Howard Lederer, is he any good?

[cwsiggy]

He's been on a bit of a dry spell on the tourney circuit, though he finished 131st or so at the main event this year.
He was banned by Andy Beal, so that should give you an indication of how good he is. He's busy with business (Full Tilt, seminars etc) and said on Full Tilt chat that he has his whole life to get back into the cash games but has too much respect for the players to play them now if he can't put 100% into them. I believe he has a huge stash of gold and platinum bricks burried in the Nevada hills.

[scdavis0]

Howard is excellent. He has said he doesn't see the need to venture into the 4k/8k game with its huge swings and questionable edges.

But he routinely beats up 500/1k side games and higher..

[MrEngenic]

Guys, I know he's good, really good. But is he the best player of them all? top 10?

[Notorious G.O.B.]

[ QUOTE ]
Guys, I know he's good, really good. But is he the best player of them all? top 10?

[/ QUOTE ]
Our opinion would be pretty suspect, since most of us haven't played him, and none of us are on his level.

6 people a tournament make it on TV, it's not a slump if you aren't constantly one of those 6. He's one of the top tournament players in the world and has been for 15+ years.

[Walter Pullis]

Wonder if the poker boom would have been not as big if Lederer won the WSOP in 2003 instead of Moneymaker.

[RoyalLance]

[ QUOTE ]
Wonder if the poker boom would have been not as big if Lederer won the WSOP in 2003 instead of Moneymaker.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it would be more of a math boom than a poker boom.

[cwsiggy]

Howard Lederer is an incredibly diverse individual. Starting out as a child, he proved himself worthy of board games such as Trouble, Battleship, and Yatzee. Moving on to college for one year, he found his passion in chess. While on the International chess circuit, he discovered an interest in fine art (more on this later) He then discovered poker and honed his skills in the dingy underground clubs, taking money from such fish as Dan Harrington and Eric Seidel. While pursuing poker, Howard was recruited by one of the club owners to run the sports book for the Gambino crime family. He was so succesful, he had to move the operation out to Vegas to avoid the heat.

It turns out, that the sports betting operation was just a subterfuge for his real activities – international art thief. Howard learned from the best, - Stephane Breitwieser. Boston mobster Whitey Bulger who was owed a favor by the Gambinos and needing a bargaining chip in case he was caught while on the lamb, pressed Howard into pulling off the Gardner Museum heist in 1990.

Howard took his 20% fee from this 100+ million heist and put the money into high stakes cash games at the Bellagio. There he met Suzy, a swing shift manager and the love of his life. In order to prove his love for her, Howard anonymously tipped off the authorities and returned his greatest art theft, Munchen’s The Scream, which he stole in 1994. Wedding bells followed.

Howard, bored by high stakes poker and not ready to give up his passion for art decided to steal Munchen’s The Scream again in 2004 and as a bonus his Madonna painting. He really likes that painting! Authorities haven’t been able to make the connection, but it is widely speculated that Howard used the proceeds of the underground sale of these two paintings to fund Full Tilt Poker. Who knows what the future holds for the Professor.

[dibbs]

I haven't seen him on any WPT final tables for a looong time. = He's an awful fish that got lucky to get any credit at all, obviously.

[CrazyN8]

[ QUOTE ]
It turns out, that the sports betting operation was just a subterfuge for his real activities – international art thief.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did not know this. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

oh, word of the day = subterfuge.