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Who would have thought it? Reigning champions Italy out with barely a whimper. After round one and two performances that left them languishing in ninth position at the leader board, Italy limped out in their title defence with a ninth-place exit within the multi-table madness of round three. An ignominious end to a disappointing day for Captain Luca Pagano, an experience somewhat different from last year's finale.

Italy were first to go away (5 points) they usually were followed by Team Remainder of the arena (10) and Costa Rica (15) before an outstanding one-man survival show from Anthony Monestes booked France 20 points for a sixth place finish. That left five nations with Japanese captain Masaaki Kagawa the player shoving but after a high-quality day they fell in fifth (25) leaving Peru to grind on before falling in fourth (30).

The round three final table

Three nations battled on past midnight, greater than six hours after round three began, with the Netherlands on top of things but Boeken doubled up Heitmann as plucky Tajikistan fought on. Tajikistan were the following to move (35) losing a flip to Germany putting in a Dutch-German heads up. The captains battled for a little while before Klaus Hornchurch despatched Johan van Til to take the entire 50 points completing an epic comeback for Germany who had finished the primary round in last place. They now lead Japan by one point.

1. Germany, 105 points
2. Japan, 104 points
3. Peru, 98 points
4. Netherlands, 97 points
5. Tajikistan, 92 points
6. France, 86 points
7. Remainder of the World, 74 points
8. Costa Rica, 73 points
9. Italy, 55 points (RELEGATED)

Team Germany completed an epic Day 1 turnaround

You can meet up with how Day 1 panned out by clicking at the links below. Play resumes at noon tomorrow. Meanwhile spare a thought for WCP floorman John Keegan who's running a 5k charity run in lower than five hours time.

The World Cup begins, Italy defends its title
How it works, the way you win
Japan bossing it, first round dominated by the rising sun
Water boy Jake Schwartz takes on Humberto Brenes
Round two results, another blistering performance from Japan
Multi-table madness as round three begins and Italy busts
The final table tussle for Day 2 dominance

Photos are copyright of Joe Giron (in play) and Neil Stoddart (with black backdrop). Credit and copyright is reserved by them respectively.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: World Cup of Poker]