ALICE AND THE KING

"So tell me," said Alice surveying the wreckage of the tea party, "When should a King cover a Queen?"

"As often as possible!" guffawed the Mad Hatter.

"Don't be so rude!" squawked Alice.

"Relax. Have some more of the Herbal Tea," smiled the dozy Dormouse.

"No, I'm sorry, I'm absolutely serious." said Alice seriously.

"Never a truer word.." said the Hatter.

"The thing is, one always says one should always cover an Honour with an Honour, when that Honour is led from one's right. But is that always so? Aren't there any times at all when it could be wrong to do so?" asked Alice.

The Hatter, the Dormouse and the March Hare looked at each other quizzically, raised a forefinger to their lips and looking skyward all said: " Hmmm."
"Hmmm what then? What Hmmm? What's with the quizzical hmmming?"

"You see, "said the March Hare lugubriously, "It all depends."

"That's right, so right," said the Hatter. "Everything always depends on everything else, don't you know?"

"There's no earthly point in stomping off like that, Alice dear." Said the Hare. "I will attempt to explain. If declarer has Qxx in dummy and plays the Q you definitely should play your K. The idea is to promote a lower card in your partner's hand - such as the 10 or J. If however dummy's suit is QJxx you should - in general - not cover the Q but wait until the J is played and then cover that. i.e. cover the second honour in a sequence. On top of that you need to be beware of what Declarer's shape might be. A trap for the unwary is this one:

Dummy has QJ10x and the Q is led. You hold Kxxx. If you can see the possibility that Declarer may hold either Ax or A singleton then you should NEVER cover at all!"

"Just what I said," said the Hatter. "It all depends! Maybe I could sell you a Thinking Hat, Alice, dear?"

The Adventure of the Four Kings, The Final Chapter – 6 October 2010

Lovely to see you all again. Turn out has been down the last two weeks so there’s plenty of room for you to come along and mug up yer bidding! Especially the different strategies depending on Vulnerability and hand assessment. But now…

The last chapter of…
The Adventure of the Four Kings

Holmes sprawled on the sofa in a loose dressing gown. I had returned from a sojourn in Huffington Parva, whence he had despatched me to research a rare poisonous beetle. In my absence he had been cataloguing – for what purpose I know not – filmy nether garments as worn by racier elements of our dear sisterhood. Was nothing beneath his forensic thirst for knowledge?

Despite his lassitude he enquired what card question it was that so irked me. How could he know this from my demeanour? I put down the pack I was fiddling with.

“Holmes”, I ventured, “Can we ascertain with certainty the commandment pertaining to the covering of an honour with an honour?”

Holmes jerked himself awake.

I continued: “The queen of spades was led but when should I play my king of spades?"

"The principle, Watson, is that when we cover an honour with an honour we do so in the knowledge – or failing that, in the hope - that we shall by doing so promote a lowlier card of ours to its full trick taking potential. It follows does it not, dear boy, that if we cannot see such value then we should by no means cover an honour with another? That one should cover only when absolutely necessary and to our side's advantage?”

“Yes yes yes Holmes,” I blurted, glad to see he had so readily taken the bull by the horn: “but when and how can we tell which particular situation occurs? Can you shed light on this matter?”

“If the honour is led from dummy and the suit is such as QJ10 then do NOT cover the first honour. But however, if the honour is UNsupported – say, Q86 – then always cover it with alacrity.”

"Thank-you Holmes. Good weekend?” How he guffawed…

It can be fatal to cover an honour in this situation:

.......... QJ109
???? ............... Kxxx
........... A

Now the play of the king gives declarer four easy tricks when the queen is led.

However in the next situation you gain a trick by covering the queen:

.......... Q86
9xx ............... K10xx
.......... AJx

See you next week.
Kit