[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     Pass  1NT   Pass
 2♦    Pass  2♥    Pass
 3♦    Pass  4NT   Pass
 5♥    Pass  5NT   Pass
 6♦    Pass  6♥    Pass
 Pass  Pass  

I bid 4NT as with hand p had shown I thought mine looked a lot better good or bad evaluation

also should I have cue bid instead>

[fred]

4NT=Bad bid.

3D does not necessarily suggest a hand with slam interest. All 3D means is that partner has at least 5 hearts, at least 4 diamonds, and game-forcing values. When your partner bids 3D here he may just be trying to find the best game contract (3NT, 4H, or 5D).

This is an area in which a lot of people have trouble - many players (even some very good ones) wrongly think that a new suit after a Jacoby transfer promises a big hand.

When partner transfers to hearts and then bids 3D, if you have at least 3-card heart support you should generally bid either 3H or 4H. It makes sense to use 3H as suggesting a better hand than 4H would in order to leave room for partner to cuebid if he has slam interest. Don't worry about him passing 3H since his 3D bid created a game force.

Since your actual hand is a nice one in the context of the bidding, you should bid 3H, not 4H. Leave any slam investigation up to your partner - if his next bid is 4H (it wouldn't be with his actual hand) don't even look at your hand - just Pass - you have already told your story and partner has signed off.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com