Howard Lederer was born on October 30th 1964 in Concord, New Hampshire. Growing up Howard was a very good at math and a strong chess player. After high school he attended Columbia University in New York City. He frequented many of New York's famous chess clubs and it was at one of these that he learned how to play poker. Howard quickly mastered the mathematical aspect of poker but had a little trouble figuring out the "human" part", basically learning how to read a player.

He played for long hours every day at the Mayfair Club in New York. He picked up the nickname "The Professor" around this time. He played with legendary players such as Dan Harrington and Erik Seidel who taught his a lot about poker. By the late 1980's Howard was building up his bankroll to move to Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world. He was also teaching his sister Annie Duke how to play poker. He obviously did an excellent job because now she is one of the best poker players in the world, man or woman. In 1987 and 88 he had four "in the money" finishes in WSOP events, including three final table finishes. In 1991 he won the 7th Annual Diamond Jim Brady tournament with a 1st place prize of $41,000. Over the next few years he continued to win a lot of money for final table finishes but was yet to win a bracelet.

Finally in 1994 he did what he had been dreaming about for years, he moved out to Las Vegas. He finished 3rd in two events that year for a total of $80,000. 1995-99 saw 5 money finishes but Howard still had not took home a bracelet and he was ready to give up. Then in 2000 he did it, he won the limit Omaha Hi-Lo event for nearly a $200,000 payday and the right to wear a WSOP bracelet. He did it again in 2001 with a win in the no limit Triple Draw tournament. Things were starting to look much better for him and he starting playing in a lot more tournaments.

In 2002 he won the World Poker Finals Event #19 and took home $320,000. 2003 was a very good year as well for Howard. He won the Party Poker Million ll and the no limit Hold'em event for the Five-Star World Poker Classic for a total win of almost $500,000. In 2004 he won two more WPT tournaments worth another $500,00. Howard also won $490,000 for "in the money" finishes in this year alone. The next few years were pretty quiet for though in respect to live tournaments but he had been doing great playing in online tournaments.

What's He Like?

Howard appears very relaxed at the tables, even when all his chips are in the pot. He is a very nice guy all around and is actually an animal lover. When he was younger he had a severe weight problem that he corrected with gastric bypass surgery. Once he took a $10,000 prop bet to eat a cheeseburger. Vegetarian or not, needless to say he ate the cheese burger.
What's he doing now?

Howard currently lives in Las Vegas with his wife and three dogs. He is a member of "Team Full Tilt" at Full Tilt Poker. A main event win at the WSOP is his top poker goal and he goes after it each year. When he's not playing poker he likes to spend time at home or with his sister Annie.

Major Wins (WSOP)