They halted play 30 minutes early of Day 1 of the $3000 WSOP HORSE event late last week, as a man suddenly crumpled to the floor unconscious.
Amazingly, they dealt two more hands while he was lying there unconscious, despite protests from players. Finally they halted the tournament, and decided to end for the day, since there was only 30 minutes left of play anyway.
Some players said they should return the two antes that he paid while unconscious, since they should have halted things right when it occurred. The WSOP agreed, and gave him back his two antes, presumably just adding those chips to the event.
But who was it, and what happened to him after that? Here's an update from Jeanne, who is a Vegas local and friend of PFA:
Here’s an update for the many people who are asking what happened to “the guy who was sitting next to Phil Ivey and passed out at the $3000 WSOP Horse event”
Troy R Lee was taken to sunrise emergency room and then was transferred to inpatient after a couple of days. They ran a lot of tests on him and think he had a possible mini stroke, but once they got his blood pressure under control, they finally discharged him very late last night. He’s doing OK and he’s home recovering. For those of you who don’t know Troy, he’s one of the nicest guys around and you might see him dealing at the Golden Nuggett when he’s feeling better.
I think the excitement of Meeting Phil Ivey might’ve gotten to him.
I'm assuming he blinded out on Day 2, so the antes probably didn't matter after all.
Good to see he is probably going to be okay.
It's surprising that there aren't more incidents like this at the WSOP. Eskimo Clark (RIP) famously collapsed in the infamous, boiling hot "poker tent" in 2007, but ended up okay (for the time being).
Eric Shimp, who cashed in the 2022 $1500 Limit Holdem event, could have actually passed away while playing. He made late Day 2 of that event, and cashed, but lost all of his chips before the end of the day. On what would have been his Day 3 had he made it, he abruptly and unexpectedly passed away. I believe he would have been the first person to pass away while playing a WSOP event.