It is important for competitive bridge to not only listen attentively to the auction, but to use the information gleaned.

After East’s 1H bid South 2D is a borderline bid to make when vulnerable, as is North’s raise after West’s pass. No doubt this raise was inspired by the ‘so called’ law of total tricks, which can come ‘unstuck’ expensively especially when vulnerable.

West has passed initially, but East has bid 3H in a competitive auction so must have a strong hand. As West holds four diamonds, most, if not all the diamond points must be with N-S. Assuming that East has a six card heart suit he/she cannot have more than one diamond. So must hold points in the black suits to make a bid of 3H: therefore your meagre holdings in them should be enough for a game; hence bid 4H

Results

2HE +4; 3CE +1; 3HE +2; 4HE = (twice); 4HE +1.

 N-S 1^st   W Jurgensen & G Ford…..55.0% 

         2^nd R Wood & R Jackson…….54.3%

 E-W 1st J Tagg & E Jurgensen……58.8%

          2^nd L Kolesky & G Dempers…56.7%