Howard Lederer was born into in a family of five where he loved betting on different card games at a young age. He discovered himself getting really competitive in the above-mentioned card games while playing his father. After graduating from Sr. High school, Howard decided to place college on hold for a bit and moved away to New York to play some serious chess. While playing chess, he was introduced to a poker game going on in the back of the room. Howard’s 1st 2 years were rough as he played many hours and don’t win a majority of the time. He made some additional money by being an assistant for the poker enthusiasts. He theorized he might boost his game by analyzing his life outside of poker. He made an effort to acquire more sleep and focus even more on the game.
The real improvement in his abilities began when he started playing at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon club where the the most favorable players would frequently challenge one another. Howard was able to access several of the foremost minds in chess. With their help, he would tweak his logical thinking abilities. Howard applied these strategy ideas to the game of NL hold’em.
Howard also assisted his sibling Annie Duke learn the game of poker. Annie was a great student of the game as she would consistently be asking questions about the right way to make the proper decision. Howard told Annie Duke to move out to Sin City and play in the World Series of Poker tournaments. Annie Duke is one of the greatest women players the poker arena has ever seen. He headed to Las Vegas in 1993 and played cash games for the successive 10 years. When the WPT grew in popularity, he made the decision to participate in more tournaments.
