What are four jacks worth?

Bridge is scored in so many ways that just understanding the intricacies of the scoring is taxing for the brain. This week is "sectional tournaments at clubs" (STaC) week.  What this means is that you play in clubs as normal, but your matchpoint scores are then compared district-wide.

We came in second in our direction (1st in B and C) with a 55% game and the pair that won was well ahead, with a 65% one. In a normal game where we come in second, but well behind the leaders, I can relax about any single board that got away -- it wouldn't have made a difference.

But not in a STaC game.  The difference between a 55% game and a 58% game could be huge. And what is the hand I am beating myself up over?  It's this one, where my hand evaluation was awry:

W

Me

♠

Jx

♥

AKJx

♦

AKJxx

♣

Jx

Lead: ♦7

E

Pard

♠

AKxx

♥

10xxx

♦

xx

♣

Axx

The bidding (uncontested) went:

Me

Pard

1♣¹

1♥²

2♥³

2♠⁴

3♦⁵

3♠⁶

4NT⁷

5♥⁸

6♥

—

(1) 16+, artificial

(2) 4+ hearts, 8+ points

(3) 4+ hearts, 19+ points: Overbid??

(4) 1st or 2nd round control

(5) no club control, but diamond control

(6) still interested.

(7) rkc

(8) 2 without Q

Do you agree with my hand evaluation of 19 points in support of  hearts?  In the harsh light after-the-game, it seems a little optimistic. I do have have good hearts, and a good 5-card diamond suit, but the two doubletons are not worth much.  In fact, I have a 6-loser hand.  I needed to bid 3H, instead of 2H which would have shown 16-18 points and let partner explore slam if he wanted to.

A bottom on a board where we should have been average+ (partner found the queen of hearts) is probably worth dozens of spots in the STaC ranking.