What a day! The 32 remaining players reconvened at the Hilton Casino today to play down to the Pokerstars EPT Prague final table and far from a dry, arid affair, we were treated to a bombastic spectacle, filled to the brim with dramatic developments.

A whirlwind start saw five players eliminated in quick succession. Hopes that a local player could pick up the title were dashed with the first elimination of the day, the final remaining Czech player, Petr Samcenko bowing out in the first level.

He was swiftly followed by another rash of eliminations and it looked like the breakneck speed the players were going at would see the day done in a few short levels.

Meanwhile Ludovic Lacay, subject of a PokerListings interview only yesterday, entered the fray well placed as the second chip leader, but he was about to experience severe turbulence.

Sometimes you bust the cowboys, and sometimes the cowboys bust you ...

When his aces up ran into Alexiou Konstantinos' bigger two pair, his stack was dealt a painful though noncritical blow. The crucial hand that led to Lacay's demise saw him play out a huge three-way pot with pocket kings, though German player Daniel Drescher's pocket jacks won out to bad-beat the Frenchman and leave him on life support.

He was soon out, yet one more victim of the blistering pace that characterized today's play, with the frequency of bust-outs incredible to behold.

Whilst Lacay's fortunes were suffering, the reverse was true of Italian Salvatore Bonavena, who started the day bottom of the pile with only a handful of chips, but saw his stack soaring up through the leaderboard as the final table approached.

Ruthenberg had to put thoughts of a second EPT title on ice.

By the time the final eight were decided, Bonavena had completed his rags-to-riches journey, finding himself chip leader in a remarkable turnaround.

EPT Barcelona winner Sebastian Ruthenberg battled through the day, never acquiring a big stack but staving off elimination right to the cusp of the final table.

Any hopes he would make his second "official" final table evaporated, though, as his attempted double-up fell on stony ground and the German joined the growing contingent on the rail, picking up the unwanted final-table bubble award.

Throughout the day a boisterous Italian rail cheered on their homegrown heroes, and there was a measure of hysteria round the last two tables as not one, not two, but three Italians made the last eight, raising hopes that Italy will see its first EPT champion crowned tomorrow when the players resume.

Bonavena goes into the final table as chip leader.

Here are the other players who fought their way through to the final: 

Salvatore Bonavena -- $1,402,000
Alexiou Konstantinos -- $1,382,000
Francesco Cirianni -- $807,000
Fredrik Nygard -- $666,000
Massimo Di Cicco -- $429,000
Nasr El Nasr -- $376,000
Raul Mestre -- $313,000
Andrew Alan Chen -- $309,000

If today's play is replicated tomorrow, we are in for a firecracker of a denouement to what has proved a fantastic EPT Prague. We can't wait, so make sure you join us as we bring you all the news from the felt in classic PokerListings style.

It's a 1 p.m. local time kickoff. We'll see you there, people!