Not to Cover I

But if your natural inclination should be to cover, there are pul-lenty of reasons not to cover, which I will discuss here. What percentage of the cases would call for a non-cover? You don't need to know that. Even if anyone has worked that out, the figure can't do you any good. Each case has to be worked out at the time it appears, and that is why I've said several times that when dummy comes down and you see that a covering situation might surface, you should be working out whether it would be wise as you play so that you don't fumble when declarer makes a surprise lead. One thing to bear in mind is that you cover to promote a lower honor (including high spot cards). So you don't cover a jack to promote a queen. The queen can already beat the danged jack. You cover a jack to promote a 10 or 9 or possibily an 8. Here are the resons for not covering.

(1) Don't cover when you can see that it can't do your side any good.

A J 10

K 7 5

The queen is led. No, you don't cover. It can't do you any good. Your king is almost surely pickled, but you duck anyway to retain the respect of your partner. Indeed, you have two slim chances that the duck will prove advantageous. One is that that's a singleton and declarer cannot pick up your king and indeed, cannot pick up more than one trick in the suit unless he has an outside entry to dummy. The other is that declarer is not going to push the queen through (if, for instance, in no trump, he cannot afford to lose the lead to his RHO). Here is a cover I actually saw:

A 10 9 8 5

Q 7 6 K

J 4 3 2

The jack was covered with the queen and that took care of that suit. Now you don't want to cover automatically as if there were some inherent good in it, and you don't want to cover to promote a higher honor, since the king doesn't need the queen's help, thank you very much. And you don't want to cover when declarer has all the cards you might possibly promote.

A K 10 7

Q 9 8 6 5 4 3 2

J

West actually had two reasons for declining to cover here, one not so certain, the other certain for all with eyes to see. The first is that declarer has a singleton (which West can't know, of course, but should bear in mind that this might be the case). And the second reason is, of course, that a cover can't do West any good. He can see that a cover will allow declarer to cash out four winners, with the A K 10 dropping West's lovely spots, leaving the 7 high. Without a cover, you note that declarer can take two quick tricks. He might take three tricks here by cashing the top cards, ruffing the third round and returning to dummy for the 10. He might even take four tricks by finessing the jack, then going to dummy to drop the queen in two more rounds. But that requires both an outside entry and a declarer willing to take a chance on the finesse of the jack when he could pick up two quick tricks.

Let me play with that layout a little, in part to show that circumstances aren't always, indeed aren't usually, quite that simple. Let me exchange the 7 for the 6, or the 8 for the 6. In either case, East controls the fourth round of the suit -- on a cover. Now the cover inhibits four winners in the suit, whatever declarer does, while the non-cover, well, allows four winners if declarer pushes the jack through and has an outside entry, as above, or holds declarer to two winners in the suit if he has no outside entry. Now should West cover? The situation is obviously no longer open-and-shut. Could declarer be looking at a singleton? Does he have outside entries? Is he going to take the finesse? How many tricks does declarer need in that suit?

The last question is the key one. If declarer needs three tricks here for his contract and has no outside entries, I'd be reluctant to cover and hand him the contract (especially in IMP scoring where an overtrick isn't likely to cost much). If he only needs two tricks, I'd certainly duck, especially if he can't afford to lose the lead. Declarer will almost surely go up to ensure his contract. And if he needs four tricks? I think I'd have to cover -- remember I'm not talking about the above layout but one with a fourth card lower than the 7 which my partner might be able to beat -- and hope my partner can guard the fourth round. Bear in mind that declarer could turn that holding into four winners by repeating the finesse if he holds a second card in the suit or by pushing the jack through and getting to dummy to cash the A K 10 if he has a outside entry. In any event, the reader can see that with the shift of one key card to East's hand, the question of a cover becomes very subtle indeed.

Now, inevitably, there will arise ambiguous cases, where you have to use your noggin a little. What! Did you want a game where you just have to memorize some rules and then excel? Then bridge isn't your game. If I wouldn't cover a queen with A J 10 or A J 10 9 showing, what would I do with A J 10 8 (or any lower spot) showing? With a doubleton king, I wouldn't hesitate to cover. My partner could very well have fourth round control if I help out a bit, and my king's a goner anyway. With three cards? I'd probably cover. If that's a doubleton queen, my partner again could have fourth round control if I cover, while declarer can still pick up the king on a non-cover. But if it's a singleton, I'm going to be very sorry, so I'd have to weigh likelihood. And if I had three guards, I would certainly not cover. My partner could have fourth-round control only if that's a stiff queen, and the non-cover is advised there. But this should be a duck in tempo, without fumbling, which is to say that when dummy comes down, you should begin to form some idea about whether you'll want to cover or not.

That is, I'd cover with a doubleton king (A J 10 5 showing) if the queen was led early in the hand. Here is a hand where declarer is in a makable 3 no contract, he runs 8 winners, cannot afford to lose the lead since hearts would be run on him, and he leads the queen of clubs. I would not cover that queen. I cite this hand not to suggest that you'll want to be on the lookout for that situation so much as to suggest that you'll want to bear in mind that at any time there might be special circumstances that would lead you to sidestep conventional wisdom. Nothing trumps common sense.

(2) A close cousin to situations where you can see the cover can do your side no good are those situations where a simple count of the cards, either those you can see or by inference from the bidding, tells you there is nothing to be gained by covering.

Here is a rather obvious situation:

Q 8 7 5 3

K 6

This is the heart suit where declarer opened a heart playing five-card majors. Well, if declarer has five cards in the suit, your partner has a singleton, and there's nothing you can promote. His singleton might be the ace, and you don't want to let declarer sucker you into that play.

But suppose for a moment dummy has only four trump and the situation looks like this:

Q 8 7 5

J 4 K 6

A 10 9 3 2

Declarer has two possibilities of picking up the suit without loss, one to find a stiff king to the right of the ace, the other to smother a stiff jack to the left. So he leads the queen and of course the non-cover would cost a trick. Still, I'd be awfully reluctant to cover that queen in such a situation. That's an awful specialized holding for the cover to be right, and when your play is right only specifically opposite a jack doubleton, I don't think you're likely to come out ahead all that often, i.e., when there are reasons for not covering.

First, we don't know that declarer started with only five trump. He may have six, and again my partner's singleton could be the ace. He may indeed have seven and figure that if I don't cover, then I don't have the king. I've seen that more than a few times.

Here is a non-cover that worked well for the defense:

A J 10 9 5

8 Q 7 6 3

K 4 2

Declarer, wanting to pick up this suit in a six no contract, led the jack from the board, and when it wasn't covered, went up with the king and started to finesse the other way until West showed out. That drew some half-serious amazement at East's shrewdness, but in truth it was an unexceptionable play. You don't cover the first of equal honors (usually), which will be discussed next. You cover to promote a lower card, as mentioned above, which here would mean the 8, which East can see won't survive. And lastly, by simple common sense, East can work out the value of ducking by considering the possibilities: (1) His partner has the king, in which case he certainly doesn't want to cover, but wants to keep the queen back of the ace; (2) Declarer has the king and will go up, in which case the cover certainly was ill-advised, and (3) declarer has the king and will not go up, in which case he's made good play but not one you could have thwarted in any way.

Further, please note that if declarer does play you for the queen and you duck twice, the suit blocks on the 4-1 split. Declarer is going to need an outside entry to pick up your queen, and one of these days he's not going to have an outside entry, so his astute play gives him three tricks in the suit but no more.

Here is a similar case where an ill-advised cover was made by a Life Master:

A 10 8 7 5

Q 6 4 2 9

K J 3

Declarer, with a two-way finesse for the queen, as above, led the jack to see what would happen and was rewarded with the play of the queen. When the 9 fell, running the suit was a cakewalk. Do not cover automatically. West is looking at nine cards in the suit. What does he expect to promote? If his partner has the king, let him win it. Declarer might have a jack doubleton. So now he loses a trick to the king, comes back and finesses the 10 for one trick, cashes the ace for a second, but he can't pick up your queen. And if declarer has the king, that's eleven cards accounted for and you can see by dummy that there's nothing you can do for your partner's hand . . . or for your own.

To be continued . . .