Pregnant Aussie Player Katrina Sheary was in the preliminary events of the
"Aussie Millions" 2016 poker tournament a week ago. Amidst the poker competition, it did not take long before she went into labor. Since she was unable to take her post in the tournament the next day, Peter Sheary, her husband, was allowed by the event's directors to play instead of her.
The Aussie Millions is Katrina's favorite poker tournament and despite being a few weeks near her due, this year's competition held at the Crown Casino was something she did not want to miss. Unfortunately, the baby had plans of its own as the pregnant Aussie player started having premature labor which required her to be brought to the hospital as the competition was nearing its last play of the day.
The unexpected event resulted in a standstill for event officials as Katrina still had 16BB in her stack but needed to move away from the action due to her unscheduled child delivery.
The next day, after having given birth, Katrina's husband was allowed by the tournament directors to continue in her place instead of allowing her stack to blind off. Of course, not everyone was delighted with the late substitution and some competitors have even aired their views regarding the incident such as that of Liv Boeree whose tweeter post read: "Surely fairest solution for all involved is to pay out the ICM value of her stack?"
Eventually, all matters of concerns have been dissipated after it had been pointed out that the tournament officials decisively dealt with the unexpected eventuality, especially when considering the Terms and Conditions of the tournament which states:
2.13: 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 [other eligibility requirements] and he/she has not already entered the Tournament.
2.13.1: Where a substitute is nominated, entry into the Tournament will be transferred to the substitute and the substitute will act on behalf of the entrant, commencing or continuing play in the entrant's stead and using any applicable bank of Tournament chips allocated to or accumulated by the entrant.
The husband, Peter, euphoric for the birth of his baby boy, ended the tournament in 25th place and managed to score a total payout of $6,495. Despite the winnings and the new baby in their midst, it is actually their poker story that will or may forever live on.
source: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/19907-woman-gives-birth-while-still-alive-in-poker-tournament-husband-takes-over-her-stack
