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Australia Day was celebrated yesterday at the Aussie Millions tournament in Australia, and among the biggest revelers were Patrick Antonius, Tobias Reinkemeier and Sorel Mizzi. Joining them at the top of the leaderboard for Day 2 were Randy Lew of Team PokerStars, WSOP and WPT winner Erick Lindgren, and WSOP and EPT dominator Carter Phillips.

Meanwhile, some of the biggest poker pros including Roland de Wolfe, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey and 2006 Aussie Millions champion Lee Nelson were eliminated from the Main Event. Ivey started the tournament strong but had his stack all but depleted at the hands of Antonius, who doubled up in a dramatic late hand against the Full Tilt Poker pro.

Sorel Mizzi, who finished 16th and 3rd at the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Aussie Millions tournament, respectively, commented on his seemingly automatic success at Australian tournaments. Though this year’s event hasn’t been as easy for Mizzi as in years past, humorously pointed to the lamb kabobs at the Crown Casino as the source of his ongoing success. Mizzi, who was named Player of the year by Bluff Magazine in 2010, also mentioned that he plans to take a break from poker after the Aussie Millions until the WSOP to take martial arts classes in Thailand. Like many young poker pros (Mizzi is only 24), he cited a fear of burnout as his reason for the upcoming break.

The winner of the Aussie Millions Main Event, which is set to conclude on January 29th, will win a massive first place prize of AUD $2 million.

The Aussie Millions Main Event began with 721 players, and that field was whittled down to only 265 by the beginning of Day 2. The conclusion of Day 2 diminished the roster to nearly 72, a figure representing the money bubble for the event.

Day 3 begins at 12:30 PM on Thursday, effectively today in the United States.