Day 3 of the World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship proved once again why WPT tournaments are some of the toughest and most entertaining events on the circuit. The difficult Day 3 saw quite a few top players hit the rail including J.C. Tran, Sorel Mizzi, Lee Markholt, Darus Suharto, Steve Paul-Ambrose, and sadly PokerRoad's Barry and Joe.

Although the PokerRoad family hated to see the demise of "The Bear" and "The Cub," there was still much to cheer about on Tuesday, as good old Gavin "The Caveman" Smith continued his winning ways before ending the day second in chips with 979,000. Gavin is now only 26 eliminations away from taking down this thing, but unfortunately for him, there is still a ridiculous amount of pro level competition in his path, including a legendary top five that also includes Matt Matros (943,000), Kathy Liebert (879,000), Erik Seidel (851,000) and Vivek "FLOG" Rajkumar - who currently leads the field with 1,080,000.

Vivek Rajkumar won the last stop on the World Poker Tour, The Borgata Poker Open, which means he is now dangerously close to doing something no one (not even Gus Hansen) has done before - win two WPT events back to back. If he could do this, it would be one of the most impressive accomplishments in tournament poker history. An accomplishment so historic, that Gavin would gladly accept defeat just to see it come to fruition - okay, actually, probably not.

To root on "Psyduck" and/or Mr. Smith, visit www.worldpokertour.com for live updates, photos, chip counts and compelling videos starring PokerRoad's own Amanda Leatherman.

Story by Mark Anderson