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A new legend was born on the World Poker Tour last month as American Prahlad Friedman cruised to victory in his native California. WPT Poker was on hand to bring you all the West Coast action.
Mention the name Prahlad Friedman to most poker fans and there is one enduring image that springs to mind – the ugly scene that transpired at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event where he and fellow pro Jeffrey Lisandro almost came to blows during the infamous “ante-gate” incident. However, when he’s not being threatened by angry Tony Soprano lookalikes Friedman is actually a very able and highly competitive poker player in his own right.
Three years before he was in danger of having his “head taken off” by his irate table-mate, Friedman shot to fame by taking down a debut WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event to announce his arrival on the circuit in some style. And certainly if Friedman was ever in danger of being remembered for his antics off the felt rather than his actions on it, he went some way to remedying that situation last month by notching another high-profile success on the World Poker Tour.
At the WPT Legends of Poker at the legendary Bicycle Casino in Los Angelese, Friedman got back to his tournament-crushing best by defeating a field of some 279 runners to claim a payday in excess of $1 million and secure his first ever WPT title – the second major trophy of his career in poker so far. Further intrigue was added to the story by way of his opponent in the heads-up finale, Kevin Schaffel, who impressively followed up booking a berth in this year’s November Nine by finishing just short of a debut title of his own as runner-up.
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMAN
Going into heads-up play on the wrong side of a 7:2 chip deficit, Schaffel showed plenty of the same fighting spirit that had seem him outlast thousands of runners in the WSOP Main Event a month earlier to ensure Friedman had anything but an easy ride to the title. Indeed, after several hands of back-and-forth play, it was Schaffel that was looking the more dangerous of the two competitors and he duly secured the double-up that his enterprising play deserved.
With the board showing A-Q-3 with two clubs, Schaffel moved all-in over the top of a lead-out by Friedman, only for his opponent to quickly make the call. Schaffel turned over Q-3 for top-two pair, while Friedman tabled J-4 of clubs for the flush draw to leave him needing to dodge a fifth club to avoid elimination. Fortunately for Schaffel, the best hand held up as a blank turn and river provided no help for Friedman and the two players drew level in chips for the first time at the final table.
However, the respite was to prove short-lived as losing the hand seemed to provide a wake-up call for Friedman, who preceded to claw back his advantage by winning a string of pots in quick succession. Now holding all of the momentum and the lion’s share of the chips, Friedman was once more looking to deliver the knock-out blow, and he got the opportunity his perseverance deserved a few hands later.
Schaffel got the action underway by betting 300,000 with the blinds at 60k/120k, but he soon found himself facing a big decision when Friedman raised him to 800,000. Taking about half-a-minute to consider his options, Schaffel ultimately settled on bringing out the big guns and pushed his remaining 2.8 million into the middle, with an audible sigh coming from Friedman as he prepared to make what would prove to be the tournament-defining decision.
“I’ll give you a count. I know you’re calling.” said Schaffel as the chips were counted down and Friedman considered his options. His prediction turned out to be spot-on as after a brief pause, Friedman did indeed announce call and surprisingly turned over a heads-up powerhouse in the form of Ah-Qc. Needless to say, his hand was indeed the best, with Schaffel showing Kh-Jc to leave him slightly behind going to the flop.
A 10c-3h-2h flop provided little excitement for either player, with Schaffel still needing to pair one of his cards to avoid elimination. A 4d on the turn did nothing to change matters and with just six outs heading to the river, a harmless 9h fell on fifth street to eliminate Schaffel in second place. With that, Friedman’s ace-high proved good enough to scoop the pot and the pro picked up the title, $1,034,000 in prize money and a seat in this season’s WPT World Championship for his stellar efforts.
L.A. RIOT
All in all, the final table lasted a fairly intensive 127 hands, but it certainly didn’t take that long for the action to be cranked up a few notches on the final day of play. In fact, within the space of just five hands, the final table had already witnessed its first casualty after the short-stacked Mike Krescanko butted heads with eventual winner Friedman. Looking down to find A-Q, Krescanko wasted no time in getting the last of his chips into the middle, but he was unfortunate enough to run into the pocket kings of Friedman.
A third king on the flop all but ensured Krescanko’s exit in sixth place and a queen on the turn left him drawing dead to make matters official. With that, Krescanko became the first to depart from the final table, with the journeyman pro collecting some $89,220 for his very brief appearance. That pot propelled Friedman to the top of the final table chip counts, but it was a lead that he would hold for only a matter of hands as another flopped set ensured that Schaffel comfortably overtook him.
The victim this time was Nevada’s Sam Stein who, despite getting his chips in considerably better than his predecessor with king-queen versus Schaffel’s pocket sevens, was unable to improve to the winning hand. A third seven on the flop meant that he instantly had a mountain to climb and with Schaffel improving to a boat on the river, Stein crashed out of the tournament in fifth place to collect a cool $116,225.
Again, the chip lead swung between big stacks Schaffel and Friedman as Full Tilt pro Toto Leonidas doubled up at the expense of the former only to promptly lose his newfound chips to the latter a few hands later. Leonidas’ swansong hand came after he called a bet from Friedman pre-flop and subsequently shoved all-in over the top of his continuation bet on a K-6-2 board with two clubs.
LEONIDAS TAMED
Unfortunately for Leonidas, this time Friedman’s flop bet did genuinely have some substance behind it and he snap-called to reveal ace-king for top-pair, top-kicker. Leonidas, meanwhile, turned over Ac-9c for the nut-flush draw, but spades on both the turn and river condemned him to a fourth place finish and $144,000 while Friedman once again recaptured the overall chip lead going into three-handed play.
Now, it was a lead that he would not relinquish quite so easily, and Friedman kept up the pressure by eliminating Todd Terry in third place to put clear daylight between him and Schaffel going into heads-up play. Picking up A-Q, Friedman lead out pre-flop only to have Terry instantly shove all-in over the top holding pocket fours. Friedman made the call to put himself a coin flip away from contesting the final two spots, and it was one that he duly won when the board ran out Q-J-6-K-K. Terry, meanwhile, had to settle for third place and a payout of $231,300.
SCHAFFEL SHORN
With the scalps of Krescanko, Leonidas and Terry all safely under his belt, Friedman entered the heads-up stage of play with a mountainous 6.6 million in chips to his opponent’s 1.8 million. Despite Schaffel’s spirited efforts, it was an advantage that ultimately proved insurmountable to the November Nine finalist, who nevertheless added $471,670 to the $1.2 million plus he’ll receive when the WSOP Main Event concludes at the Rio next month.
So, with Prahlad Friedman deservedly being crowned the World Poker Tour’s latest Legend of Poker, the WPT now moves on to Atlantic City for the Borgata Poker Open. Needless to say, WPT Poker will be on hand to bring you all the latest as a brand new champion is crowned in New Jersey. |
