Nil Vul S Dealer	♠ 5 4 2 ♥ 10 ♦ Q 8 7 2 ♣ K J 6 5 2
♠ Q ♥ A K 9 5 2 ♦ A K 6 ♣ A 10 8 7		♠ A K 9 8 6 ♥ 8 7 6 3 ♦ J 10 5 ♣ Q
	♠ J 10 7 3 ♥ Q J 4 ♦ 9 4 3 ♣ 9 4 3

Sitting East, should I have bid 3♥ rather than 4♥? Our system is standard. We missed the heart slam. Can you please suggest how the bidding should have gone?
Thanks, Marg Sylow.

Hi Marg,

I think treating the East hand as a delayed game raise is perfectly fine when you have four-card support, and a respectable spades as a side suit. Some might think it’s a little aggressive, but it can easily make game opposite ♥AKxxx and ♦Ax where with that type of hand, opener may pass 3♥. (As a side note, some people play 1♥-2NT as the Jacoby 2NT, a 4-card game-forcing raise, where it would also be fine to do it with this hand, or perhaps a 1♥-4♣ splinter in clubs showing 10-12 HCP, 4 card support, and 0-1♣.)
After West jump-shifted to 3♣, you completed your sequence to jump to game, but West should have realised that you had shown a good raise and went on further by asking aces/key cards.

Hope that helps,
Andy