Bid 3♠. No, this is not passable! After partner opens 2♣ and then shows a major suit for which you have a fit, you are going to bid game. Yes, even with zero points. The fit itself may provide the extra trick(s) for game via ruffs or transportation for finesses. With few points, therefore, just jump to game. The three of a major bid is reserved for showing non-minimum fits. 

After 3♠, partner might try to sign off (they do only have 23 HCP and are 5-3-2-3), but with so many prime values, one try for slam is warranted. In fact, South should bid 4♣. You will bid 4♥, showing your control. Partner will then happily bid this excellent 31 HCP slam.

You have 12 HCP in partner's suits, and first or second round control of every suit, so you have some slam interest, but no fit. However, with only the king as a stopper in the club suit, bidding 4N seems wrong. This seems like a time for a "best lie." We would try to sign off in 4♥. Two honors is often better than three small in support of a suit.

How should East continue? East should bid 6♦ and reveal the 5-5 nature of her hand, giving partner a choice of slams. 

¹A more advanced agreement is as follows: 
4♥: 3+ hearts, no slam interest
4♠: 3+ hearts, slam interest
4N: no fit
5♣ : 4+ diamonds, slam interest
5♦: 4+ diamonds, no slam interest

Note that when you have opened NT and partner has shown two suits, you would never introduce a suit of your own. You are either playing in one of partner's suits, or NT. Therefore, the other suit bids are available to show agreement.

Let's examine each in turn.

2N: You already know what is wrong with bidding 2N - you have too many points! When an opponent opens a weak-two, the 2N overcall shows 15-18 HCP with the suit stopped. The weaker your stopper is, the better your hand should be. So with AQx of their suit, 15 HCP is okay; with only Qxx, you should be a little stronger. On this hand, you have a heart stopper, but you have too many points to bid 2N.

3♦: When you are short in the preempt suit, a simple overcall at the three-level need not be more than a minimum opening hand (12+ HCP). If you have two or more cards in the preempt suit however, you should be about a strong NT (15+) or better. The overcall range should be something like 12-18. Anything larger than that becomes difficult to play because partner will pass you with six-counts that are likely to produce game. On this hand, with 21 HCP, you are therefore too strong for the 3♦ overcall.

X: Doubles are either takeout (an opening hand with shortness in the preempt suit and support for all of the unbid suits, especially majors) or super strong. The super strong bids start at about 16 HCP holding a six card suit and 19 HCP with only a five card suit. On this hand, you are strong enough to "double and correct" to your five card suit.

3N: If you can't bid 2N because you have too many points, then 3N must be the right call. After all, it is the next step up and thus must show the next range, 19-22 HCP. Right? Not right. Leaping to 3N over the preempt is reserved for hands with a lot of trick-taking potential. An example hand would be:  ♠ xx  ♥ Ax  ♦ xx  ♣ AKQJxxx. You have eight tricks - seven clubs and a heart stopper. You can probably scrounge a trick out of partner's hand. This is the kind of hand on which to bid 3N - a long running suit with a stopper in the preempt suit. 

Over a preempt, with a balanced 19+ HCP and a stopper, you start with double and then bid notrump at your next call. The winning call on this hand is double.

Playing 2/1
Once West bids notrump, East is certain of an eight-card club fit. Now is time to start to evaluate the hand for suit play rather than for notrump. If the hand plays in clubs, there are only 27 HCP to be concerned with; the ♦ AKQJ (10 HCP) are irrelevant due to the diamond void and the ♠ QJ (3 HCP) don't matter because East cares only about the first and second round of that suit, having only two. That means East has 9 out of 27 working HCP, or about 1/3. That is equivalent to 13 out 40 HCP or in effect, an opening hand. Believe it or not, East is now strong enough to force to game. It won't always make, but it will make more often than not, so the percentage action is to bid game.

Over 1N, East jumps to 3♣ . Responder's jump to a new, lower-ranking suit shows 5-5 distribution with game-forcing values (for those playing any version of New Minor Forcing). WhenWest bids 3N, East continues with 4♣ to show the sixth club and no interest in playing in notrump.

Playing Standard
Over opener's 1♠  rebid, East will have a problem if playing Fourth Suit Forcing, unable to bid 2♣ without forcing to game. The solution is to bid 3♣, showing 6 clubs and an invitational hand. Unfortunately, this does not show the fifth heart. Oh well, can't have everything :( West will bid 3N and now East might choose to bid 4♣, suggesting that the invitation is based on shape, not HCP. West will either pass or bid 5♣ .

Playing 2/1
Assuming East has managed to convey the game-forcing, two-suited nature of the hand, West must now choose between 5♣ and 4♥. With ♥ J10, West should bid 4♥ even though it is only a seven-card fit. Two honors is often better support than three small. Besides, you are a level lower and in the higher scoring contract to boot! 

On the one hand, North has enough values to want to compete. On the other hand, bidding a five-card suit headed by the jack is never a good idea, so North must pass. What North would really like to do is show both her suits, hearts and spades, and let partner choose the one in which to play. 

The good news is, there are ways to do just that. When your opponent opens 1N, it is frequently right to compete for the contract with a reasonable two-suited hand. You have an excellent chance of finding a fit for partner in one of your suits. If you are able to show both suits over the opponent's notrump, then the risk of bidding lessens and makes taking a call the winning play. 

There are many systems for interefering over 1N. Cappelletti, DONT and Suction are common ones here in Portland. Each is designed to let you show one- and two-suited hands over an opening 1N. A nice simple system to start with is Landy.  

2♣ shows the majors
2N shows the minors
All other bids are natural.

Over 2♣, you can bid 2♦ to let partner choose her better major. On this hand, after a 2♣ by North, South will bid 2♥ and may just buy the contract there.

No! With extreme distribution - North is void in their trump suit and has both 5 clubs and 5 diamonds - bidding is called for. But what call to make?

North's final decision
Bid 4N! North would like South to choose the suit in which to play. If South prefers clubs, bidding 5♦ now would force a 6♣ bid from South. Why play at the six-level when the five-level is enough? Instead, the 4N bid here suggests two places to play. Why does it suggest that? It cannot possibly be Blackwood in this auction! So 4N here means something else. That something else is length in the unbid suit. So to show a willingness to play in either clubs or diamonds, bid 4N. North has shown a preference for clubs since clubs were bid first. But South may have a different preference. In this case, South will bid 5♦, taking a good sacrifice, rather than the bad one in 5♣.

The correct action is double. The less certain you are of the right thing to do, the more flexible the action you take should be. Double is the most flexible action. 

So you double. Now the action shifts to your partner, who also has 14 HCP.  First things first, she must recognize that your side cannot stop below game. Any bid she takes must be either forcing or a direct bid of game. The only forcing action over a double is the cuebid.  

When partner doubles a major, she most often has four of the unbid major. When you have four of that major you should assume a fit and bid accordingly. On this hand, that means spades will be trump. How many spades should you bid?

• 2♠ shows less than invitational values, typically 0-8 HCP.  
• 3♠ shows invitational values, typically 9-11 HCP.
• 4♠ shows values for game, no interest in slam, typically 12-14 HCP.
• To show more than 14 HCP or points in support, cuebid first, and then bid 4♠ after whatever partner bids.

On this hand, partner must bid either 4♠ or 3♥, depending on how she evaluates her hand. If partner bids anything else, you will wind up stopping below game for a bad board :( 

Think about how the hand will play before you automatically reach for the pass card.

Partner has at most two hearts and at least four diamonds to prefer your second suit. That means you will likely be able to ruff a heart or two in dummy. Opposite no more than ♠ xxxxx ♥ xx ♦ J10xx ♣ xx, you will make 6♦ on 3-3 or 4-2 hearts, as long as diamonds break 3-2. For this to be a good slam, partner will need the ♦J (or five of them).

Now you are in a quandry. With a diamond fit, you are likely to have at least nine tricks in notrump. If you stop in 5♦ and make five when notrump makes an extra trick, you will get a poor result. Take the chance and bid 6♦. Your superior bidding will be rewarded on this hand!

How to show interest depends upon the agreements that your partnership has. Our agreement is that a jump past game to the five-level show a void with slam interest. We would bid 5♣ with this hand.  

Without such an agreement, a control bid of 4♣ seems like the second best choice. Some people play that control bids show aces. Some play aces or kings. We play that control bids show aces, kings, singletons or voids. That way, partner might know that bidding Blackwood is safe. Leaping to 6♠ has the benefit of removing any confusion, but is very risky with such a poor trump suit.  

Over any slam try action East forces to slam with the control rich hand.

Some players opened 1♥ rather than 1N and reached the superior 6♥ contract. It can be defeated by ♠ A and a spade for a ruff, however the defense must find that on the opening lead. At one table, the East hand opened 1♥ and rebid 2N over partner's 1♠ response. This enables West to bid 3♥, set trump, and get the slam try in early. 

Freely bidding 2♥ here would show at least 10 HCP. With only six HCP, West cannot do that. Absent other agreements, West must pass. If West has New Minor Forcing (NMF) in his toolkit, he can bid 2♥ in comfort. Why? Playing NMF, bidding two of a major is always to play. With an invitational or better hand West would bid 2♦ or something at the three-level. Therefore, the failure to bid 2♦ shows less than invitational values. 2♥ is not forward going (non-forcing). East will either pass 2♥ when it is the better place to play or correct to 2♠ which West will pass, ending the auction. (For those of you who play NMF, recognize that the same inference applies in the auction 
1♣ -1♠ -1N-2♥.)

Here, East will have an easy time correcting to 2♠ for the best matchpoint result.

For pass to be right (converting South's takeout double to penalty), NS must be able to take six tricks. How many seem likely with the North hand?  Zero spade tricks, two heart tricks and one potential trick each in diamonds and clubs. Call it 3 1/2 tricks, since the kings are likely to be working with South's points. Thus, South must be able to contribute 2 1/2 tricks for converting the double to be right.  

On the plus side, South's high cards are well positioned behind dummy. On the minus side, South is both a passed hand and in balancing seat, and might therefore be extra light for the balancing double.

Three other factors make the decision clearer.

1. The auction strongly suggests a 10-10-10-10 distirbution of points, so South is unlikely to be super light for the balance.
2. North has only four ♣, and balancer will frequently double with only three. There is no guarantee of finding an eight-card fit by bidding 3♣.
3. The opponents are vulnerable! That means a one trick set will net a cool 200 (and a likely top) on what is only a partscore hand.

Adding it all up makes pass the clear winner over the long run. And remember, "over the long run" is what matters in bridge. You want your actions to be right more often than not. If a particular action does not yield a good result this time, it doesn't mean it wasn't the right action. The actions you take should be measured not by the results of a particular hand, Do not get hung up on results.

If you passed partner's double, plus 200.
If you bid 3♣ , plus 110.
If you let the opponents play 2♥, plus 100. 

With 5-4 in the majors, Stayman is the preferred bid. However, you must have discussed the follow-up bids with your partner. Do you have a method to describe the five-card major after partner bids 3♦? Without discussion, the auction should proceed
3♣ -3♦ -3♥ to show five hearts. This implies a four-card spade suit. If you had five hearts without four spades you would simply have transferred.  

A superior method is to bid the major in which you hold four cards, enabling the strong had to declare should a 5-3 major suit fit be present. The name of this convention is Smolen. It can be played over 1N as well. In that case, after Stayman, you jump to the 3-level in the four-card suit to show a game-forcing hand with 5-4 or 4-5 in the majors.

In competitive auctions (and especially in the balancing seat) it is good practice to ask yourself a few questions before taking an action. Some questions are:

1. Do I have extra values?
2. Do I have shortness in the opponents' suit?

When the answer to the first two questions is no, responder should simply pass as the hand has already described to partner. When the answer to either or both questions is yes, then it is important to ask yourself a few more questions to determine if there is a clear action.

      3. Do I have a fit for partner?
      4. Do I have a second suit?
      5. Do I have a stopper in the opponents' suit?
      6. Do I have extra length in my suit?

With respect to this auction:

• If the answer to #3 is yes, support partner by bidding 3♦ with invitational values or cuebid 3♥ with game forcing values, intending to follow up with diamonds. 
• If the answer to #4 is yes, simply bid your second suit (forcing).
• If the answer to #5 is yes, bid 2N with invitational values and 3N with game forcing values.
• If the answer to #6 is yes, bid 2♠ with less than invitational values, 3♠ with invitational values and either double or cuebid 3♥ with game forcing values. (Whether to double depends upon how interested you are in hearing partner pass 2♥x).

• If the answer to each of the above questions is no, then what should you do? The only remaining action is double. This is generally referred to as a value showing double or a "Do Something Intelligent Double." It says, "I have extra values and I do not know what to do partner. Please help me decide."

Partner will:

1. Pass for penalty with great trump (like ♥ KJ108)
2. Show three card support for your suit by bidding 2♠ (four card support has already been denied when South failed to bid 2♠ immediately)
3. Show a stopper by bidding 2N
4. Show four clubs by bidding 3♣ 
5. Deny all of the above by bidding 3♦. This almost always shows at least five diamonds.  

In this case, North should double. South will bid 2♠ , showing three-card support. North will invite by bidding 3♠ and, with 14 HCP, South will accept.

***For those of you who wish to learn an advanced concept, here's a link to support doubles that allow opener to show three card support when RHO interferes and allows you to find 5-3 fits.

East needs two additional tricks. Because of the singleton club, the finesse can only be taken once. Even it it works, it is only a gain of one trick. The heart finesse can be repeated twice because West has an entry in both spades and clubs. If it works, the slam will make. That is a 50% chance. If it fails, East can always fall back on the club finesse. Right?

Wait! Remember, part of the reason for bidding slam was the excellent source of tricks in clubs. Use them! East can take the club finesse and even if it loses, still enjoy two more tricks with the ♣ JT. That is a 100% line of play.   

Additionally, if the club finesse works, East can go for the gusto. Now take the heart finesse. If it works, the contract will make seven! 6 spades, 3 hearts (finesse twice), 2 diamonds and 2 clubs (finesse once). How sweet is that?