When to cover?

[Vilgan]

Could anyone recommend a good book on when to cover, and when not to cover? Declarer and defense, declarer probably more relevant atm though.

 

Friend of mine who is semi new to the game is having real issues with this and I am not doing a good job of explaining it. My reaction has always just been to think about it logically and make the right choice, but I am having trouble communicating the process in a way she "gets".

 

Anyways, just thought I would see if there is a book out there for this. It seems simple, but for some reason she is having real issues with it that I am having trouble resolving in a satisfactory way.

[CSGibson]

Eddie Kantar has a pair of books, Modern Bridge defense and Advanced bridge defense, that cover the topic somewhere between the two, and does it in an easy to understand and easy to read way. If your friend is just starting out, then those two will be invaluable in teaching the fundamentals of defense anyway, so I'd buy or borrow the pair.

 

Edit: Just saw declarer was the more needed one, no book I know of for that, just thinking through the possibilities of the position and making a logical guess.

[xcurt]

Your friend should start by just trying to make the book play.

 

When in doubt cover.

 

Don't cover if the next lower honor is also in the same hand. For example, dummy has SJTxx and you have SKxx. Don't cover the J, wait to cover the T. This is easy when the honor lead comes from dummy. When it comes from hand it's harder and you might have to fall back on covering when in doubt.

 

Cover if you are short, even if the next lower honor is also in the same hand. If you have SKx instead of SKxx in the above example, cover the J.