Howard Lederer lived in a family of 5 where he loved gambling on different card games when he was young. He discovered himself becoming very aggressive in these card games while playing his father. After finishing high school, Howard decided to place higher education on hold for a bit and moved to New York City to compete in some formidable chess. While participating in chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the back of the room. Howard’s initial 2 years were difficult as he would play countless hours and don’t win most times. He made some extra cash by being an assistant for the poker players. He believed he might better his game by adjusting his life outside of poker. He brought about an attempt to acquire more sleep and focus attention more on poker.
The definite advancement in his abilities happened when he began playing at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon club where the best gamblers would regularly compete against each other. Howard was able to access a number of the foremost minds in chess. With their help, he would sharpen his logical thinking abilities. He applied these strategic ideas to the game of NL Texas Holdem.
Howard also assisted his sister Annie Duke learn the game of poker. Annie Duke was an excellent student of the game as she would consistently be asking questions about how to make the proper decision. He told Annie Duke to head out to Sin City and play in the World Series of Poker competition. She is one of the best female players the poker arena today. Howard Lederer moved to Las Vegas in 1993 and played cash games for the subsequent decade. When the WPT grew in popularity, Howard made the decision to compete in more tournaments.