[mikeh]

pescetom, on 2026-February-22, 12:32, said:

Late to this one.
I too would bid 1D then over 1S reverse into 2H. In my better partnerships the cheapest reverse promises one of several strong hands, although unfortunately not this one But I would bid it nevertheless. If partner can bid the 2NT positive relay then I bid 3C (fourth suit) to indicate the natural reverse, over a weak 3S I bid 4S (benefiting from the inferences of not hearing 1D-2S).

By one of those weird short circuits that characterize bridge forums, we encountered a similar but less strong 1444 hand in the club same day, and it caused intense traffic in our technical discussion. I'll post it in a separate thread to avoid confusion here.

I’d avoid reversing. In my view, unless it’s unavoidable, it should show at least 5 diamonds. Partner will/should bid as if it does so your short, weak diamond suit will lead to disappointment if he goes slamming with, say Qxx or Axx support. I get that sometimes there is no alternative but I’d treat the spade queen as equivalent to xx. Thus, imo, treating the hand as 2=4=4=3 is less of a distortion than would be implied by a reverse.

Your experience may be different from mine in terms of reverses.

[pescetom]

mikeh, on 2026-February-22, 13:04, said:

I’d avoid reversing. In my view, unless it’s unavoidable, it should show at least 5 diamonds. Partner will/should bid as if it does so your short, weak diamond suit will lead to disappointment if he goes slamming with, say Qxx or Axx support. I get that sometimes there is no alternative but I’d treat the spade queen as equivalent to xx. Thus, imo, treating the hand as 2=4=4=3 is less of a distortion than would be implied by a reverse.

Your experience may be different from mine in terms of reverses.

I share your dislike of a reverse on 4 cards, but in our case this one is mitigated by agreements. Partner will not as a rule raise a minor on less than 4 cards, even if I showed 5, so if she does feel it is best nonetheless to raise with Hxx then at least we have chances in the suit and are both aware we are on thin ice.
If she does bid a "weak" 3S after the reverse then I'm comfortable bidding game with the Q, as you say.

[DavidKok]

Here are both hands:

---

Both hands had several close decisions to make. As you can see, North doesn't need keycards and crucially also doesn't need 'keycards outside hearts'. If your partnership is prone to rushing into ace-asking, or struggles to establish a trump suit by the 3♠-level, this is a tough deal to bid.
So how would you all have shown the North hand? If South represents a balanced 18-19 (or 17-19), or even 20-21, I think North should set spades and try for slam - but investigating 7 is not easy.
If opener shows a reverse hand, or even 4x1, I think North can have a little more confidence that the minor suit cards are valuable. It's only 'long hearts' where North has to seriously downgrade.

Congratulations to mikeh for getting both spades and NT in the South hand, that protects the ♦K on this deal.