Howard Lederer lived in a family of 5 in which he loved betting on various card games when he was young. He discovered himself becoming very aggressive in these particular card games while competing against his dad. After finishing high school, Howard decided to put higher education on hold for a little bit and headed to New York to play some formidable chess. While participating in chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the rear of the room. Howard’s 1st two years were tough as he would play countless hours and do not win a majority of the time. He earned some extra money by being an assistant for the poker enthusiasts. He theorized he might better his game by adjusting his life away from poker. He brought about an attempt to get more sleep and concentrate even more on poker.

The definite improvement in his game began when he began betting at the Mayfair Club in New York City. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon association where the greatest players would regularly challenge each other. Howard was able to access several of the greatest players in chess. With their assistance, he would sharpen his cunning thinking techniques. He applied these strategy ideas to the game of NL hold’em.

Howard also assisted his sister Annie Duke master the game of poker. Annie was a great student of poker as she would always be asking questions about how to make the proper decision. He told Annie to head out to Vegas and compete in the World Series of Poker competition. Annie Duke is one of the strongest female players the poker arena ever. Howard moved to Vegas in 1993 and participated in money games for the following decade. When the WPT gained popularity, he made the decision to participate in more tournaments.