Howard "The Professor" Lederer

Howard "The Professor" Lederer is one of the most successful poker players in the world. Despite this he is not all that well known except to the most hardcore fans of the game. This is mainly because his biggest successes have come in cash games rather than tournaments. Certainly there have been some tournament successes, many of these over the last few years however for the bulk of his career Howard Lederer has tended to avoid playing in tournaments.

It is a little bit odd that a guy with the nickname The Professor never actually attended college. Lederer was all set to attend Columbia University when he decided that he wanted to take a year off so that he could pursue his dream of becoming a chess master. As a kid Lederer had excelled at both chess and backgammon and after high school he would go to New York to develop his chess skills. While there he would also get involved with the famous Mayfair club, initially to play backgammon. However over time Lederer moved into playing poker as well.

During the time that Lederer was in New York the Mayfair club was producing some of the top poker players in the world. They would meet to discuss strategy and the club essentially became a think tank on the subject of poker. Eventually Howard Lederer decided that his skills were good enough that he could make a living playing poker. In the early days he would concentrate mainly on high stakes cash games but he would occasionally enter tournaments. It was during this time that he picked up the nickname The Professor. This was mainly for the analytical way that he played and the fact that he showed little emotion at the table.

After some early success in tournament poker Lederer decided to get back into playing cash games almost exclusively. For about ten years he rarely entered tournaments. However he did have success in the few that he did enter winning two World Series of Poker bracelets. In about 2002 Lederer's focus changed again and he started to enter tournaments again. Since that time he has become a regular player in tournaments and frequently appears on televised events. A lot of this has to do with the weight that he has lost.

For most of his poker career Howard Lederer was quite heavy and this contributed to his avoiding tournaments, especially the ones that were on television. He really didn't like playing in front of an audience. Eventually he decided to lose the weight and he became a vegetarian and he started to spend a great deal of time in the gym. The result is that he is now one of the fittest players in the world of professional poker. He is also famous for his strict dietary habits which have been so successful in helping him to lose weight.