Howard Lederer grew up in a family of 5 in which he loved betting on different card games when he was young. He discovered himself getting really competitive in these card games while competing against his dad. After finishing high school, Howard made a decision to place college on hold for a little bit and moved to New York to play some serious chess. While playing chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the back of the room. Howard’s initial two years were rough as he played countless hours and lost a majority of the time. He made some additional money by being an runner for the poker players. He theorized he might improve his game by adjusting his life away from poker. He brought about an attempt to acquire more sleep and focus attention more on the game.
The actual advancement in his abilities happened when he started wagering at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon association where the the most favorable players would regularly wager against each other. He had access into a few of the greatest minds in chess. With their assistance, he would sharpen his strategic thinking abilities. Howard applied these strategic concepts to the game of NL holdem.
He also assisted his sister Annie Duke master 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 play in the World Series of Poker tournaments. Annie is one of the best women players the poker arena has ever seen. Howard Lederer moved to Las Vegas in 1993 and participated in money games for the following 10 years. When the WPT gained popularity, Howard made the decision to compete in more tournaments.