Joseph Di Rosa Rojas Holds Commanding Lead Heading Into Day 5 of Event #23: "Marathon" No-Limit Hold'Em

Adam Lamers

Level 26 : 30,000/60,000, 10,000 ante

In what has been a long and grueling tournament, Day 4 of Event #23: $2,620 "Marathon" No-Limit Hold'Em has come to an end. There were 13 players that bagged chips to return tomorrow and Joseph Di Rosa Rojas leads them all with 10,575,000 chips.

Rojas came into the day with a healthy chip stack and maintained that same stack throughout most of the day. In the last two levels, however, he went on a massive heater eliminating three players and winning almost every pot he was involved in. Rojas has already guaranteed himself his third cash of the 2017 WSOP to go along with two more in 2016. He is still looking for that big payday, however, as his career live tournament earnings total just over $55,000.

The day started with 56 players and within the first level, there were over 10 eliminations in what was a fast-paced 100 minutes. The action slowed down as the day progressed and with 13 players returning for the final day tomorrow, it could be another long grind. A total of seven levels were played today that lasted just over 14 hours from the beginning of the day. But this is what they all signed up for.

Some notables that exited the tournament on Day 4 include Eric Baldwin (21st place - $21,434), Ana Marquez (26th place - $21,434), Upeshka De Silva (30th place - $17,491), Kristen Bicknell (44th place - $14,446), and Adrian Mateos (52nd place - $12,077). Everyone that was lucky enough to find a bag at the end of the night will be guaranteed to at least take home $33,350.

There has been a schedule change for Friday, as the remaining players have agreed with tournament officials to return at 1 p.m. for the final day, where play will end once a champion is crowned. When they take their seats, the blinds will begin at 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante.

Here is a look at the seating assignments and chip counts when play resumes.

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	1	Pratik Ghatge	United Kingdom	955,000
1	2	Empty
1	3	Andrew Jernigan	United States	6,270,000
1	4	Breixo Gonzalez	Spain	2,180,000
1	5	Empty
1	6	Tim Reilly	United States	7,220,000
1	7	Maurice Hawkins	United States	3,630,000
1	8	Julian Stuer	Germany	3,055,000
1	9	Alexander Lynskey	Australia	1,775,000

2	1	Empty
2	2	Empty
2	3	Empty
2	4	Bill Germanis	Canada	2,470,000
2	5	Joseph Di Rosa Rojas	Venezuela	10,575,000
2	6	Jeffrey Tomlinson	United States	1,475,000
2	7	Josh Weiss	United States	1,280,000
2	8	Faraz Jaka	United States	3,215,000
2	9	Patrick Mahoney	United States	1,965,000

Player	Chips	Progress
Joseph Di Rosa Rojas	10,575,000 -305,000	-305,000

Tim Reilly	7,220,000 820,000	820,000
Andrew Jernigan	6,270,000 1,640,000	1,640,000
Maurice Hawkins	3,630,000 -570,000	-570,000
Faraz Jaka	3,215,000 1,395,000	1,395,000

Julian Stuer	3,055,000 355,000	355,000
Bill Germanis	2,470,000 -240,000	-240,000
Breixo Gonzalez	2,180,000 280,000	280,000
Patrick Mahoney	1,965,000 -265,000	-265,000
Alexander Lynskey	1,775,000 -1,525,000	-1,525,000
Jeffrey Tomlinson	1,475,000 485,000	485,000

Josh Weiss	1,280,000 -195,000	-195,000

Pratik Ghatge	955,000 -2,645,000	-2,645,000