Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - June 21, 2021- Maybe Not a Cue Bid

Questions: West completed a 2 diamond cue bid meaning she had more than 10 points and help in hearts.  Did she need at least 3 hearts for the cue bid?  If she went to 2 Clubs would that have been a better bid?

Vic:

Well, NS has every right to expect the 2D bid to promise 10+ points & heart support, meaning at least 3 hearts. Whether it means that or not, however, is a function of EW partnership agreement. The EW partners could have an agreement that it means something else. The only way NS can be absolutely certain is to ask. 

If that is the explanation EW receives, then West has made a deliberate decision (for whatever reason) to deceive both opponents as well as partner. That does happen sometimes in bridge. In this case the deception resulted in a 4H contract that does not deserve to make. 

My regular partners & I play Two Over One which is basically a tweaked version of Standard American. If I opened the east hand 1H, I would expect my partners to respond 2C. For partners playing Standard American with an added partnership agreement that a new suit by Responder at the two level is forcing, I would also expect West to respond 2C. 

Looks to me like 4H deserves to go down two. Hopefully, that is what happened (ideally doubled which would give NS a score of +300).