Howard Lederer was born into in a family of five where he liked playing different card games when he was young. He found himself getting very aggressive in these particular card games while playing his dad. After graduating from Sr. High school, Howard made a decision to place college on hold for a little while and moved away to New York City to participate in some serious chess. While participating in chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the back of the room. Howard’s initial two years were tough as he played countless hours and fail to win most times. He made some extra cash by being an assistant for the poker players. He judged he might boost his game by balancing his life away from poker. He brought about an attempt to get more sleep and focus more on poker.

The actual improvement in his abilities happened when he started gambling at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon club where the greatest players would regularly challenge each other. He had access into a few of the greatest players in chess. With their assistance, he would hone his strategic thinking abilities. He applied these strategy ideas to the game of NL hold’em.

Howard Lederer also assisted his sister Annie Duke master poker. She was a great student of poker as she would consistently be asking questions about the right way to make the correct decision. He 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 world ever. Howard headed to Vegas in 1993 and played cash games for the following decade. When the World Poker Tournament grew in popularity, Howard made the decision to compete in more tournaments.