One local woman player at the Aussie Millions abandoned her stack after she went into labor which nobody could have predicted regardless of whatever unexpected results the Aussie Millions has produced so far.
Within the poker community, the incident has sparked a number of debates since social media guru Kevin Mathers has scattered the news across the world of Twitter, after it was initially reported by the live updates team inside Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
After her contractions started, Katrina Sheary had to cut short on her time, although she just sat down to start playing in the third flight of Event 1 at the Aussie Millions, according to reports.
Sheary Surprised by Baby
Sheary’s due date was only set for a few weeks later, and although she was late into her pregnancy, it seemed that the baby held on to an own personal schedule.
After going into premature labor, Sheary had to call for assistance which came unexpected as the action just started heat up in the $1,150 Hold’em tournament.
While the final level of the day was being played out, Sheary was taken to the front of the casino by the very helpful and quickly acting staff of the Crown’s tournament, and after to the hospital.
The organizers of the tournaments were now strained to make a prompt decision on how best to continue, as there was still a stack of 16 big blinds on the table owned by a player who wasn’t forced out of the tournament by own fault.
Sheary wasn’t fit enough to return to continue playing on Day 2 where flight four took place, as she just gave birth. Luckily enough, there was somebody who offered to take her place, and it may come as no surprise that this was Sheary’s husband Pete, now a new dad and also a poker player.
While taking the special circumstances into consideration, the tournament director allowed Pete to replace his wife on Day 2 and so to proceed playing as intended by his wife.
Mathers tweeted as following: “She played Flight 3 (of 4), premature birth the next day, husband takes over day after that”.
You can imagine that not all players were happy when they found out that Pete ranked in 25th place and won $6,495.
Save the Day- Aussie Millions Terms and Conditions
A number of players, including Liv Boeree were concerned about the possible unfairness of substituting a poker player when at the same time a tournament is being played, shown by following aired tweet by Boeree:
“With the Aussie Millions/woman in labor situation, surely faired solution for all involved is to pay out the ICM value of her stack?”
When unexpected tournament departures would happen there actually was a framework to deal with such events, although it certainly is a very unique situation.
Rule 2.13 of the Aussie Millions’ terms and conditions states that the tournament director can allow a player to transfer his or her stack to a substitute, as pointed out by Mathers. There is the requirement of exceptional circumstances being in place.
Clause 2.13 reads that “At the discretion of the Tournament Director, a Tournament entrant may transfer his/her entry to another person, provided that person is entitled to enter the Tournament in accordance with clause 2.2 and he/she has not already entered the tournament”.
Tournament organizers are prepared to deal with nearly any problem that pops up, which is good to know. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that such an exceptional chain of events will happen again in the nearby future.
Surely there would have been imminent complaints about inevitable delays that would have found place, but wouldn’t have been even more enticing when the kid had literally opened his eyes for the first time on the felt?
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