[pescetom]

I concede that in this hand upgrading to 1NT would be pushing things, although GiB needs to be pushed.
But can that explain what happened later?
I'm fine with Stayman rather than a clubs transfer, this hand belongs in NT unless partner has hearts.
I can live with 3♣ although I would prefer 3NT.
Over 4♠ I can live with either Pass or Double, but what on earth is 5♣ about?

[smerriman]

I wouldn't have dreamt of bidding 3NT with a void in spades, and would have bid the same way as North.

[msheald]

With all due respect, I disagree.

With all the high cards in clubs, in is very likely partner has stop in spades given his NT opener. While nothing is guaranteed, and only 5000 simulations would show which is the better bid, IMO 3 NT is much easier to make than 5 clubs. I try to avoid minor games. At my intermediate level, ops seem to have less tolerance for NT games, and when I bid them and they are in a minor game, particularly in this type of hand, I get high boards much more frequently than not. Best regards.

Mike

[msheald]

Also, with 4 piddling hearts, I might avoid Stayman. While a heart game would be great if partner had something like AKxx, in my experience, partner tends to have only middling hearts, like Kxxx. 3NT makes in that case while 4 hearts does not.

And, without Stayman to give ops information (unless robots game with double dummy in which case robots already know distro!) 3NT is often better. Still, only 5000 sims would show which is the better bid.

Given me better hearts as responder, and I'm all for Stayman. With this hand - meh! Best regards.

Mike