♠ - ♥ A K Q J 9 6 5 ♦ K 7 ♣ K 8 6 3
We are playing reverse Benjy Acol and I decide to open two diamonds, with the aim of eventually showing eight playing tricks in hearts. It’s a poor call, as the hand is not quite strong enough and the bidding is likely to escalate to a high level before I can describe my hand. Sure enough, West overcalls with two spades, my partner doubles to show some values, and East makes a pre-emptive raise to four spades. I have endplayed myself by my choice of opening bid and I am going to have to show my suit for the first time at the five level. If most of partner’s values are in spades I shall look foolish, though not for the first time this afternoon. Anyway, I bid five hearts, which rather surprisingly ends the bidding. It has been a brisk auction:
| South | West | North | East |
| RockH | Rev | ||
| 2♦ | 2♠ | double | 4♠ |
| 5♥ | |||
West leads the four of spades and partner tables a better dummy than I have any right to expect:
♠A J
♥10 8 3
♦Q J 8 6
♣ J 10 7 4
♠ 4 led
♠
♥A K Q J 9 6 5
♦ K 7
♣ K 8 6 3
We seem to have landed on our feet as five hearts has some play and the opponents may well be making four spades. I can discard two clubs on the ace of spades and a diamond, so it looks as if I will need to find a club honour with East and guess correctly.
I am about to play dummy’s ace of spades when I realise that it cannot cost to play low. It’s unlikely that West has underled the king-queen, but stranger things have happened so I try the jack but East covers with the queen and I ruff. When I cash the ace of trumps West discards a spade. In a way this is good news as it is now more likely that the opponents could have made four spades, but I cannot finish drawing trumps as the ten and eight are my only sure entries to dummy and I suspect that I may require at least one of them later.
I need to develop the diamonds and I notice that I hold the seven – the beer card. If I can use it to win the last trick, partner must buy me a pint. To maximise my chances of a free drink, I normally avoid playing the seven of diamonds for as long as possible but it can hardly win a trick here so I may as well lead it now. West has a little think but plays low and dummy’s jack wins. Now I see why it was a good idea to keep the ace of spades at trick one, as I can draw trumps ending in dummy, discard the king of diamonds on the ace of spades and play on clubs. The clubs break three-two so I make the contract, losing just two club tricks. These manoeuvres turn out to be necessary as the full hand was
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Post-mortem
After the hand, West apologised to her partner for not playing the ace of diamonds, but in fact there was no defence. If West goes up with the ace, declarer can win the return, unblock the king of diamonds, draw trumps ending in dummy and throw three clubs on the queen-jack of diamonds and the ace of spades.
It was essential to play the jack of spades at trick one, as declarer needs to delay the discard on the ace of spades until after the diamond lead through West.
Subsequent reference to the Encyclopaedia revealed that the play on this hand is called a Morton's Fork coup. Cardinal John Morton, a local lad from Milborne St Andrew, was Chancellor of England in the 15th century and, more importantly, is the only person born in Dorset to have a bridge coup named after them. Morton’s main claim to fame is a cunning tax collection policy that predated today’s stealth taxes by over 500 years; if the subject lived in luxury he obviously had sufficient income to spare for the king, while if he lived frugally he must have substantial savings and could also afford to give some of them to the king. Either way he was caught on ‘Morton's Fork’.
On this hand the lead of the seven of diamonds caught West on the fork. Is this what is meant by a Dorset Coup?
