Conformational properties of polyelectrolyte chain with maleic acid units (MA polyelectrolyte) are investigated by a mean of Monte Carlo simulation. The polyelectrolyte chains are modeled as a self-avoiding walk on tetrahedral lattice with charges fixed. The each charge interacts through Debye-Huckel potential and attraction energy from hydrogen bonding between un-ionized and ionized carboxyl groups in short-range. Mean-square end-to-end distance, [R(2)], mean-square radius of gyration, [S-2], and mean conformational energy, [E], are simulated as a function of degree of polymerization (N) and dissociation (alpha), and salt concentration (C-S). The dependence of [R(2)] and [S-2] On N shows that MA polyelectrolyte chain assumes a rod like conformation at high alpha and low C-S. The simulation results provide an interpretation for characteristic viscometric behavior of MA polyelectrolytes which show a maximum in an intrinsic viscosity nearly at alpha=0.5. The polymer dimensions in the region of alpha less than or equal to 0.5 increases with the energy of the hydrogen bonding assumed. The characteristic viscometric behavior of MA polyelectrolytes is deduced to result from the balance between repulsion from the electrostatic interaction and attraction from the hydrogen bonding in short-range.