Level 26 has now begun with blinds reaching 10,000/20,000 and an ante of 2,500. "IGOTCRABZ_33" still holds the chip lead by a wide margin with five remaining, but the other four players now find themselves all within five big blinds of one another after Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara has chipped up even further since his recent doubles. Here's an updated look at the counts.

Player	Chips	Progress
IGOTCRABZ_33	1,121,221 -108,055	-108,055
JohnnyMania	681,280 -181,500	-181,500
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara	633,862 253,000	253,000
"ACE"10276	618,796 -128,313	-128,313
Jake "MoZZyNJ" Dynes	569,841 91,500	91,500

In Level 25 with blinds of 8,000/16,000 and an ante of 2,000, Jake "MoZZyNJ" Dynes opened to 38,400 on the button and Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara re-jammed for 181,431 in the big blind. Dynes called.

Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara:
Jake "MoZZyNJ" Dynes:

After just doubling, Madara was in jeopardy of falling in fifth nonetheless. However, the flop gave him the three outer he needed to pull ahead, and he stayed there through the turn and river depsite Dynes picking up four additional backdoor outs to Broadway after the turn.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jake "MoZZyNJ" Dynes	478,341 53,932	53,932
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara	380,862 99,986	99,986

In Level 25 with blinds of 8,000/16,000 and an ante of 2,000, ""ACE"10276" pumped it up to 32,000 in the cutoff and was called by "JohnnyMania" in the small blind before Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara three-bet shoved for 119,438 in the big blind. ""ACE"10276" folded and "JohnnyMania" called.

Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara:
"JohnnyMania":

Madara won the coin flip as a result of the runout leaving his two pair better than his opponent's and he finds himself still alive and with a stack of 280,000 as a result.

Player	Chips	Progress
JohnnyMania	862,780 -71,688	-71,688
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara	280,876 96,438	96,438

In Level 24 with blinds of 7,000/14,000 and an ante of 1,750, "NEIRB2021"open-shoved for 77,120 under the gun and action folded around to Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara in the big blind, who called.

"NEIRB2021":
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara:

Madara was unable to catch anything on a runout of and doubled his second opponent in an orbit.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara	184,438 -82,370	-82,370
NEIRB2021	175,240 94,370	94,370

In Level 23 with blinds of 6,000/12,000 and an ante of 1,500, "JohnnyMania" raised to 24,000 and Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara three-bet to 72,000 in middle position. Action folded back to "JohnnyMania" and they called.

The flop came and "JohnnyMania" check-called Madara's continuation-bet of 108,000, bringing the turn . "JohnnyMania" checked again and Madara fired a second barrel of 276,000, enough to put "JohnnyMania" all in. A call was made.

"JohnnyMania":
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara:

"JohnnyMania" had flopped the nuts but was still not locked in for the double after the paired board gave Madara four outs at a full house. However, the river fell to leave "JohnnyMania" with the best hand and they earned the double for a pot of more than 900,000 as a result.

Player	Chips	Progress
JohnnyMania	934,468 429,734	429,734
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara	266,808 -426,734	-426,734

The tournament reached a five-minute break just a hand into the final table. Updated counts from the break have been provided below.

Player	Chips	Progress
IGOTCRABZ_33	941,357 65,750	65,750
Steven "FadeOrHoldz" Madara	693,542 415,020	415,020
"ACE"10276	629,079 203,990	203,990
JohnnyMania	504,734 4,995	4,995
Jake "MoZZyNJ" Dynes	424,409 91,503	91,503
Bliatz	234,499 8,000	8,000
Angel "Chr0meKing" Lopez	116,510 -40,245	-40,245
NEIRB2021	80,870 -367,771	-367,771