Very reasonable, and the bot that held these cards thought the same. I was declarer.
https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|kenberg,~Mwest,~Mnorth,~Meast|md|1SJT962HA85DAT65CK,SAQ873HKJ9D74CJ86,SKH74DKQ92CAT9432,S54HQT632DJ83CQ75|sv|o|rh||ah|Board 11|mb|1S|an|Major suit opening -- 5+
; 11-21 HCP; 12-22 total points|mb|P|mb|2C|an|Forcing two over one -- 13+ HCP; biddable
; 14+ total points; forcing to 3N|mb|P|mb|2D|an|New suit -- 4+
; 5+
; 11-21 HCP; 12-22 total points; forcing to 3N|mb|P|mb|3D|an|4+
; 4+
; 14+ total points|mb|P|mb|3N|an|4+
; 4-
; 5-6
; 13-20 HCP; 22- total points; likely stop in
|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|C6|pc|C2|pc|CQ|pc|CK|pc|D5|pc|D7|pc|DK|pc|D3|pc|CA|pc|C7|pc|S2|pc|C8|pc|CT|pc|C5|pc|H5|pc|CJ|pc|SA|pc|SK|pc|S5|pc|S6|pc|SQ|pc|H4|pc|S4|pc|S9|pc|HJ|pc|H7|pc|H2|pc|HA|pc|SJ|pc|S3|pc|D2|pc|H6|pc|ST|pc|S8|pc|C3|pc|H3|pc|D6|pc|D4|pc|DQ|pc|D8|pc|C9|pc|DJ|pc|H8|pc|H9|pc|C4|pc|HQ|pc|DT|pc|S7|pc|D9|pc|HT|pc|DA|pc|HK|
After the
lead I am taking 10 tricks. It's true that 5
cannot be beaten (although it sometimes was) thanks to the 3-3 !c split (and the 3-2
split).
So it's a bit of a bidding problem also. Neither 3NT nor 5
is a great contract just looking at the NS cards but after the natural start of 1 !s - 2 !c we will be in one of those contracts. My thinking with 3 NT is that since I held the
K and the
A, partner for his 2 !c bid either has a good enough
holding so that we can run that suit or else he holds some values in the majors, hopefully some help in
. But no, I had to be saved by the opponents not starting on
.
The bots often, not always, choose a passive lead. I gather there is a current school of thought favoring it, perhaps partially based on current enthusiasm for optimistic bidding. "Let declarer find his own 9th trick" is the idea I guess. I'm not convinced, but on this hand, at matchpoints, i can see why going passive could be appealing.
I was thinking declarer is fairly likely to be 5=3=4=1 here, as I was. If I had five
, I expect I would have gone on in
rather than try 3NT. And if I have only four
then probably, over 2
, I would bid a four card
suit over the 2
. Of course I still might be 5=2=4=2. But a 5=3=4=1 shape seems likely.
Anyway, I got to the beatable 3NT rather than the unbeatable 5
but it paid off just fine. Often that's the way these things go. Bridge is not always straightforward, even in retrospect.