Howard Lederer was born into in a family of five in which he liked participating in various card games at a young age. He found himself getting very aggressive in these card games as he was competing against his father. After finishing Sr. High school, Howard made a decision to put college on hold for a little while and headed to New York City to compete in some serious chess. While participating in chess, he was brought in to a poker game taking place in the rear of the room. Howard’s first two years were difficult as he would play many hours and don’t win a majority of the time. He made some extra cash by becoming an runner for the poker enthusiasts. He believed he could better his game by analyzing his life outside of poker. He brought about an effort to get more rest and focus more on poker.
The definite advancement in his game happened when he began betting at the Mayfair Club in New York City. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon association where the best players would frequently compete against each other. Howard was able to access several of the foremost minds in chess. With their assistance, Howard Lederer would hone his strategic thinking techniques. He used these strategic concepts in the game of No-Limit hold’em.
He also helped his sibling Annie Duke learn the game of poker. Annie Duke was a great 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 Las Vegas and compete in the WSOP tournaments. She is one of the strongest female players the poker world has ever seen. He moved to Vegas in 1993 and played cash games for the next decade. When the World Poker Tournament gained popularity, he made the decision to compete in more tournaments.