Prahlad Friedman

Prahlad Friedman (born May 20, 1979) is an American professional poker player from Los Angeles, California.

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 his largest single payout to date of $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. (In posting one of the blinds, a third player at the table forgot to put in his ante; the dealer corrected his mistake.) 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 2006 Friedman also accused well-known online poker player Brandon Adams of being a cheater. The incident centered around AIM conversations Adams had in which he discussed how it was possible to exploit flaws in online poker sites. Adams has gone on the record as saying that he never actually exploited these flaws.

As of 2008, Friedman's total live tournament winnings exceed $1,200,000.

Friedman (no relation to fellow WSOP bracelet winner Perry 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. On Full Tilt Poker he plays under his nickname "Spirit Rock." He can also be found playing on Ultimate Bet under the name "Spirit Rock" or on the Prima network under the name "Zweig". He also plays on Pokerstars under the name "poopers". He is well known on the internet for his fearless and aggressive playing style.

Friedman is also well known on internet poker message boards for his raps. He has rapped for ESPN for a "The Nuts" segment (Poker is fun/For every-one/Except my opponents/Who shoulda practiced avoidance/They ain't big proponents/In thinkin' not just in the moment/But the possible future problems/Sometimes comes tough to solve them!) 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 the professional poker player Dee Luong, to whom he was engaged since 2002. He is a vegan.

The name Prahlad is derived from a figure in Hindu mythology, known for his staunch devotion towards Vishnu.