Defending with Purpose
COVERING (OR NOT) TRUMP HONOURS

By Freddie North

Last month we looked at the pros and cons of covering honours in cases other than in the trump suit. The basic rule is: 'Cover an honour with an honour if there is any prospect of promoting a winner for your side, but don't cover if it is obvious that there is nothing to be gained by doing so.'

As far as the trump suit is concerned, the same principles apply. However, all too often declarer will have settled happily in his chosen suit, supported to a greater or lesser degree by his partner, so that the chances of promotion by covering one of the trump honours are bound to be minimal. Sitting in the West seat, see what you make of the following situation:

Dealer: West. E/W Vul.     K Q 8 4   K 10 8 6   Q 4   J 9 7   7 2   Q 7 4   J 6 3   A K 5 4 2

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	1
Pass	3	Pass	4
End

You lead the ace, king and another club, declarer trumping your partner's queen on the third round. Declarer now ad-vances the J. Were you ready? And do you cover or not?

The full hand will soon tell you if you made the correct decision:

K Q 8 4   K 10 8 6   Q 4   J 9 7     7 2   Q 7 4   J 6 3   A K 5 4 2 9 6 5 3 3 K 9 7 5 2 Q 8 6     A J 10   A J 9 5 2   A 10 8   10 3

As you can see, if you covered declarer's J you gave him an easy ride. He would lose just three tricks: two clubs and one diamond. However, I am sure that you didn't fall for that old trick because there simply couldn't be anything, to promote. Of course it is also important not to hesitate before deciding that it is not in your interests to cover. Any undue delay in making your decision will alert declarer to the problem, possibly causing a switch to Plan B: finessing you for the queen. Plan A was to cash the two top honours relying on the two-two break, but it cost him nothing to enter dummy via the jack to the king - just in case anything interesting happened.

So how do you avoid having to stop and think at the vital moment? The solution is really quite simple. Whenever you hold a critical trump honour, have a look at dummy's holding as soon as it appears on the table. Then ask yourself, if you are offered a lower honour to cover, whether there is any point in doing so. More often than not you will come up with the right answer, so that if the critical moment arrives later on, you will be able to follow at normal tempo, neither too hastily nor too slowly. Those are the players who are always the most difficult to play against.

Let's swap hats for a moment and pretend that we were playing in 4. We also tried the J at trick four, but West was clearly a Bridge Plus reader because he followed with a low card in perfect rhythm. Naturally we played the king from dummy, and then discovered that we had a third loser when we returned to hand with the A and East discarded a diamond. Can we rescue the situation, or should we concede one down?

In fact there is rather more than a small ray of hope, so you take over now. You start by cashing your spades and West has to decide whether to ruff the third round. Faced with an unattractive play if he does ruff, he declines the offer and discards a club and a diamond. This leads you to the following position with dummy to play:

-    10 8    Q 4    -     -   Q   J 6   5 - - K 9 7 5 -      -    9 5    A 10    -

You now throw West on lead with his Q. If he exits with his last club, you ruff in dummy and throw the 10. So he does the best he can by playing the 6 and you have to guess. Has he led away from the king or the jack? Remembering the bidding - West passed originally - it seems unlikely that he would have passed with the K in addition to his A-K and Q, so you decide to play him for the jack and East for the king. A low diamond from dummy and the king from East restores your confidence in the laws of natural justice.

Let's go back to the problem of "Should we cover a trump honour with an honour, or should we refuse the bait?". A great deal will depend on the bidding and what you see in dummy. Have a look at the following layouts:

Layout 1      Dummy    J 3     9 8 4 2  Q 6      A K 10 7 5

Layout 2      Dummy    10 5     9 7 4 3  Q 6      A K J 8 2

Layout 3      Dummy    J 6     8 2  Q 10 4      A K 9 7 5 3

In each case, when an honour is played from dummy, East should cover. In Lay-outs 1 and 2, East hopes to promote a winner for his partner. In Layout 3, however unlikely it may seem, East has to hope that by covering the jack his ten may survive.

Layout 4      Dummy    J 9 8 3     4  Q 6 2      A K 10 7 5

Declarer will probably cash the ace, go to dummy with an outside entry and then play the jack. East must not cover. There is nothing to be gained by doing so.

Layout 5      Dummy    10 5     4  Q 8 4      A K J 9 7 6 3

No doubt South will have bid his suit strongly, indicating both length and strength. It would be pointless for East to cover the ten.

Layout 6      Dummy    J 8 5 3     K  Q 2      A 10 9 7 6 4

An experienced declarer will tempt East by playing the jack from dummy. This is an old trick. Avoid an embarrassing disaster by refusing to cover.

Layout 7      Dummy    Q 7 5 2     A  K 4      J 10 9 8 6 3

When the queen is played, East must not fall into South's trap. A disdainful look if you like, but the four is the card to play.

Finally, here is a deal which raises a slightly different concept in the "Should I cover" stakes:

Dealer: South. Game All.     A 8 5 2   K 10 8 5 3   J 8   6 4     K J 6 3   6 4   7 3 2   Q 10 7 3 10 9 7 4 Q J 9 7 2 Q 5 J 5     Q   A   A K 10 9 6 4   A K 9 8 2

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	1
Pass	1	Pass	3
Pass	3NT	Pass	4
Pass	4	Pass	4NT
Pass	5	Pass	6
End

With the purpose of protecting his club holding, West leads the two of trumps, dummy plays the jack and East...?

From East's point of view, his partner's lead was a trifle unfortunate, but all is not lost - well, it's not lost if East refuses to cover.

Realising that his queen of trumps can overruff the dummy, he should hang on to it and allow declarer a cheap trick. Later, as declarer endeavours to establish his clubs, East will make his queen of trumps and there will still be one more trick to come. Plus 100 instead of minus 1370 seems a fair reward for knowing when not to cover.