Lots of Chips and a Chair

[user127999]

Level 15 : 1,500/3,000, 400 ante

Darie Vlad has yet to turn up to claim his 208,000-chip stack.

This might be optimal strategy considering Team PokerStars Pro Ike Haxton and the EPT's all time money leader Steve O'Dwyer are on his direct left.

All joking aside, the situation prompted Haxton to recall the time when Stratosphere owner Bob Stupak failed to turn up deep in the 2008 WPT Bellagio Cup. Stupak had lukemia, and a had been taken to hospital overnight with the worse expected.

Haxton described the scene as a bit eerie with Stupak's stack still in the tournament after the news of his health had broken. In the end, Stupak blinded out on the stone bubble. He died a little over a year later during the 2009 WPT Festa al Lago.

In addition to being a casino owner, Stupack was an accomplished poker player with a World Series of Poker bracelet and almost $900,000 in career tournament earnings. He will always be remembered as a great friend and student of the game.

Vlad, a young Romanian coming off a six-figure score in an EPT Barcelona prelim, may now be remembered for the time he looked at his table draw and thought the best way to play against the lineup on his left is simply not to.