Bahamian Riches! Day 2 of the 2009 PCA

Dan Heimiller, David Baker and Chris Bush led the way on Day 2 of the 2009 PCA, which saw 295 eliminated and virtually no hand-for-hand play at the bubble.

Day 2 marked the first time that all the players remaining in the tournament met to do battle under the same roof, and it didn't disappoint.

As is usually the case, the Day 1 chip leader struggled in the early stages of Day 2. Brazil's Felipe Ramos tried a massive $100,000 bluff against Mark Seif, who woke up with a set of aces.

That table, which at various points also included Matt Stout, Jon Friedberg and James Mackey, was one of the most interesting of the day, with all five of the elite players doing their best to outplay each other.

No Seif-cracking today.

Former attorney Seif was the most dominant of the group, his constant aggression being the theme of the table. Friedberg, Mackey and Stout were all eliminated in the later stages of the day.

Perhaps the biggest story of the day though was the frantic pace of play. In just six hours of play a total of 295 players were eliminated out of a starting field of 498. Just 103 players will return to play tomorrow and attempt to make it down to 32 players.

There were plenty of big-name bust-outs in the early stages including EPT Tournament Director Thomas Kremser and Team PokerStars Pro members Andre Akkari, Victor Ramdin, Humberto Brenes and Katja Thater.

So close, yet so far.

The other interesting moment on Day 2 occurred when there was a reverse bubble. The big screen read 203 players but by the time play had been stopped to switch to hand-for-hand, the bubble had actually already burst. In fact, rumor had it they were down to 197, so tournament staff had to run around and find the last few eliminated players so they got paid.

The $25,000 High Roller Event also kicked off today at 12 p.m., with players like Daniel Negreanu, Gus Hansen, Eric Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Greg Raymer and Jason Mercier all paying the massive buy-in for another shot at poker glory in the Bahamas. You can find updates on the event here.

Meanwhile in the Main Event, Heimiller, Baker and Bush all started to pull away from the rest of the pack near the end of the night.

Our choice for tournament winner - although she's out.

Heimiller is a veteran pro with some impressive tournament results. Most recently he came in fifth at the WPT Borgata Poker Open, which was good for $387,500. Heimiller finished with $837,000 chips at the end of Day 2.

Bush, aka Bushman online, hails from Vancouver, Canada, and has had some very large scores in MTTs on PokerStars. He also took down a Five Diamond preliminary event for $360,680. He has around $800,000 heading into Day 3.

Baker, known online as "Bakes," came in third at the WSOP $2,000 Limit event and likely would have won it if it wasn't for Daniel Negreanu. He finished with approximately $900,000, which looks to be the chip lead heading into Day 3.

The Italian Pirate is all too happy to plunder the Caribbean.

What about ol' Ramos, who came into the day as one of the chip leaders? He did just fine, and thanks to a last-minute sprint he finished with $653,500.

Other notables still in the tournament include Max Pescatori, Mark Seif, Eric Liu, Kathy Liebert and Tom Franklin, Alexandre Gomes, Peter Eastgate, Vicky Coren and Edward Sabat.

Tomorrow should be another interesting day at the PCA as we attempt to go from 103 players down to 32 and the serious money starts getting paid out. Be sure to check out PokerListings.com as we crank up the coverage and give you the most comprehensive and entertaining play-by-plays this side of the Atlantic.