Confused Man Takes Tournament Chip from Featured Table
Just when you think you've seen about everything there is to see in a poker tournament, it gets even more interesting.
In an event unlike anything we've ever seen, a man walked up to the feature table and sat down in the empty Seat 7 at the table.
"Hey man, are you gonna play?" Andrew Michael, in Seat 6, said.
The man seemed confused and put a $1 cash chip on the table, while he remained silent.
"First I thought he was just a new player, but it was kind of strange since he didn't bring any chips with him," Michael told us on the break about 30 minutes later. "He just put his dollar chip on the table and then looked over at my chips."
As interesting and confusing as that situation seems to be, there's more.
"He never said a word, and looked very confused, and then he got up and looked over at my chips," Michael continued. "He probably saw '1,000' written on it and grabbed one of them."
That's right, the man who had taken his seat at the feature table, then took a chip off Michael's stack. He then attempted to leave the table, tournament chip and all.
"I never would've done anything to him, as I know the situation would get resolved quickly either way, but yeah, he just got up and left," Michael said.
Play continued after that, while the tournament staff promptly turned their attention towards the matter.
As the gentleman tried to exit the stage, a few members of the production staff were trying to block his way. After a brief interaction, one of the head supervisors told the production staff to let the man go. The man then paced through the main aisle and made his way to the cage.
At this point, a group of security staff gathered, and kept their distance as they watched to see what the man was up to. The man, who was visibly confused, tried to cash out his 1,000-denomination chip, but tournament chips hold no cash value.
While all of this was going on, the action in the tournament continued. On the feature table, Michael's chip was quickly replaced.
Back over at the cage, a group of security guards looked on as one guard approached the man to question him and ask him for identification.
The man could be heard saying "I just want to cash my chip" as the tournament chip laid in front of him at the cashier's cage.
After security talked with the man, he was asked to leave, and security escorted him as he left. Upon reaching the backside of the poker room, tears could be seen on the man's face as he headed up the escalator, and it became more apparent that that the man was indeed disoriented.
In the end, nothing bad happened, and the tournament continued on as normal, much to the credit of how the players and Crown staff handled the situation in a professional and efficient manner.