Raise At Once.  With a 4 trump fit with responder in a major suit, raise at once according to the strength of your hand:

N	E	S
1§	P	1©
2© . . .			A minimum opener with four Hearts.
1¨	P	1ª
4ª . . .			A big (19-20 HCP) opener with 4 Spades. Not a 'closeout'.
1§	P	1©
3© . . .			An invitational (17-18) opener.

Have Your Bid. Remember that responder may be stretching to bid rather than pass one of a minor. Don't punish him/her by jumping to game with 16 points. On the other hand, responder may have 18 and is just showing his major to find the best fit. Bid as described above -- raise one with a minimum, jump to three with an invitational hand and have the 20+ dummy points when jumping to game as responder is likely to go on to slam, counting on you having your bid.

No Closeouts!. We don't bid 'close-outs', except to preempt the opponents. They make little sense in duplicate, as there is no particular need to press for games (at matchpoints). Jumping too high is closing out our partner, not our opponents.

In the second sequence above, opener cannot be jumping to game as a closeout because responder has made an unlimited bid of 1 Spade -- opener cannot make such a unilateral decision. The jump to four says "I have enough power to make four Spades even if you made a minimum 5 point response of 1 Spade".

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(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998  All Rights Reserved