The playdown from 102 to 32 was a quick and dirty affair at the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure today.

It took just three levels and the start of a fourth for it to happen, but the biggest PCA in the six-year history of this event really started to take shape here on Day 3.

While the majority of the group saw their luck run out and headed quickly to the cashier's cage, a player who started the day with just $80k began the kind of zero-to-hero odyssey that will make him a Bahamian legend should he hold on and win this thing in two days' time.

We watched 2007 WPT Bellagio Cup winner Kevin Saul do this kind of thing at WPT Foxwoods last year. He was among the chip leaders there before gambling it all away. Left with just a chip and a chair in Connecticut, Kevin turned on the jets to amazingly propel himself back on top in just a level and a half.

He fell short of the WPT title on offer there, but starting with that $80k today, he began another rags-to-riches story. Kevin picked up a few of his chips early before running kings into aces in an $800k pot that would have sent him packing were it not for a miracle king on the river.

The man, the myth, the legend?

Then a little later, Saul turned the nut flush against Max Pescatori's flopped set of kings, sending the Italian Pirate down the plank and making him the first player past the $2 million post.

By the time this short day was all over, he'd put together a $2.675 million stack and was headed to bed with the chip lead.

Hafiz Khan also made a move today. PokerListings.com fans may remember him from the 2008 PCA, where he grabbed second-place money, falling to Team PokerStars Pro's Bertrand Grospellier heads-up for the title.

"Hoffa" Khan, who made back-to-back-to-back final tables at the Bellagio Five Diamond prelims last month, sucked out huge with ace-queen, turning a gut-shot straight against a pair of kings to get up and over $750k midway through the day. Then he rode the wave up and over $1 million in chips to take a spot near the top.

Hafizzi!

The good Caribbean vibes didn't last all day for Khan, however, as he dipped to a little over $600k and will have a lot of work to do to make back-to-back final tables here at Atlantis on Day 4.

Young German Benny Spindler proved he belongs with the big boys in the Bahamas today, turning trips against two pair to grab $1.2 million, then building it up to $2.2 million by the end of play by picking off more than his fair share of shorter stacks along the way.

When play gets going around noon tomorrow, Spindler and Saul will be the only two over $2 million, with Canadian Benny Chen just behind on $1.9 million.

After they treaded the Caribbean water for most of the day, Day 2 chip leader, 2008 WSOP final tablist David Baker, and 2008 WPT and WSOP finalist Dan Heimiller headline a group of eight more players over $1 million who put it to rest today with more than an outside shot at the massive $3 million first-place prize.

The purple rose of Cairo.

The list of familiar names still stacked also includes Kathy "Purple People Eater" Liebert, 2008 WSOP $5k Mixed Hold 'em runner-up Dustin Dirksen and Team PokerStars Pro's Vickie Coren and Alexandre Gomez.

While the playdown to 32 in the main event was going down, the $25k High Roller final table also played out across the room here at the PCA, and it was an amazing spectacle featuring some of the best players on the planet.

In the end, Team PokerStars Pro's Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier proved you can bust out of the main event and still become a back-to-back PCA champ of sorts, winning the $433k first-place prize after an eight-hour final table.

A short-stacked Nick Schulman was the first to go from the final, taking eighth-place money when his A♠ J♠ failed to catch against ElkY's pocket tens. Daniel Alaei took a sick beat to go out seventh when Liya Gerasimova spiked an ace on the river against his pair of kings.

The Bahamian golden child.

Sixth place was reserved for Eli Elezra after he ran fives into Gerasimova's queens, and fifth went to Humberto Brenes, who looked like he'd sucked out on Scott Seiver before getting resucked by a Seiver rivered flush.

They went three-handed when Gerasimova, WSOP Main Event runner-up Ivan Demidov's girlfriend, couldn't crack Seiver's aces. But Seiver was actually the next to go, running garbage into Grospellier's ace-high and failing to suck out.

It took just one hand heads-up for ElkY to take care of Canadian Will Molson and amazingly, the Caribbean booty was his once again.

You'll find an interview with ElkY up here before the night is through, but back in the main event they'll play down to the final table of eight on Day 4 tomorrow and PL.com's comprehensive Caribbean coverage will begin at noon with live updates, sweet photos and awesome videos all right here.