Howard Lederer was born into in a family of five in which he enjoyed gambling on different card games at a young age. He discovered himself getting really competitive in these card games as he was competing against his father. After graduating from Sr. High school, Howard decided to put college on hold for a little while and headed to New York to play some formidable chess. While playing chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the rear of the room. Howard’s initial two years were tough as he would play many hours and don’t win a majority of the time. He made some extra money by being an assistant for the poker enthusiasts. He believed he could boost his game by balancing his life away from poker. He made an effort to get more sleep and focus more on poker.
The definite advancement in his game happened when he began gambling at the Mayfair Club in New York City. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon association where the greatest gamblers would frequently wager against one another. Howard was able to access a number of the best minds in chess. With their help, Howard would tweak his strategic thinking techniques. He applied these strategic concepts to the game of NL hold’em.
Howard Lederer also helped his sibling Annie Duke master the game of poker. Annie was a great student of poker as she would consistently be asking questions about how to make the proper choice. Howard told Annie to head out to Las Vegas and compete in the World Series of Poker tournaments. Annie is one of the greatest women players the poker arena today. Howard Lederer moved to Las Vegas in 1993 and participated in cash games for the following decade. When the World Poker Tournament grew in popularity, he made the decision to play more tournaments.