Strange Ruling on EPT Dead Chip Pile

[Collin Moshman]

The tournament started off 10-handed, and the player four to my right was absent. When the blinds reached 100-200, and this guy had a fair number of chips yet to be blinded out, a tournament manager/director came over and starting removing his chips. I complained vocally, since the luck of the draw added dead money to our table, while meanwhile this poor gentleman could still show up and be a reasonable contender after a little gambling. He had, after all, ponied up 10k euros to play...

Only one other player spoke up about this, and we were ignored -- was my complaint unreasonable?

Unrelated note: I greatly enjoyed reading Adam's report of the tournament, and wish I managed to catch the 3 5 vs A J hand -- what a call!