OK, here's a question that might not have any real world examples, but I'm curious how it would be handled. Let's say a player wants to buy in to a tournament but not be present to play. They understand the implications. Do you put their chip stack in play and blind them out throughout the tournament or do you eliminate them at the start of the tournament? I know you would probably never see this in a tournament in real life, but it happened in my home game last night (we follow TDA rules). Since my home game is smaller than most legit tournaments and players deal hands, it would have been a hassle for the person one to the right of the absent player since they'd have to deal twice every circuit but they also had the benefit of having an absent player directly after them.
Yes, I know this is highly unusual... in this situation, the player was a long time participant who recently moved to Texas but wanted to boost up the prize pool in honor of 4/20.