Whooooo-eeeee!

Q 10 9
10 5 4
Q 10 8 7 5
5 4
A K J 8 6 5 4 2 7
------ K 7 6 3
9 2 A K J 4 3
K J 10 A 9 6
3
A Q J 9 8 2
6
Q 8 7 3 2 Vul: E-W

WestNorthEastSouth
Pass 1 3
6 Pass Pass 7
Dbl All pass
Whooooo-eeeee! This is the type of bidding that will drive a guy to canasta. Now hear this: A preference bid should be the easiest bid in bridge to get right! Your partner isn't asking you to think or to have impulses, whims or brainstorms. You follow his or her direction, which is, "Partner take the suit where you have more cards. And if you have equal length, take me to my first suit." I did refer, under Discussion, to one situation where you might exercise some judgment, and that's when the choice is between a major and a minor and you have more cards in the minor. You might first ask if you have sufficient cards in the major to name that trump. If you can get a game bid in at one level lower, it might pay you to name the major. That's bidding to make. If you're bidding to sac, then you clearly want the best fit, where the most cards are, to be trump. For undertricks count the same in a major as in a minor. Otherwise . . .
Well, here, there isn't any question. North has more cards in the major than the minor and it was declarer's first suit. What do you need to know beyond that? North should certainly bid seven hearts, not because he knows it will be a good sac but because his partner asked for his co-operation.
For the record, 7 hearts should go down only 5 tricks, for a pretty good sac against the vulnerable slam. And clubs? Down 7 for a not so good sac. 1700 points. That was expensive, being worse than everyone in slam. Totally inexcusable. Oh, and the scoring? Well, down 7 was minus 12.22. Down 5 was minus 3.48. It was still in minus territory, yeah, because not all E-W pairs were bidding that slam, or making it if bidding it. Nor is there any way of knowing if your opponents would have made the slam. Nevertheless, if you do take the sac, there's a big, big difference between down 7 & down 5, both doubled, of course. Down 7 doesn't even beat the made slams, and that's quite a price to pay for not being able to figure out that it's better to offer your partner 3-card support than 2-card support.