This hand might have been a first for me.
West opened 2C with only 12 points! Sure, she had a 7-5-1-0 distribution which does not happen every day, and a very nice heart suit. But this hand is not great for a game force. Powerful two-suited hands are generally better opening at the one level and then jumping to show strength - it can be hard to find the space to communicate two long suits after opening at the 2-level, and in this case the diamonds are pretty poor. Finally, regardless of loser count, 12 points is pretty low for such a bid.
But here we are. I’m sitting North, we are all vulnerable, and even though I didn’t feel comfortable about it, I overcalled 2S anyway. I figured that I only needed a couple of spades from partner for it to be an acceptable sacrifice, and that they were unlikely to double me at this level, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a good bid. So imagine my surprise when partner jumped to 4S!
West was not to be denied, and bid 5H and because I can’t see how we can defeat this, I bid 5S and waited for the inevitable double. When it didn’t come I was amazed, and figured we were in for a top board even before dummy came down. Who gets to play at the 5-level undoubled after a game force is opened against them?
Partner puts down his cards after the heart lead, and look at that - 12 tricks are easy, losing just the ace of clubs before cross-ruffing the rest. And after all that we ended up getting a score that was slightly below average on the board - so much for top board. I’m not sure how many pairs had to find their way after a strong 2C opening the other way, though.
No doubt if I had kept quiet in the bidding, my partner would have introduced the spades himself - his hand is certainly better than mine for interfering after a game force. And the results were interesting, with 5 pairs successfully bidding and making 6S (one doubled), and 3 pairs bidding 6H the other way (all doubled, and one making, which I think is only possible if N very kindly makes the opening lead of a diamond away from AQJ). It just goes to confirm the value of extreme distributions and big fits when evaluating hands, as 22 and 18 HCP do not exactly scream slam.