[wombatica]

In duplicate, nobody vulnerable, I'm playing SOUTH.

The bidding began with my partner: PASS - 1 ♠ - ?

I hold:

♠ A Q 10 xx
♥ A K 10 x
♦ A
♣ K 10 x

I'm pretty stumped, and realize that there has to be a "best way" to handle this, as it's very improbable that my partner and I have a ♠ fit.

At some point, I've seen the advice that when an opponent opens your strongest suit, you should pass and see what happens. (I kinda feel as though explaining this might send some clarity my way.)

What are my choices?

PASS - I really hate that with this hand
2 ♠ - is Michael's, right? Showing ♥s and a minor.
1 or 2 NT or Double - these scare me with a singleton ♦.
2 ♥ - forecasts a five card suit

The least detrimental bid seems to be 2 ♥ (which is what I bid).

Is the the choice most would have made?

My partner jumped to 4 ♥, after which we all passed.

We made 6 ♥, as did so many others... except most of them bid the slam.

Should I have continued on to 2 ♠?

(I miss slam bids constantly.)

Thoughts? Advice?

[Vampyr]

Your hand is too strong for an overcall in a suit or 1NT. Best to double, intending to bid NT after partner's advance. But when partner advances the double with hearts, you could not be more delighted, now you can bid 2♠ to show partner that you have great support and a strong hand.

PS 4-card overcalls should be rare and absolutely restricted to the 1-level.

[Cyberyeti]

2♥ is wrong, you should X, but when partner bids 4♥ you should simply be asking aces.

x, QJ9x, xxxxx, Axx is a pretty solid small slam assuming opener has K♠ and will often make 13 on a non trump lead.

[billw55]

It is normal to start with a double to show a very strong hand after an opponent opens the bidding. Don't worry about diamonds; if partner bids them, you bid NT, more or less showing your hand.

Yes, this is different from a normal takeout double, where you want shortness in the opponents suit and support for all unbid suits. You have to make some adjustments for very strong hands.

Note that, even if your partner has spades, you don't want to play in a spade contract because you know the suit is breaking badly.

[Zelandakh]

One reasonable approach would be to treat the hand as ~21 balanced and thus double now planning to bid NT (19-21) the next time around if partner does not show hearts. Usually when RHO opens your best suit you do pass but there comes a point when a hand is too strong to wait and therefore taking some sort of immediate action is to be preferred. In such cases, treating the hand as balanced despite a singleton somewhere is not an uncommon approach. Here with the singleton being an ace this is relatively safe and not really a distortion at all.