Don’t push your opponents into a makeable contract they might otherwise not have bid.

East was dealing, with East-West vulnerable, on an instructive hand:

                                    NORTH
                                  ♠️ A 8 6 5 2
                                  ♥️ K 8 5 4
                                  ♦️ —
                                  ♣️ Q 9 7 2

        WEST                                              EAST
        ♠️ 9 4                                            ♠️ Q 10 7 3
        ♥️ Q 10 7                                      ♥️ J
        ♦️ A K Q J 7 6                              ♦️ 10 9 5 4
        ♣️ A 8                                           ♣️ J 10 4 3

                                  SOUTH
                                 ♠️ K J
                                 ♥️ A 9 6 3 2
                                 ♦️ 8 3 2
                                ♣️ K 6 5

The bidding proceeded as follows:

East        South        West        North
Pass        1♥️          2♦️         2♥️
3♦️        Pass          Pass         3♥️
All Pass

Opening lead: ♦️A

Yes, South’s 1♥️ bid was questionable. It would have been tempting for West to compete to 4♦️, which would only go down one. Fortunately, West had second thoughts. “If I bid 4♦️, they could easily go to 4♥️,” West mused.

Indeed, North might realize that the 2♥️ raise was much too weak. With second thoughts North might revalue the hand and go to 4♥️. Certainly, other North-South pairs reached 4♥️.

By passing, West didn’t tempt North-South to bid on. Declarer made five for +200 and a bad result.

P.S.: Here’s another possible auction:

East        South        West        North
Pass        1♥️        2♦️        4♥️!
All Pass

With nine high-card points, a void and 13 support points, North sees an excellent fit. Why wait?