Playing in Singapore’s first International poker tournament are poker stars like Gus Hansen from Denmark and Harry Demetriou from the UK, alongside Singapore-born Willie Tann, who now lives in the United Kingdom.

The tournament is jointly organised by UK-based online betting exchange Betfair and Singapore partner Capital Events.

It runs for 5 days till Friday, and about 700 people (300 Singaporeans) will play in either the main event or in splinter games.

The main event will see a 3-day elimination contest starting on Wednesday.

To compete in this, players either had to qualify through online poker tournaments held by Betfair, or pay a £3,000 non-refundable buy-in fee.