Posted 2015-July-14, 16:27
It starts:
P 1♣ 1♠ P
Now N has a choice...pass (which would be my call due to the shape and the fact that my club K is of slightly reduced value now that LHO has opened the suit) or a thin 2♠. If one played transfer advances, then 2♠ is a bit more palatable, since it would deny constructive values, but even so I would pass.
Assume the pass by N
East has an easy 2♥.
S could bid 2♠ but he has defence to hearts, and the heart length and strength on his right, coupled with the lack of a raise, and the missing diamond suit, all make pass look best.
West has an easy preference back to 3♣ and now I would expect that at many tables the auction would be over.
However, a lot of people like to bid, even when the warning signs are apparent, so N might raise to 2♠ and now E has a tough call. I'd bid 3♥ anyway, tho this is a minimum. Partner can easily enough hold xxx Qxx xxxxx Kx, as an example, and we have a good game available, so we can't pass and we need to show the 5th heart.
If N bid, then S should bid 3♠. Game is too far away with those clubs and hearts.
If N passed, some S's would bid 2♠ over 2♥.Personally, I think West is just good enough to bid 3♣ since 2♥ usually delivers at least 6 clubs (no reopening double). But I would understand pass. In any event, the auction could die at 2♠, 3♣, or 3♠.
It is possible that it would reach 4♣ if West bid over S's 2♠ and N bid 3♠.
Were NS to reach 3♠, and West has a chance to speak, which I suspect is unlikely, then the final contract would likely be 3♠x
So I guess the real answer to the OP is that there is no one way the hand 'should be bid', but quite a few in which it could be bid, with no clear error by anyone.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari