After more than 15 hours of action we're in the money at the World Poker Tour's Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi, Miss.

Day 2 action at the WPT's first tournament of 2009 commenced at noon Central Time Thursday in the Magnolia Ballroom at the beautiful Beau Rivage Casino in the heart of the Dirty South. It wouldn't end until just before four a.m. Friday, with fully 128 players having been eliminated and nearly a million gallons of extra-strength coffee having been consumed (and only half of that by Bill Edler).

The day began with two heretofore unknowns atop the chip leaderboard, Esther Taylor and Jacquelyn Scott leading a field that included the likes of Edler, Tiffany Michelle, Hevad Khan, Vanessa Rousso, Clonie Gowen and Barry Greenstein, among many others. It would end with two of the above in the money and the rest watching from the sidelines.

Thursday looked a lot like Brandon Cantu day in the early going. The WPT6 Bay 101 Shooting Star champ continued Wednesday's God-mode experience (in which he took Tiffany Michelle for massive bucks after four-betting pre with 7-6 and promptly flopping trips) by playing the day's first big pot, getting an opponent to commit his stack on a king-high flop with pocket queens to Cantu's K-Q.

Hit with the boom switch!

The turn was a dagger one-outer, bringing the case queen to give Player 2 the lead, but it would turn out to be nothing but a cruel twist of fate as Cantu spiked a two-outer of his own on the river, hitting a king to boat up and bust his hapless rival.

For all of that, however, Cantu would run out of steam when his aggression got the better of him midway through the proceedings, and he'd find himself eliminated nowhere near the money.

Also eliminated late Thursday afternoon was Michelle herself, Cantu's nemesis and the victim of Jordan "iMsoLucky0" Morgan, who took a monsterpotten from the Ultimate Bet pro sans showdown before finishing her off with a pocket pair of aces.

Later casualties as day progressed into night included Gavin Smith, Greg Mueller, David Singer and Clonie Gowen, as well as Day 1 chip leader Taylor, who lasted until only 50 players remained before shipping it all-in with top two pair against Tony Cousineau's overpair, only to see the Couse river a set to send Taylor out of business.

Couldn't make it last!

As the money bubble approached, Bernard Lee made a play to take over the chip lead, breaking the $600k chip barrier in a hand that saw him flop the nut flush against an opponent's top set. Lee would fade his opponent's full house outs and hold the lead for a minute, only to relinquish top spot after losing a race for half his stack.

That left Tyler Smith atop the leaderboard, but Smith's hold on the No. 1 spot would prove to be just as tenuous as Lee's. As Thursday night turned to Friday morning, Smith was cruising along with a whole pile of chips, only to see Stewart Yancik play chip burglar with A-K against his pocket kings with the aid of a timely ace on the river.

By four in the morning only 28 players remained in contention, with the day ending and the payouts beginning at 27th place, meaning players were on the money bubble and sleep bubble simultaneously. Mike Leah found himself the unfortunate bubble boy, his A-K coming up short against Allen Carter's K-Q after the latter turned a gut-shot straight to end Leah's million-dollar dreams prematurely.

Reading souls!

Thus ended Day 2 in the Dirty Dirty, with 27 players remaining and the whole lot of them guaranteed at least $13,186 for their time. Chip leader is Allen Carter with $776,000, while Hevad Khan ($443,000), Vanessa Rousso ($129,000), Jordan Morgan ($16,000), Ted Lawson ($185,000), Bernard Lee ($300,000) and Tony Cousineau ($206,000) make up the most notable components of the remaining contingent. Get full chip counts here.

Action is set to resume at 2 p.m. Central Time from the Chameleon Ballroom at the Beau and continue until only six players remain, meaning it could be another late night in Biloxi. Keep it locked on PokerListings.com and we'll keep it popping no matter how long it takes.