Howard Lederer was born into in a family of 5 in which he liked taking part in numerous card games at a young age. He found himself becoming very competitive in these card games as he was playing his dad. After finishing secondary school, Howard made a decision to place college on hold for a little bit and moved away to New York City to play some serious chess. While competing in chess, he was brought in to a poker game taking place in the rear of the room. Howard’s 1st two years were rough as he would play countless hours and fail to win a majority of the time. He made some extra cash by being an assistant for the poker players. He judged he could better his game by analyzing his life outside of poker. He made an attempt to get more sleep and focus more on the game.

The real improvement in his abilities began when he began betting at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon club where the greatest players would regularly compete against one another. Howard was able to access a few of the best minds in chess. With their help, Howard would sharpen his logical thinking skills. He applied these strategy ideas to the game of NL holdem.

Howard also helped his sibling Annie Duke master poker. She was a great student of the game as she would always be asking questions about the right way to make the correct decision. Howard Lederer told Annie to move out to Vegas and play in the WSOP competition. She is one of the best women players the poker arena today. He headed to Sin City in Nineteen Ninety Three and played cash games for the following decade. When the WPT grew in popularity, Howard decided to participate in more tournaments.