Howard Lederer Biography
Howard Lederer grew up in Concord, New Hampshire with his parents who were both teachers and his sister Annie Duke who is also a professional poker player. Once Lederer finished college he moved away to big city New York to play chess which he loved to play. While he was working on becoming a professional chess player Howard started playing poker in the back rooms of the chess clubs. This is where Howard learned how to play poker and he spent sleepless nights in the card rooms.
After spending long hours and many sleepless nights practicing his FullTilt Poker game in the back rooms at his chess club he started playing at the Mayfair Club. The Mayfair Club in New York was a world renowned club for the best gamers in the world including bridge, chess and many card games like poker. Howard continued playing poker at the club working on his game and then he started teaching his sister how to play the game.
Howard moved to Las Vegas in 1993 to start playing in large cash games at the casinos and continued working on teaching Annie how to play. Lederer worked hard at the poker tables in Las Vegas and continued playing cash games mainly up until 2002. He did compete in Vegas tournaments throughout the 90’s though with a couple wins in the Hall of Fame Poker Classic.
It took until the year 2000 for Howard to win his first online poker tournament WSOP bracelet, but after that it only took him one more year to achieve his second WSOP bracelet. Howard has also seen quite a bit of success on the World Poker Tour and the World Poker Classic where he has netted some first place finishes over the years. Over Howard’s career he has shown he is one of the best poker players out there, but he is also not the most consistent player. He usually goes on hot streaks for months at a time, but then cools down without winning events for awhile.
Howard Lederer has been spending more time broadcasting for poker television shows and usually only plays in the biggest live events nowadays. Howard’s nickname is “The Professor” which he got partly due to his broadcasting and partly because of the fantasy poker camp he runs. The fantasy poker camp that is run by Howard allows poker players with limited experience to play against the best in the world while being taught at the same time.
Howard has always loved giving back to the communities where he’s lived and he does an excellent job with his fantasy poker camp. Lederer continues to live in Las Vegas currently with his wife and son. He is spending a lot more of his time with his family and you can usually find him on Full Tilt, the golf courses, concerts or movie theatres throughout the Vegas area. Howard is one of the nicest people you’re going to meet on or off the poker tables and it’s a pleasure watching him play poker.