Tournament commissioner Danny McDonagh predicted up to 140 players would be entered by the end of the week.
The game on offer is no-limit Texas Hold'em and with four days of first rounds to play, 120 players had qualified or bought into the tournament yesterday, he said.
Australian professional poker player Tony Hachem was excited by the tournament being held in Queenstown for the first time.
As well as "playing a lot of poker", he plans to visit Milford Sound, try paragliding, ride the gondola and go skiing.
A World Series, Asia Pacific Poker Tour and Australia New Zealand Poker Tour player, Hachem said the sport had grown from nothing about five years ago to a popular game attracting retired sports stars and many other people.
One of the game's attractions was its accessibility and one of the best ways to learn the game was on internet poker sites offering free games and tutelage, he said.
From there, people could begin to enter the tournaments, where they were likely to come face to face with some professional poker players.
The element of luck in poker meant they could win against elite players, although the best exponents were more likely to keep their nerve and win in the end.
Professional player Ian Hornby, of Queenstown, said the opportunity to play with other professionals like Hachem and other big names like Grant Levy, Emad Tahtouh, Celina Lin was "really exciting".
McDonagh credited Queenstown's attractions as the reason behind the good attendance of international players from Lithuania, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway.
The anticipated prize pool of about $250,000 was secondary to the scenery in attracting them and about 70% of them brought partners along.
There were about 40 players from around New Zealand, including 11 from Otago.
The tournament runs all week with the "first day" rounds running until Thursday.
The final rounds will be played at SkyCity Queenstown on Saturday.
