Howard Lederer

Howard Lederer (born October 30, 1964 in Concord, New Hampshire), is a professional poker player and brother of poker professional Annie Duke, and author and poet Katy Lederer.

Lederer’s father is Richard Lederer, a writer and linguist who taught at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. Lederer was a young chess talent and after high school he moved to New York City, where he attended Columbia University. New York City is known for its chess clubs and at one of these clubs he discovered poker and eventually began playing at the Mayfair Club with other now well-known poker players such as Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington.

In 1994 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where he sought out high stakes poker games.

Lederer is known as “The Professor” because of his demeanor, analytical style and long history of wins. He has made an instructional poker video called Secrets of No Limit Hold’em and he runs the Howard Lederer Poker Fantasy Camp. He also co-hosts Poker Superstars and Poker: Learn from the Pros for the Fox Broadcasting Company. His sister, Katy Lederer, wrote a book about the Lederer family, Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers.

Lederer is known for his focused, calm demeanor at the poker table; he has stated that he has applied zen wisdom to his poker playing. However, in 2002, Lederer publicly criticized Daniel Negreanu for making inappropriate comments about Duke. Negreanu later apologized and the two are known to be good friends. Also, at the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris 2003, Lederer refused to shake hands with notorious needler Tony Guoga when eliminated from the tournament.

Lederer is part of the design team for Full Tilt Poker, an online poker website that opened in July 2004.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,400,000. He has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles.

Although he is a vegan, Lederer once won a $10,000 proposition bet from fellow poker player, David Grey, by eating a cheeseburger. Obese for much of his life, Lederer eventually had gastric bypass surgery to lose weight. One of his nicknames (given to him by Doyle Brunson) was “Bubba”, which was shortened to “Bub” after Lederer lost the weight. Lederer also credits running and playing basketball as two activities he uses to keep in shape.

He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife Suzie, son Mattias, and three dogs.