Your partner opens 1♥. What do you bid with:

                                     ♠  9 7 4 3

                                     ♥  8 5

                                     ♦  A 10 2

                                     ♣  K 6 5 3

Well, 1NT is reasonable but 1♠ is recommended. We shouldn’t get too high and if partner does have four spades as well as four hearts, we will reach a better contract. Note that opener with 15+ points and a 4-4-2-3 distribution will normally open 1♥ (playing a 12-14 1NT).

There have been a couple of hands at recent duplicates where responding 1♠ paid off, one with a suit headed only by the eight.

So, bid a major at the one level if you can – it’s fun too!