Better minor

What do you bid with 4-4-3-2? Bidding 1D, the "convenient minor" or "better minor," is a plague; what good does it do your partner to know you have maybe three diamonds and two clubs, rather than two diamonds and three clubs? Neither is much of a step toward an eight-card fit.

I far prefer opening 1C unless you have four diamonds. That way a 1D bid actually means something, and you can clarify whether the club bid is artificial or genuine on the next round. Responder, for her part, should not pass a 1C opening unless her hand is truly pathetic.

A corollary of this practice is that the 1NT response to 1C is not as limiting as a 1NT response to an opening bid of another suit: it shows genuine balance and up to 13 points, I'd say.