Prahlad Friedman
Prahlad Friedman | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | spirit Rock, Pragress |
Residence | Los Angeles, California |
Born | (1978-05-20) May 20, 1978 (age 46) |
World Series of Poker | |
Bracelet(s) | 1 |
Money finish(es) | 5 |
Highest ITM Main Event finish | 20th, 2006 |
World Poker Tour | |
Title(s) | 1 |
Final table(s) | 1 |
Money finish(es) | 5 |
Information accurate as of 23 February 2010. |
Prahlad S. Friedman (born May 20, 1978) is an American professional poker player and rapper from Los Angeles, California.[1] He has played under the screen names "Spirit Rock" on Full Tilt Poker, "Mahatma" on Ultimate Bet, "Zweig" on Prima Network, and "Prefontaine" on PokerStars.[2][3]
Career
Friedman made his first major cash in the 2002 $3,000 Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic Main Event. He finished runner-up for $101,446.[4] Friedman won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2003 in the $1,500 pot limit hold'em event earning him $109,400.[5] Later, at the WSOP circuit event at Harrah's Rincon in 2005, he won the second place prize of $363,165.[6] At the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Friedman outlasted over 8,700 other players, finishing 20th and securing $494,797.[7] During the tournament, Friedman was noted for an incident with Jeff Lisandro, in which Friedman felt that Lisandro had not put in his ante, worth 5,000 chips, in a hand. Friedman and Lisandro argued constantly through the hand, with the dealer telling them both to stop bringing it up. Friedman would not stop and implied that Lisandro "robbed" the other man of the 5,000. Lisandro was very upset to hear that, and argued with Friedman, telling him he would "take your head off, buddy". Friedman tried to settle things with Lisandro afterward during play, but Lisandro refused to talk to him. Many in the poker world criticized Friedman for his actions, including Norman Chad of ESPN and Todd Brunson of Cardplayer Magazine. In the end, it was discovered in the replay that Lisandro did in fact put in the ante. (In posting one of the blinds, a third player at the table forgot to put in his ante; the dealer corrected his mistake.) [8]
At the 2010 WSOP Main Event, Friedman was involved in another incident, this time involving Ted Bort, in which Friedman had a controversial call with the clock ruled in his favor. On a board of 6s Js 9h, 5d 2c Bort had shoved on the river after leading out on the flop and turn and being called by Friedman. Bort had called the clock on Friedman, with Bort saying "I only wanted some of your chips, not all of them". After the floor had begun the final 10-second count and got between 1 and 0, Friedman has said "Call", however, the floor had declared the hand dead. At the same time, Bort showed Jd 9c for a flopped 2 pair. Friedman released his hand without argument and let the floor declare the action dead and void, indicating that Friedman was indeed beat by top 2 pairs. Other players on the table immediately argued that Friedman had made the call in time and that the hand is live, including Chicago poker player Mike Mustafa. A floor supervisor was called over and had enforced the original ruling, stating that "If the guy wanted to make a decision he could have made it at 5, he gave him to 0, it's a dead hand". In later interviews, Friedman had stated that the reason he called at 0 was that while he believed Bort had a strong hand, he did not know what Bort considered a strong hand to be and therefore was indecisive about his two pairs. Friedman had also confirmed that if he had a winning hand he would have argued the point that he called at 0, but since the ruling stated it was dead at 1 he left it alone to keep himself in the tournament.[9] He made it through Day 2, but was ultimately eliminated early on Day 3, thus failing to cash.
As of 2023, Friedman's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,500,000.[10] His 5 cashes as the WSOP account for $713,372 of those winnings.[11] Friedman was an ethnic studies major at UC Berkeley. It was there that he played a lot of poker for the first time. At the Oaks Club, Friedman honed his game at the $15–$30 limit hold'em table, before switching to the no limit game at the Lucky Chances casino. Friedman's usual online limits are $25–$50 and $50–$100 no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha games.
Friedman is also well known on internet poker message boards for his raps. He has rapped for ESPN for a "The Nuts" segment at the WSOP circuit event at Harrah's Rincon in 2005, the Main Event in the 2006 World Series of Poker, and also for the poker website RakeBreak.[12]
In August 2009, Friedman won the WPT Legends of Poker event for $1,000,900. He defeated 2009 WSOP Main Event "November Niner" Kevin Schaffel heads up.[13]
When Ultimate Bet was involved in a major cheating scandal prior to 2008, Friedman was one of the biggest victims having lost millions of dollars.[14] After rumors started to surface, in December 2010, that Friedman would be signing with UB, many people in the poker community criticized Friedman.[15][16] When asked how he could sign with a poker site where he was cheated out of millions, Friedman said, "I feel like they took care of me after the scandal. I feel like they didn’t have to pay people back and they did. It was amazing to find out I was going to get a chunk of money back. I have a good relationship with their team and their management and I feel like this is a totally different UB than anything associated with the scandal."[15]
On May 9, 2011, Friedman and ten other U.S. sponsored professionals were informed by UltimateBet's parent company that their contracts had been terminated.[17]
Personal life
He got engaged to Dee Luong, a fellow poker player, in 2002 and later married her within the year.[18] They divorced in 2013 over a decade later after a high-profile divorce trial.[19]
Prahlad Friedman did his major in ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he started playing poker for the first time.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Prahlad Friedman". World Poker Tour. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
- ^ Monroe, Billy (December 18, 2009). "Where Are They Now – Prahlad S. Friedman". PokerWorks.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
- ^ "Prahlad Friedman: Destroying High Stakes Cash Games Once Again". poker-king.com. September 26, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic - 2002, No Limit Hold'em - Main Event". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "34th World Series of Poker - WSOP 2003, Pot Limit Hold'em". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "WSOP Circuit - WSOPC San Diego, WSOP Circuit Championship Event - No Limit Hold'em". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "37th World Series of Poker - WSOP 2006, No Limit Texas Hold'em - World Championship Event". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Brunson, Todd (June 26, 2007). "Lisandro vs. Friedman - A World Series of Poker brouhaha". CardPlayer.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Cypra, Dan (September 8, 2010). "Prahlad Friedman Comes Clean on ESPN Inside Deal". Poker News Daily. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "Prahlad Friedman's profile on The Hendon Mob". The Hendon Mob Poker Database. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "Prahlad Friedman". WSOP.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Wise, Gary (August 24, 2009). "Wise: Feelin' the freestyle". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "2009 Legends of Poker, No Limit Hold'em - Championship Event". The Hendon Mob. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Bradley, Lance (February 20, 2009). "Matusow Admits Losing Millions to Hamilton on UltimateBet". BLUFF Magazine. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ a b Bradley, Lance (January 6, 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: Prahlad Friedman Speaks About Joining UB Poker". BLUFF Magazine. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ "Negreanu Says Prahlad Friedman Stupid If Signs With UB.com". OnlinePoker.net. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ Chaivarlis, Elaine (May 9, 2011). "Blanca Games: Absolute Poker and UB Part Ways with Poker Pros". PokerNews.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Wise, Gary (October 12, 2009). "Wise: The return of Spirit Rock". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "Poker Superstar Prahlad Friedman -- HIGH STAKES in Malibu Divorce". TMZ. August 24, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Nuwwarah, Mo (October 1, 2018). "World Vegetarian Day: Poker's Crossover With Plant-Based Diets". PokerNews.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
External links
- Card Player profile
- Hendon Mob profile
- WSOP profile
- WPT profile
- v
- t
- e
- Note
- number in brackets represents the number of bracelets earned in that year
- Dave Alizadeth
- Jimmy Athanas
- Chris Björin
- Mike Carson
- Johnny Chan
- David Chiu
- Diego Cordovez
- Nani Dollison
- Ivo Donev
- Richard Dunberg
- Tim Ellis
- Chris Ferguson (2)
- Jennifer Harman
- Jay Heimowitz
- Randy Holland
- Phil Ivey
- Nat Koe
- Howard Lederer
- Tony Ma
- Huck Seed
- Michael Sohayegh
- Jerri Thomas
- Chris Tsiprailidis
- Joe Wynn
- Burt Boutin
- Allen Cunningham
- Paul Darden
- Nani Dollison (2)
- Chris Ferguson
- Jay Heimowitz
- Phil Hellmuth
- Berry Johnston
- Travis Jonas
- Galen Kester
- Rich Korbin
- Howard Lederer
- Jim Lester
- Carlos Mortensen
- Scotty Nguyen (2)
- David Pham
- Adam Roberts
- Eddy Scharf
- Barry Shulman
- Erik Seidel
- Hemish Shah
- Bob Slezak
- Cliff Yamagawa
- Steve Zolotow
- Billy Baxter
- Fred Berger
- Catherine Brown
- John Cernuto
- Johnny Chan
- Joel Chaseman
- Paul Clark
- Allen Cunningham
- Jack Duncan
- Eddie Fishman
- Layne Flack (2)
- Perry Friedman
- Thor Hansen
- Randal Heeb
- Jennifer Harman
- Dan Heimiller
- John Hennigan
- John Hom
- Phil Ivey (3)
- John Juanda
- Meng La
- Mike Majerus
- Mike Matusow
- John McIntosh
- Qushqar Morad
- Jay Sipelstein
- Jan Vang Sørensen
- Bill Swan
- Dan Torla
- Robert Varkonyi
- David Warga
- Robert Williamson III
- Mickey Appleman
- John Arrage
- Doyle Brunson
- Johnny Chan (2)
- Chris Ferguson (2)
- Layne Flack (2)
- Prahlad Friedman
- Phil Hellmuth (2)
- Mohammed Ibrahim
- Tom Jacobs
- John Juanda (2)
- Charles Keith Lehr
- Toto Leonidas
- O'Neil Longson
- David Lukaszewski
- Jim Meehan
- Chris Moneymaker
- Carlos Mortensen
- Daniel Negreanu
- Men Nguyen (2)
- Minh Nguyen
- Phi Nguyen
- Frankie O'Dell
- Ron Rose
- Barb Rugolo
- Michael Saltzburg
- Eddy Scharf
- Huck Seed
- Erik Seidel
- Amir Vahedi
- Joe Awada
- Eli Balas
- Curtis Bibb
- Farzad Bonyadi
- T. J. Cloutier
- Hung Doan
- Gerry Drehobl
- Annie Duke
- Antonio Esfandiari
- Scott Fischman (2)
- Ted Forrest (2)
- Chau Giang
- Gary Gibbs
- Barry Greenstein
- Gavin Griffin
- Hasan Habib
- John Hennigan
- Brett Jungblut
- Ted Lawson
- Kathy Liebert
- Aaron Katz
- Thomas Keller
- Norm Ketchum
- Carl Nessel
- Daniel Negreanu
- Minh Nguyen
- Phi Nguyen
- Greg Raymer
- Mike Sica
- Cyndy Violette
- James Vogl
- Rafi Amit
- Josh Arieh
- Randy Boman
- Farzad Bonyadi
- Andre Boyer
- Doyle Brunson
- Todd Brunson
- Johnny Chan
- Jiang Chen
- David Chiu
- T. J. Cloutier
- Allen Cunningham
- Quinn Do
- Denis Ethier
- Eric Froehlich
- Issac Galazan
- Lawrence Gosney
- Michael Gracz
- Barry Greenstein
- David Grey
- Joe Hachem
- Steve Hohn
- Phil Ivey
- Cliff Josephy
- Ron Kirk
- O'Neil Longson
- Paul McKinney
- Edward Moncada
- Anthony Nguyen
- Reza Payvar
- John Pires
- Pat Poels
- Anthony Reategui
- Dan Schmiech
- Erik Seidel
- Mark Seif (2)
- Jan Vang Sørensen
- Willie Tann
- Jennifer Tilly
- Thom Werthmann
- Brian Wilson
- Todd Witteles
- Kianoush Abolfathi
- Daniel Alaei
- Praz Bansi
- Dutch Boyd
- Jeff Cabanillas
- Brandon Cantu
- Bob Chalmers
- Bill Chen (2)
- Scott Clements
- Kevin Cover
- Allen Cunningham
- Sam Farha
- Eric Froehlich
- Jon Friedberg
- Rafe Furst
- John Gale
- Jamie Gold
- James Gorham
- Chris Gros
- Phil Hellmuth
- Anders Henriksson
- Ian Johns
- Eric Kesselman
- Paul Kobel
- Jason Lester
- Benjamin Lin
- Jeff Madsen (2)
- Mary Jones Meyer
- Clare Miller
- Jim Mitchell
- Kevin Nathan
- Victoriano Perches
- Ralph Perry
- Max Pescatori
- David Pham
- Pat Poels
- Mats Rahmn
- Chip Reese
- James Richburg
- Mark Vos
- Lee Watkinson
- David Williams
- Jack Zwerner
2007 E
- Saif Ahmad
- Dario Alioto
- Rafi Amit
- Dao Bac
- Don Baruch
- Ernest Bennett
- Thomas Bihl
- Chandrasekhar Billavara
- Steve Billirakis
- Alexander Borteh
- Burt Boutin
- Sally Boyer
- Robert Cheung
- Michael Chu
- Scott Clements
- Hoyt Corkins
- Allen Cunningham
- Freddy Deeb
- Lukasz Dumanski
- Will Durkee
- Bill Edler
- Eli Elezra
- Saro Getzoyan
- Michael Graves
- Fred Goldberg
- John Guth
- Phil Hellmuth
- Greg Hopkins
- Ryan Hughes
- Michael Keiner
- Alexander Kravchenko
- Jeff Lisandro
- James Mackey
- Robert Mizrachi
- Frederick Narciso
- Annette Obrestad
- Frankie O'Dell
- Ciarán O'Leary
- Shankar Pillai
- Ben Ponzio
- Chris Reslock
- James Richburg
- Blair Rodman
- Francois Safieddine
- Tom Schneider (2)
- Dan Schreiber
- Ralph Schwartz
- Erik Seidel
- Alan Smurfit
- Mike Spegal
- David Stucke
- Gary Styczynski
- Katja Thater
- Jason Warner
- Ram Vaswani
- Jerry Yang
- Ryan Young
2008 E
- Michael Banducci
- Duncan Bell
- David Benyamine
- Eric Brooks
- Andrew Brown
- Joe Commisso
- David Daneshgar
- Peter Eastgate
- Sherkhan Farnood
- Layne Flack
- Phil Galfond
- Frank Gary
- Alexandre Gomes
- Matt Graham
- Barry Greenstein
- Max Greenwood
- Svetlana Gromenkova
- Blair Hinkle
- Grant Hinkle
- Rob Hollink
- Jesper Hougaard (2)
- Ryan Hughes
- Theo Jørgensen
- John Juanda
- Matt Keikoan
- Davidi Kitai
- Jonathan Kotula
- Martin Klaser
- Dan Lacourse
- Erick Lindgren
- Vitaly Lunkin
- Thang Luu
- Mike Matusow
- Nenad Medić
- Dario Minieri
- Daniel Negreanu
- Scotty Nguyen
- Max Pescatori
- John Phan (2)
- Rep Porter
- Anthony Rivera
- Michael Rocco
- Freddy Rouhani
- Sebastian Ruthenberg
- James Schaff
- Scott Seiver
- Vanessa Selbst
- Jimmy Shultz
- David Singer
- Marty Smyth
- J. C. Tran
- Kenny Tran
- Phil Tom
- Sebastian Ruthenberg
- Luis Velador
- Jens Vortman
- David Woo
- Jason Young
2009 E
- Bahador Ahmadi
- Daniel Alaei
- Ken Aldridge
- Tomas Alenius
- James Van Alstyne
- Jerrod Ankenman
- Richard Austin
- David Bach
- Eric Baldwin
- Rami Boukai
- Joe Cada
- Erik Cajelais
- Brandon Cantu
- Jeff Carris
- Andrew Cohen
- Michael Davis
- Mike Eise
- Freddie Ellis
- Zac Fellows
- Ray Foley
- Matt Graham
- Angel Guillén
- Lisa Hamilton
- David Halpern
- Anthony Harb
- Matt Hawrilenko
- Phil Ivey (2)
- Carsten Joh
- Travis Johnson
- John Kabbaj
- J. P. Kelly (2)
- Brian Lemke
- Jeff Lisandro (3)
- Vitaly Lunkin
- Thang Luu
- Jason Mercier
- Abe Mosseri
- Greg Mueller (2)
- Marc Naalden
- Brock Parker (2)
- Jorg Peisert
- Derek Raymond
- Barry Shulman
- Nick Schulman
- Jordan Smith
- Keven Stammen
- Steve Sung
- J. C. Tran
- Péter Traply
- Tony Veckey
- Peter Vilandos
- Jani Vilmunen
- Ville Wahlbeck
- Roland De Wolfe
- Leo Wolpert
- 1970s
- 1980s
- 1990s
- 2000s
- 2010s
- 2020s