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’em at The Oaks Club before moving on to higher No Limit stakes at the Lucky Chances casino.

Online, Friedman plays as “Spirit Rock” on Full Tilt Poker, “Mahatma” on Ultimate Bet, “Zweig” on the Prima Network, and “Poopers” on Poker Stars. Over the years, he gained recognition as a dominant high stakes regular, often multi-tabling $25/$50 and $50/$100. After a short hiatus in 2006-2007, he returned in 2008 and was one of PokerStars’ biggest winners of the year.

On the live tournament circuit, Friedman first got involved in 2002 by taking second in the $3000 Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic for $101K. In 2003, he won his first and only World Series of Poker bracelet in $1500 Pot Limit Omaha for $109K. Also in 2003, he recorded a third place finish in a $1500 Festa Al Lago event for $25K. 2005 brought him another big final table cash, this time a second in a World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event in San Diego for $363K. A year later, he ran deep in the WSOP Main Event, taking 20th for $494K. Prahlad’s biggest score to date came at the 2009 Legends of Poker where he finished in first place for $1 million. All told, Friedman has $2.3 million in live tournament earnings.

The latest tweets from @PrahladFriedman.

Additionally, Friedman is known for his internet message board raps and has even appeared on T.V., rapping for an ESPN segment of ‘The Nuts’ at the 2006 WSOP. An Ethnic Studies major, he is famously a vegan and a devout follower of Vishnu. His first name, Prahlad, derives from Hindu mythology. He is married to fellow professional poker player Dee Luong.

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.

NEW: Watch this podcast weekly as a video show on PokerGO. Check the “originals” tab on the site to dig into the three most recent episodes with Phil Hellmuth, Shannon Shorr, and Prahlad Friedman.

• 2:30 – Brent Hanks challenges Prahlad Friedman to a free throw shooting competition, followed by the stories of NBA dreams, college steeplechase, and relentless workouts.
• 6:55 – Family life: Prahlad on raising his daughter vegan and how Brent Hanks’ kids could not be raised any different as he just got a meat smoker for Father’s day!
• 9:22 – Prahlad Friedman discovers poker through his father, playing underage in California casinos, and quickly making his way up the ranks in online poker.
• 13:40 – Is Prahlad Friedman the most talented poker player of all time, and what made him into the legend that he became online?
• 17:30 – What is Prahlad Friedman’s best game. why is No Limit 2-7 Single Draw so much fun to watch and play, and how did he call down Darren Elias with a pair in this game?
• 24:15 – Legendary online poker stories, being the ‘King of the Hill’ and ultimately getting cheated out of more than $3,000,000 and losing his entire bankroll.
• 28:20 – How did Prahlad Friedman rebuild his poker career after getting cheated, signing with Ultimate Bet, getting refunded, and losing more money.
• 35:40 – Did Prahlad Friedman ever consider leaving the game of poker behind, his career as a rapper, and the future of his music career under the name Pragress.
• 40:15 – Prahlad Friedman the poker rapper and his history at the 2006 Main Event.
• 46:00 – That high life.
• 49:00 – Los Angeles home games, GTO play, live reads, and much more.
• 57:00 – Bracelet winners at the 2019 World Series of Poker.
• 1:02:00 – Tilt, smashing mice, and a very heated confrontation at the poker table that almost resulted in an altercation.
• 1:08:21 – The 2019 World Series of Poker Player of the Year rankings.
• 1:11:00 – The five best players Prahlad Friedman has ever played against.
• 1:17:30 – Too Many Questions with Prahlad Friedman!
• 1:26:00 – Looking ahead at what’s to come with Prahlad this summer.

We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. See full list on poker.fandom.com. There are very few players who’ve managed to successfully defend their titles in the modern era of the World Series of Poker but you can now count Adam Friedman among that elite crowd. 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.

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