opponents' deductions is to play from sequences in such a way as to avoid revealing the lie of key cards, such as the highest from 4-3-2, or the lowest from A-K-Q.
Because the basis of play is to win no trick, or only harmless tricks, high cards that can be forced to take tricks in three leads of a suit should be played early rather than late. Aces and high cards, accompanied by some low cards, are not dangerous, but middling cards without low cards are very dangerous. A holding such as Q-9-8 should be led each and every time the opportunity arises, in the effort to dispose of it before cards of this suit are discarded from other hands. A holding such as J-10-9-8-6 is desperately bad, and should be discarded whenever at all possible, as long as any lower cards of the same suit remain unplayed.
Adequately guarded high cards should, however, be saved, as long as there is no danger in doing so. Playing to lose tricks alone will not suffice, if another player has a chance to win all the penalty cards. A high-card entry is sometimes invaluable in letting a clear hand interrupt a 'take-all', to make a killing lead to 'paint' another hand.