Shut up and count up …

Sometimes the source of matchpoints is quite surprising.

All vul at Friday’s club duplicate, in second chair I held ♠JT  ♥KQ432  ♦AQ75  ♣K7.  Nice potential for this hand, but considerably less so when my RHO opens 1NT.  With no singleton and the opponents being vulnerable I pass without much thought and so do the next two players.  I lead my fourth best heart and we eventually emerge with +200 for down two, taking one spade, four hearts, one club, and two diamonds.  Declarer took only his two major suit aces and three clubs.

Dealer: S, #7 Vul: Both	North ♠   JT ♥   KQ432 ♦   AQ75 ♣   K7
West ♠   A63 ♥   A8 ♦   KJT4 ♣   AJ84		East ♠   Q987 ♥   T97 ♦   83 ♣   T652
	South ♠   K542 ♥   J65 ♦   962 ♣   Q93

The auction and defense seem pretty normal, but we are awarded 10 of the 11, count ‘em up, available matchpoints, losing only to the only other pair who defended 1NT.  Every other pair our direction declared, most of them declaring 2♥, with the maximum score for those pairs being +170.

I realize that most players come to the local dup not to defend but to declare, but bidding against a vulnerable strong notrump on a flattish hand seems poorly considered to me.  This result will not change my opinion.