Howard Lederer grew up in a family of 5 in which he loved participating in numerous card games at a young age. He discovered himself becoming really aggressive in these card games while playing his father. After graduating from Sr. High school, Howard made a decision to place college on hold for a bit and relocated to New York to play some serious chess. While participating in chess, he was brought in to a poker game taking place in the back of the room. Howard’s 1st 2 years were tough as he would play many hours and lost a majority of the time. He earned some additional money by becoming an assistant for the poker players. He judged he could better his game by analyzing his life away from poker. He made an attempt to get more sleep and focus attention even more on poker.
The definite improvement in his game began when he started playing at the Mayfair Club in New York City. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon club where the best gamblers would frequently play against one another. Howard was able to access a few of the best minds in chess. With their help, he would sharpen his logical thinking techniques. Howard used these strategic ideas in the game of No-Limit texas hold’em.
He also helped his sister Annie Duke learn poker. Annie was a superb student of poker as she would consistently be asking questions about how to make the proper decision. Howard Lederer told Annie Duke to move out to Vegas and compete in the World Series of Poker competition. She is one of the best women players the poker world today. Howard headed to Las Vegas in 1993 and competed in money games for the next decade. When the World Poker Tournament grew in popularity, he made the decision to participate in more tournaments.