Howard Lederer was born in 1964 in Concord, New Hampshire, but now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was raised in a family of players, so he and his sisters Annie and Katy were always encouraged to play all kinds of games. That way the whole family could spend some quality time together. Howard’s talent was obvious to his parents, so he was encouraged by his father Richard Lederer, who is a well-known American linguist, author and teacher, to train further. Richard was also his first serious opponent in poker – the one who showed him all the tricks and moves to beat a tough player.
Throughout the years, Lederer only played poker for fun and it wasn’t until 1993, that he moved to Las Vegas, and began playing seriously. Playing cash tables as well as big buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournaments, Howard Lederer quickly established himself as one of the leading talents in the poker world.
In his career he has a total of nine first place wins - in 1991, 2000 and 2001, 2002 and twice during 2003, again double wins in 2004 and his latest first place was in 2008,. He made champion twice in the WOPS and earned himself two bracelets. Filled with talent, Howard Lederer became one of the founders, co-owners and CEOs of “Tiltware Inc”, and he is also one of the owners of Full Tilt Poker, along with Ray Bitar.
But poker is not everything he cares about in life. Howard Lederer is a vegan - due to a bypass gastric surgery he had to lose weight. So that is why one of his other nicknames given to him by Doyle Brunsen was “Bubba” which was later turned to “Bub” when he lost even more weight. He likes running and playing basketball too, in order to remain in good shape. Lederer also takes good care of his family – he has a wife, named Suzzie, and a son - Mathais.
Howard Lederer is a calm, outgoing and calculating person. He is famous for his cool and wise behavior on the field and is known as “The Professor” because of his demeanor, analytical style and long history of wins. He has even made an instructional poker video called Secrets of No Limit Hold’em to help others obtain some of his skills.
Being such a successful person and adventurous player is not always easy. So people wonder how Howard Lederer handles the pressure - “You have to forget the money and just think about the chips as units." Peace and serenity is obviously his way of dealing with tension and stress. So he is always telling people that in order to make a good game you should have no fear of the cards.
So playing for pleasure, being calm and clearing his mind from all the dirt, has helped Howard Lederer reach a point in his life, where he has his family, his fame and his money. As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,800,000. May all players be as him!
