Kyle Lam

Kyle Lam, 23, originally from Nottingham, is in his final year studying for a Medicine Degree at Cambridge.

His bridge career began when he started playing at the bridge club at Nottingham High School. It was not long before he became hooked to the game, trying to learn as much as possible and playing at every available opportunity. His first major partnership was formed with Simon Berry and together they joined the U20 squad in 2009. It was with Simon that he first represented England playing in the White House competition in Amsterdam. It was a steep learning curve but it only made Kyle hungry for more action. His next international appearance would be at the European Open Pairs in Opatija, Croatia playing with his good friend, Simon Spencer. This would be the location of the birth of the “Lam Coup” where Kyle played the Ace of Hearts out of turn allowing declarer to make 2 tricks from Kx opposite Qx. Kyle would also learn valuable lessons from Simon about underhand tactics from the opponents having come out of a set against an Italian girls pair saying “I can’t deal with attractive Italians AND 4-1 trump breaks”.

Kyle formed his most important partnership to date in 2011 with Tommy Brass. They would go on to win 2 Peggy Bayers and play in the Junior Europeans in Wroclaw together. For both of them, their greatest international feat however, would be in the Midsummer Congress in Finland where they would secure 0.1 Finnish Masterpoints. In the two years of this partnership, they would also have success nationally, winning the U19 pairs in 2012, coming 2nd in the Riviera Congress teams in 2013 and reaching round 5 of the Spring Fours earlier in the same year, defeating the 6th seed on the way. Kyle, of course, has never let good performances get in the way of his disasters as he got back from the Spring Fours that same night to lose to Saffron Walden 4 in the Cambs and Hunts League Division 4 (and quite convincingly too!).

Kyle graduated to the U25 squad and reignited his partnership with Simon Spencer winning the U25 Channel Trophy and the Junior Camrose that year.

After a break from the squad, Kyle has been playing with Toby Nonnenmacher since 2016.

Kyle has also represented the Cambridge University team on numerous occasions. He remains undefeated in the annual Varsity match against Oxford having won on 5 occasions and has won the Portland Bowl 3 years in a row.

Kyle’s main ambitions in life are to play a 20 board set without being told off at least once by Michael Byrne, secondly for someone apart from himself to read his column in English Bridge and finally to win the Bermuda Bowl: all of which are as improbable as each other.

Last updated: October 2019

Major International Selections
Junior European Championships: 2013 and 2017
World Youth Team Championships: 2018

Junior Camrose Selections: 2014 2017 and 2018

Peggy Bayer Trophy Selections: 2012 and 2013

Awards:

Young Pair of the Year: 2017