Aggressiveness: 7
Looseness: 5
Short-handed: 7
Limit: 8
No-limit: 8
Tournaments: 8
Side games: 6
Steam control: 7
Against weak players: 8
Against strong players: 6
Best game: Limit hold’em
Weakness: No glaring weaknesses
When Howard was young and over-confident, he seemed too solid of a player for my tastes. I didn’t consider him to be very dangerous. Then I saw him make a few risky plays, that coincidentally didn’t work, and I remember saying to myself, “He’s a player now.” It didn’t surprise me that in the following few years he won several major tournaments. I actually haven’t played much with Howard since he doesn’t play in the highest cash games.
For good poker players, Howard is the best play-by-play announcer. I have heard players criticize him for being too good and for giving away trade secrets.
Howard may be the most respected player in internet newsgroups. He once confided that he was voted best player and most underrated player at the same time. Howard is articulate, has represented poker admirably, and is well-positioned to take advantage of the business of poker.
Amusing anecdote
During one of Andy Beal’s head-up matches against our coalition of players, Howard and I each lost $2,000,000 to Andy. The coalition won for the trip, but Howard was very disappointed by his result. I was content to sit out future matches, but Howard wanted to prove that he had been the victim of a bad run of cards. The next three times Andy came to town, Howard got his revenge, winning convincingly each time.
Title: Logical Song
Artist: Supertramp
Year: 1979
Reason for this song choice
Howard always likes to come up with logical explanations for phenomena, even though he often finds events that defy explanation in the poker world.