Episode 17: Anam Tebha

Anam Tebha is an American born and raised professional bridge player. She learned bridge in 2008 as a teenager, while in summer school in Pakistan. Soon afterwards and only “knowing keycard”, Anam and three of her equally green Pakistani classmates went to China to play in the junior world championships.

In spite of, “not knowing anyone,” when Anam returned she “spent at least five hours a day on BridgeBase, like every day” throughout 2008-2012. Clearly, she was hooked.

Her first big, NABC+ win came in the 2016 Fall Mixed Swiss partnering Pakistani legend Zia Mahmood. Zia’s team had gotten eliminated on the first day of the Reisinger, and Anam was in her words, “loitering around the playing area with no game.” When Billy Miller came up to her and said, “Do you want to play with Zia?'“ She joked, “am I supposed to say no to that?”

Anam also won both the Team and BAM events in 2017 at the 5th Youth Bridge Open Championships in Lyon, France. In the words of junior star, Finn Kolesnik, Anam “is a beast”.

Highlights from Episode:

2:00- How Anam learned bridge

3:45- Anam’s parents (disappointing) view towards bridge

6:05- Anam’s housemates

7:45- How Anam likes to allocate her bridge questions

9:40- Anam played in the Junior World Championships with a team of people who all had been playing for fewer than 6 months

12:35- Anam’s story of playing with Zia Mahmood and winning the Mixed Swiss

23:50- Anam’s experience of playing in a regional right before the coronavirus outbreak became very severe

32:10- How Anam played on the Zimmerman team

34:50- How Anam played with Joe Grue in the Mixed World Series

38:25- What Joe Grue taught Anam about opening 1N

41:15- Anam’s experience playing against team Kranyak in the 2019 trials