Prahlad Friedman
| Prahlad Friedman | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Spirit Rock, Pragress |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Born | May 20, 1978 |
| 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 |
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.)
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 pair. 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 because 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 pair. 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. He made it through Day 2, but was ultimately eliminated early on Day 3, thus failing to cash.
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