Your Bid Again!

Here's a hand that came up today.

You hold this hand:
♠A8
♥54
♦AT863
♣KJ94

You are Dealer and get to open the bidding. What is your bid?

1♦. Perfect.

Now your LHO overcalls 1♥. Partner bids 1♠. RHO bids 2♥. Back to you. What will you bid now?

Now originally after your 1♦ opening bid you would have responded 2♣ to most bids Partner could make. But you can no longer do that. Those pesky opponents are bidding! Now if you were to bid your ♣ suit you would have to respond 3♣. Is that your bid?

Bidding 3♣ right now shows five ♦ and four ♣ (which you have) BUT it also shows a BIG hand (which you don't have). This is just like the opponents didn't bid and you opened 1♦ and rebid 3♣. So that's out. What other bids can you think of?

How about 2NT? What about that bid?

This is wrong for many reasons. This shows a balanced hand, at least one stopper in the opponents suit (♥) and about 18 or 19 HCP. None of which you have.

Hmmmm. What bid is left?

That's right. Pass. Good bid. Remember 2♥ will get Passed around to Partner who still can bid. If you are missing a game or have a fit somewhere Partner will make another bid. Right now if you make ANY bid other than Pass (or raising Partner to 2♠) you are showing a big hand.