Howard Lederer "The Professor"

A loss for chess is a gain for poker. Had Howard Lederer not looked into the backroom of his favorite chess club in New York, and discovered poker being played there, he might still be deeply engrossed playing chess. Unfortunately for the chess world, but fortunately for the poker world, Howard did peek into the backroom and What he saw there changed his life.

Howard was one amongst the brood of five children, and the whole family enjoyed playing all sorts of card games sitting together in their home in Concord, New Hampshire. Howard’s rite of passage into the game was personally supervised by his father.

Not one to take things half-heartedly, Howard plunged into the game, giving it all his focus. Colleagues gawked at his stamina as he clocked between seventy and eighty hours every week playing poker, coming home broke most often than not. He managed to get into the Mayfair Club in New York, where bridge and backgammon are the staple diet of regulars. Everyday at Mayfair, Howard would polish his game of No Limit Hold’em along with fellow players, and return home exhausted at two a.m. in the morning.

It was in 1987 that Howard struck gold, coming in 5th in the WSOP. With his characteristic down-to-earth style, he quickly endeared himself to the amateurs as well as the veterans.

After two seventh-rank positions in the WSOP $1,500 Limit Hold’em and WSOP $1,000 Omaha Limit events in 1988, Howard took a hiatus of almost five years from the WSOP series. Howard moved to Las Vegas in 1993 returning to the tournament circuit with a bang, coming in 2nd in the WSOP $1,500 Omaha Limit and taking home $35,535.

In 2000, Howard won the WSOP $5,000 Omaha High-Low Split event, winning $198,000 in prize money. He picked up another win and another $165,870 at the WSOP $5,000 Deuce to Seven event the next year.

In 2003, Howard did exceptionally well, winning both the WPT $5,000 Limit Hold’em tournament and the $2,500 Bellagio Five-Star WPC, and his fans went berserk. As if that was not enough, the next year Howard won the booty at the Bellagio Five-Star WPC/WPT, playing the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha and $2,500 No Limit Hold’em games.

Intrigued by his poker prowess, his sister, Annie Duke, became interested in poker. Howard helped her learn the finer points of the game, and she is now a very well known, successful poker player herself.

One thing that separates Howard from most other players is his personality. Unlike many, “The Professor” is not one to sulk or get emotional while playing. His even tempter and down-to-earth style is well received, and not only is he well liked by his poker peers, he also has an enormous fan base.

He also puts time into Full Tilt Poker, which he helped design, and continues as the President of Tiltware, which provided the software for the company.

Howard is one of the professional poker players behind Full Tilt Poker, which he helped design. He is also the President of Tiltware, which created the software for Full Tilt Poker.