In the mid 1700's
Edmond Hoyle published his books on the rules of games. Hoyle was the authority on games in
England and wrote down the rules to
backgammon ("A Short Treatise On the Game of
Back-Gammon" in 1745 (also seen as 1743)),
chess (and especially
notation) and a
code of laws for right and proper game play.
The first users of 'according to Hoyle' were most likely Whist-players who double checked the play against the "Short Treatise on the Game Whist" written by Hoyle in 1742. With that, 'according to Hoyle' became equivalent to 'in agreement to the standard practice'. Since then, the phrase 'according to Hoyle' has come to apply to all indoor games and in some cases just 'things were done with the proper procedure' (such as scientific peer review).
Since the death of Edmond Hoyle in 1769, his name has continued to follow the official versions of many card games.
When in doubt, win the trick.
Edmond Hoyle (1672 - 1769)
Primary source:
http://www.m-w.com/textonly/wftw/82996.htm