Should I Run this Honour? - with India Leeming

Jul 29, 2021 2:01 pm

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Very happy to share a new article written for us all by India Leeming. Enjoy!

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Should I Run this Honour?

by India Leeming

You will all be familiar with basic finesses that look like this example.

Dummy: AQx Declarer: xx

You play a small card towards the Queen, hoping that the King is on your left. If it is, the Queen will win the trick.

You will also have encountered situations like Examples 2 and 3.

Dummy: AJTx Declarer: Qx
Dummy: AJT9 Declarer: Qxxx

In these examples, you need to think ahead. If the finesse wins, and you therefore know that the King is onside, you’d like to still be in your own hand so that you can finesse again immediately. That way, you can avoid entry problems.

Now look at Example 4.

Dummy: AJxx Declarer: Qxxx

With Examples 2 and 3 in mind, you may be tempted to run the Queen. However, you need to consider the possibilities. If the King is onside and you play the Queen, what will your LHO do? Well, if he’s had defence lessons, he’ll “cover an honour with an honour”. Then you’ll be forced to play the Ace and will be left with the following cards: Jxx opposite xxx. Now your Jack is a winner but you will still have to lose a trick to the Ten, which will have been promoted by the AKQ being played on the same trick! So even if the honour was onside, the finesse won’t help you.

You should actually play small to the Jack. If it wins, you can now hope that LHO started with Kx and is now left with singleton King. If so, cashing the Ace will drop the King and you won’t have to lose a trick in the suit!

Dummy: Axxx Declarer: Qxx

Again, do not be tempted to run the Queen here! When LHO covers, it will go Q-K-A and you will be left with no more winners in the suit!

So how should you play this suit combination to create a second trick? There are two options:

If RHO has the King, you should play small up to the Ace and small back towards the Queen.
If LHO has precisely King-doubleton, you should play small up to the Ace and then duck a round to his now singleton King.

As Option 2 requires a very specific holding in LHO’s hand, you should only take that line if you are very sure that he has the King!

When wondering whether to take a finesse by running an honour, check how many cards you have backing up your lower honours. The longer the sequence, the stronger the sequence: look for tens and nines in particular.