diff --git a/src/parser.zig b/src/parser.zig
index caed4b8..f59cec2 100644
--- a/src/parser.zig
+++ b/src/parser.zig
@@ -1270,6 +1270,13 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
         return tok.tag;
     }
 
+    /// With `self.current` at `(`, true iff the parens enclose exactly a single
+    /// identifier — `( ident )`. Distinguishes a match-arm payload capture from
+    /// a parenthesized / tuple arm-value expression (`(5)`, `(a, b)`).
+    fn isLoneIdentParen(self: *Parser) bool {
+        return self.peekTag(1) == .identifier and self.peekTag(2) == .r_paren;
+    }
+
     fn foreignRuntimeForOffset(self: *Parser, offset: usize) ?ast.ForeignRuntime {
         const tag = self.peekTag(offset);
         return switch (tag) {
@@ -3093,13 +3100,15 @@ pub const Parser = struct {
             } else try self.parsePrimary(); // .variant
             try self.expect(.colon);
 
-            // Optional payload capture: (ident)
+            // Optional payload capture: `(ident)`. Disambiguated from a
+            // parenthesized / tuple arm-value expression (`(5)`, `(1, 1)`):
+            // a capture is exactly `( <identifier> )`; anything else is the
+            // arm body (an expression) and is left for the body parse below.
             var capture: ?[]const u8 = null;
-            if (self.current.tag == .l_paren) {
-                self.advance();
-                if (self.current.tag != .identifier) return self.fail("expected capture name");
+            if (self.current.tag == .l_paren and self.isLoneIdentParen()) {
+                self.advance(); // '('
                 capture = self.tokenSlice(self.current);
-                self.advance();
+                self.advance(); // ident
                 try self.expect(.r_paren);
             }