Biography of Howard Lederer

The Lederer family played all sorts of card games together, including poker. Howard credits his father for preparing for the competitive world of high stakes poker. The heady feeling of beating Dad stoked his competitive streak at a young age. To this day, Howard believes his father never intentionally lost a game to him.

At eighteen, Howard deferred college for a year and moved to New York to pursue his passion for chess. He soon discovered a poker game in the back room of his favorite chess club - and was immediately hooked. For two years, Howard played poker relentlessly - seventy to eighty hours a week - and went home broke nine out of ten nights. He would earn his nightly stake by running errands for the players. The frenetic pace caught up with him and he realized that playing all nighters wasn't helping his game. He took a couple of steps back, got more sleep and saw his results improve.

Howard made big strides in his game when he started to play at the Mayfair Club in New York. The Mayfair was a legendary bridge and backgammon club - home to the greatest games players in the world. Howard became part of a circle of players who were the first to experiment with no limit hold 'em in New York when it was first introduced in the mid eighties. The daily game at the Mayfair would begin at 4 pm and wind down by 2 AM, when all the players would retire to their favorite bar for a lively discussion of the day's game. The camaraderie among the players created an invaluable learning environment. Everyone was new to the game, but the ideas flowed freely and elevated their playing efforts. This group of early players included Dan Harrington, Steve Zolotow, Jay Heimowitz, and Erik Seidel.

In the late eighties Howard started to work with his sister Annie Duke on her game. She would play during the day and discuss her difficult game decisions with Howard in the evening. Her questions soon became more challenging to answer. Howard encouraged Annie to come to Las Vegas and play in the WSOP tournaments. She has now won more cash than any other woman in the history of the WSOP. She has also knocked Howard out of three WSOP events, including the $10,000 final table. In 1994, Howard and Annie made poker history as the first brother and sister duo to make the same final table at the WSOP.

In order to take his game to the next level, Howard moved to Las Vegas in 1993. He concentrated on cash games until 2002, when WPT tournaments became a monthly event. While he enjoys all forms of poker, Howard's favorite for sheer excitement is big buy in no limit hold 'em tournaments. He looks forward to playing against the best in the world for years to come.

Life in Las Vegas has been good to Howard - the best being his seven year-old son Matthias and his wife Suzie. When he's off the circuit, Howard enjoys going to movies and concerts, hitting the links and working out at the gym.