Poker Friedman
Since Full Tilt Poker closed in the fall of 2011, Friedman has kept his hand in the world of poker. He has added eight cashes at the WSOP to his resume since 2012, with his best finish a fourth place run in the 2012 $5000 Seven Card Stud event. Since the closure of Full Tilt Poker, he has earned $114,457 in tournament cashes. Prahlad Friedman joins Brent Hanks and Rinkema on the Poker Central Podcast. Prahlad Friedman joins the show to talk about an array of topics that include the full story of his legendary online poker run, getting cheated out of millions of dollars, going broke and rebuilding, as well as his family life and rap career.
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- Ep. 152 Prahlad Friedman’s Pain And Pragress Poker Central
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- Monday was a historic day at the 2019 World Series of Poker as Adam Friedman defended his title in the $10,000 Dealers Choice event to become the first player in four years to successfully defend their title in a WSOP event.
- Born on May 20, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, Prahlad Friedman first picked up poker while attending the University of California, Berkeley. He developed his skills playing $15-$30 Limit Hold.
Prahlad Friedman net worth is
$18 Million
Prahlad Friedman Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family
Prahlad S. Friedman (born May 20, 1978) is an American professional poker player from Los Angeles, California. 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. Friedman won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2003 in the $1,500 pot limit hold'em event earning him $109,400. Later, at the WSOP circuit event at Harrah's Rincon in 2005, he won the second place prize of $363,165. At the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Friedman outlasted over 8,700 other players, finishing 20th and securing $494,797. 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 afterwards 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.) As of 2010, Friedman's total live tournament winnings exceed $2,300,000. His 5 cashes as the WSOP account for $713,372 of those winnings. 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. Friedman is married to professional poker player Dee Luong Friedman, to whom he was engaged since 2002. He is a vegan.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.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. After rumors started to surface, in December 2010, that Friedman would be signing with UB, many people in the poker community criticized Friedman. When asked how he could sign with a poker site where he was cheated out of millions, Friedman said, 'I feel| Net Worth | $18 Million |
| Date Of Birth | 1978-05-20 |
| Profession | Soundtrack |
| Nicknames | Prahlad Friedman, Friedman, Prahlad |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 World Series of Poker | TV Series performer - 1 episode, 2009 writer - 1 episode, 2009 |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 World Series of Poker | 2010 | TV Series | Himself |
| Poker2Nite | 2010 | TV Series | Himself |
| 2009 World Series of Poker | 2009 | TV Series | Himself |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 World Series of Poker | 2009 | TV Series | Himself |
Known for movies
Prahlad Friedman is a man apart from the poker industry. While many young players have trodden the familiar path of gaining reputations based on their online play, many legends of the game cut their teeth at the live felt. Friedman falls between those two stalls.
The man known as Pragress spoke with us during the 2019 World Series of Poker on his incredible rise and fall, along with What he’d really say to Russ Hamilton if he met him today.
Watch the Prahlad Friedman Poker Central Podcast episode on PokerGO right now.
FROM HOOP DREAMS TO POKER
While Friedman has been incredibly successful in poker, he gave up on his dream of being in the NBA, growing up being a fine basketball player.
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“I was very competitive, so wanted to be best the world at poker,” says Friedman, referencing how he began his discovery of the game from his father. “It all started with my Dad winning a lowball tournament. It was exciting.”
Friedman realized that it wasn’t just a game played for fun or bragging rights between older men. He quickly signed up online, and developed a fearsome reputation, mixing it up and pioneering some of the plays defined as optimal by the solvers in use today. Bridging the generation gap with his father’s poker pursuit, Friedman became a big name in the game.
TAKING ON ALL COMERS
“I miss waking up in my underwear, taking on all comers,” states Friedman when asked about those formative years.
“Whether it was Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson or ‘Durrr’ [Tom Dwan], there was a time where I would literally play anyone,” admits Friedman, “That’s how I got cheated for so much. There was some ego there, which was detrimental to me in the end. I did think I was the best in the world. I wanted to stay there.”
THE ULTIMATE BET SCANDAL
Friedman could not stay there, but it wasn’t down to his own play. The Ultimate Bet scandal saw players robbed of millions due to others being able to see hole cards. Friedman himself lost a fortune.
“I had done well for so long and taken swings; up a million, down a million. I figured it was a downswing. There were times when I started to get nervous something was happening, but [I was] picked me off for a couple million. It really hurt me bad.”
CHANGING HIS GAME
Friedman noticed his game changing, which was one of the worst things about the whole affair.
“When you’re being cheated, you change your game, I stopped over-betting, I became nitty. No bluff worked, [I was] being cheated. Getting cheated out of maybe $3 million maybe cost me something big.”
While he was winning, Friedman was ‘helping friends out and splashing money’, but then the black cloud descended on his game as he puts it. After the Ultimate Bet scandal surfaced, he would receive a call from a poker legend.
“When I found out I was getting a big refund, Phil Hellmuth called me in Aruba, I got $60,000 [as first payment] and he said, ‘You’re going to get a lot more than that back.”
THE FALL OUT HITS HARD
Hellmuth’s call precipitated a return to UB for Friedman, something he was criticized for by Daniel Negreanu at the time and now feels bad about. If he has regrets, however, it’s not just losing such a ‘tremendous’ amount of money, but that he was cheated again after he turned pro for the site to get a 9% yield.
Ep. 152 Prahlad Friedman’s Pain And Pragress Poker Central
“Now I wish I hadn’t done it. It’s embarrassing, but I lost most of my money playing on the site. I haven’t come face to face with Russ Hamilton. I don’t know what would happen. I’m sure I’d say, ‘f*** you’. He’s a bad element of the world. If online poker was regulated, he would be serving time right now.”
Despite his obvious frustration at the episode, Friedman didn’t go crazy. If anything, what has tilted him most over the years may come as something of a shock. It wasn’t even missing out on the biggest-ever WSOP Main Event prize in 2006 after coming so close (Friedman came 20th for $494,797).
“$12m for first and I had a shot! I never got crazy after the Main. I threw some [computer] mice at the screen, maybe punched a wall over online poker. If you have a friend watching you, you go more nuts, it’s psychology.”
CALLING A BLUFF, THE CADILLAC OF POKER FEELS
Despite Friedman now considering ‘2-7’ to be his best game, he can still make spectacular plays in NLHE and a recent hero call against Darren Elias with pocket fours gave viral broadcast to the phrase ‘It doesn’t snow often in Vegas’. Believing that he was being bluffed, or ‘snowed’, Friedman’s call went around the world.
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“I just felt like I was in a cash game,” he says about the call, “I felt comfortable in the moment, talking and trying to see his reaction. John Hennigan’s done this to me so many times, he’s the master snow-catcher. It’s great to read anyone’s soul and make a non-conventional play.”
Poker Friedman
Friedman still retains a burning passion for poker, and still wants to be the best. With a one-year-old daughter and partner on his side, he is clear about how much the game means.
“Poker is emotional, you’ve got your whole life in it. You’re fighting for food, rent, family.”
Friedman will always fight the good fight, and it looks as though he’s here to stay.
Prahlad Friedman (@prahladfriedman) • Twitter
You can listen to the entire Poker Central Podcast featuring the legendary Prahlad Friedman right here.
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