Howard Lederer grew up in a family of 5 in which he enjoyed taking part in various card games when he was young. He discovered himself becoming really aggressive in these card games while playing his dad. After finishing high school, Howard made a decision to put college on hold for a little while and headed to New York to participate in some serious chess. While playing chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the back of the room. Howard’s first two years were difficult as he played countless hours and do not win a majority of the time. He made some extra money by being an runner for the poker players. He believed he could boost his game by analyzing his life outside of poker. He made an attempt to acquire more rest and concentrate even more on the game.

The definite improvement in his skills began when he started betting at the Mayfair Club in New York City. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon association where the the most favorable players would regularly compete against one another. Howard had access into a number of the best players in chess. With their help, Howard Lederer would tweak his strategic thinking skills. He applied these strategic concepts to the game of NL Texas Holdem.

Howard also helped his sister Annie Duke master the game of poker. Annie Duke was a superb student of poker as she would always be asking questions about how to make the correct choice. He told Annie Duke to move out to Vegas and compete in the WSOP tournaments. Annie is one of the best women players the poker world has ever seen. Howard Lederer relocated to Sin City in 1993 and played money games for the following 10 years. When the World Poker Tournament gained popularity, he decided to play more tournaments.