Posted 2009-February-10, 05:35
Your 2♣ bid promised a major to play in, your partner told you he has ♥'s. I think I remember that you play a strong (15-17) NT. You have 12 HCP and distributional values, that could be good enough to make 6♦ or 6♥ if your partner does not have wasted values in ♣. So you need to make a move. Delaying to show your support, using a forcing bid is a common way to show (a little) extra strength. 3♦ showed length in ♦, opener will expect 8-9 cards in the red suits now. If opener had picked the wrong major, you would have bid something else. 2♣ may have shown tolerance to a 2♠ bid, so opener might guess that you are short in ♣.
Opener bypassed 3NT to show values in ♦, so I would expect him to hold maximum and he's interested to try more than just 4♥.
Depending on your agreements 4♠ could be a mixed cuebid, 5♣ could show shortness. If your partner is taking 4NT as RKCB for ♥
(or will he think it's for ♦) that is also a possible followup.