Here's an interesting question from one of my TD trainees:
It's a well-accepted fact that a player cannot be eliminated in a chip race. At the minimum, the player will receive one chip of the lowest denomination to continue in the tournament.
The governing TDA rule is:
20: Chip Race
When it is time to color-up chips, they will be raced off with a maximum of one chip going to any player. The chip race will always start in the No.1 seat. A player cannot be raced out of a tournament: a player who loses his remaining chip(s) in a chip race will be given one chip of the smallest denomination still in play. Players are encouraged to witness the chip race.
WSOP has a similar rule: "....If that player loses the race, he or she will be given one chip of the smallest denomination still in play."
In both cases, the literal wording of the rules suggest that the race is performed first, and then, if the player would be eliminated, he is given one chip.
However, the rules do not explicitly state where that "one chip" comes from. If no other players have odd chips, it would make sense to introduce an extra chip from the TD's coffers into play. However, if at least one other player has one or more chips to be raced off, then the question is should the "one chip" be in addition to the chips given out in the race, or is the "one chip" taken from the pool of available chips for distribution?
E.g. Player A has only one odd 100 chip left. Player B has four 100 chips to be raced-off. One 500 chip is going to be brought in for the chip race in exchange for the 5 remaining 100 chips. Does A automatically get the 500 chip, even if B wins the race-off?
I believe the wording in RROP is more detailed, and I think the standard answer would be yes - the "one chip" is distributed to the player about to be eliminated before any chips are awarded for the chip race (i.e. in the example, B can never win the 500 chip). This is, I presume to minimize the effect of introducing additional chips into play. Do you agree that this is the standard, and if so, do you think that the current TDA rule is unclear?