Is this your problem?

[OleBerg]

Agree with Pass and then 4♠.

 

I do not understand making a free bid on this hand over 1♥.  But I see this all the time in these Fora.

 

 

But seriously; the key to understand 1♠, is to consider how unlikely it is to get hurt, and how likely it is to gain a profit.

If partner has a balanced hand, you will seldom get into trouble (Unless partner partner can be 15-17 bal. in which case you need some agreements to slow him down), and if partner has an unbalanced hand with 5+ clubs, your playing strength surely warrants competing, often even to the 3-level.

You are oversimplyfing.

 

I agree.

 

I do not want to compare the pros and cons of the new and the ancient approach...

Neither did I.

 

The point I wanted to put forward (I didn't succeed), was that 1♠ is odds-on, when you consider it a little, assuming your partner doesn't hang you.

[cherdanno]

(If we play 3♣ over 2N as non-forcing, I don't even see the problem.)

In how many partnership do you play 3♣ as non-forcing?

I haven't discussed this auction with anyone (since it can't occur in what I play with Han). But I do think it is better to play it as non-forcing, and would even guess that's the natural assumption without discussion - when there is a cuebid, there is less need for other bids to be artificial or forcing.