Criminal Defense Like A Game of Internet Hearts

Although I may not be a gamer like Ken White of Popehat, I have been playing some Hearts on the Internet recently. I love the game of Hearts. I have gotten pretty good at it over the years.  And I can never get my children or anyone else to play it with me in person anymore. The games go quickly on-line without the distractions of an in-person card game, and it is a nice way to take a break during the later part of the afternoon when my blood sugar is starting to get low.

Although there is not a lot of interaction during the games (the chatter tends to slow the game down), the one thing I have learned from these games is that, inevitably, it is the guy in last place who complains that nobody else knows how to play the game. People like this tend to forget that the purpose of the match is to win the game, not to correctly apply the rules of etiquette or conventions.  You can never assume that people will always do what is in their self-interest.  The best players know how to prevail against others playing at all different levels.

Criminal defense, like life, has a lot in common with a game of Hearts on the Internet.  You put aside what other people think you should do in order to do what you need to do. And it is always the guy not doing so well who is mad at everyone else.