Now, how many people do you know who fit that list of criteria? If you were able to pick out one name, it's more than likely a guy who goes by the name "plyboy_binny" on PokerStars.

The Supernova Elite from New Zealand has represented his country in table tennis and spends as many of his off hours as possible in training. "This year since I've gone for Supernova Elite, my training has decreased considerably," he said. "Nevertheless, I enjoy playing and its a great way to keep fit and keep me physically and mentally sharp."

While his time with the paddle may have been cut short, he's making the poker training worth his while. How so? Well, just check out the picture below.

That's "plyboy_binny" in his new ride, a sleek new Porsche he bought with his Frequent Player Points. They were points he earned on his way to becoming the first-ever Supernova Elite from New Zealand.

"Most of my school friends still can't get over how well I'm doing," he said.

"Plyboy_binny" does his best to not flaunt his success, with the possible exception of buying a brand new sports car.

"In the end I've found it's best if the majority of my friends don't know how much I make," he said. "They just know that I make enough to not have to worry about buying drinks."

Now "plyboy_binny" is already at work maintaining his Elite status for 2009. His only wish is that PokerStars would increase the 24-table limit.

"That would have helped me get the Porsche faster, and I would have paid more rake, too!" he joked.

Abdalla is better known on PokerStars as JLlama and was sure to make Supernova Elite in 2008. He just needed a way to recognize the moment. So, one day as he approached the summit, he came up with a plan.

"I had the idea that myself and another player with 999,999 VPPs should do a flip for the last point," he said.

Abdalla went to work in the Two Plus Two Forums. It wasn't as easy a prospect as he thought it might be.

"There were a couple different players I had planned to do it with, but one of them was further along and didn't want to wait for me to hit 999,999," he said. "The next guy tried to get to 999,999, but accidentally won the last point."

Even though Abdalla had reached his penultimate point on December 13th, it took until after Christmas to get the plan worked out. He finally found a taker in "BIGLivesOn." That's when the plan got even tricker.

They decided to fill the rest of their table with existing Supernova Elites. That, too, was a bit difficult.

"Some of the people we spoke to on the 2+2 thread didn't show up at the time. We ended up trying to recruit a couple Elites from their games online," Abdalla said. "One such Elite, 'bfl4me,' was playing 24 tables and entered a heads up $1,100 SNG against 'JohnSmiley1' just to recruit him for our cause."

Finally they had their table.

Everybody put in their $50 and the flip was on. The board ran out Jh-Th-4d-3h-Kc. Abdalla's 5d-9s and BIGLivesOn's Qh-3s didn't play well on the board against TheLife's Kd-Ah, but the $297 pot didn't mean as much as that last point that put the guys over the one million VPP mark.

And then tragedy struck.

"We expected our red Supernova stars to change to black Supernova Elite stars," Abdalla said.

When the stars stayed red, Abdalla and BIGLives scratched their heads. Then they moved to another table and all was well.

Now that Abdalla has his black stars, he's not taking much time to reflect. He says he is more relaxed, but he he's looking forward. He's branching out beyond his normal limit hold'em game and looking to take advantage of his Elite status and free entries to the EPT Grand Final and World Series Main Event.

"I think the Pokerstars VIP program is very cool," Abdalla said. "I am thankful I was able to take advantage of it to the fullest in 2008."

by Millie Shiu

I first played poker in 1998. At that time, I owned a hair salon in Los Gatos, CA (near San Jose). That year, my friends took me to Bay101 for my birthday and I tried my hand at the 2-4 holdem game. I won 70 bucks and had a blast playing it, so I would try to sneak away from my salon whenever I could to play. I also ordered a bunch of poker books online so I could learn as much as possible. Within a year, I was playing 80-160 at Lucky Chances in Colma, CA and decided to sell my salon because I found that I could make a living playing poker...and it was alot more fun than running my hair salon!

Over the next few years, I spent alot of time in Los Angeles at the Commerce playing mostly 100-200 limit holdem. I would also visit Las Vegas once in a while and play at the Bellagio. During one of my visits to Vegas in 2002, I met my now husband Ted Park. I knew him from the Bay Area and hadn't seen him in several years, so it was nice to catch up with each other. He also plays poker, so we would visit Las Vegas 3 to 4 times a year.

In 2004, we were in town for the WSOP and I decided to play some events, including the women's event in which I came 2nd. This was a televised event on ESPN so it was fun to have people say they saw me on tv...there were numerous times I would be out and people would buy me a drink because they liked watching me on TV.

It was at around this time that I began playing online poker. Ted had been playing online for several years and told me that it was a good idea for me to try it. It was very convenient and the games were very good. Even though I tried it, I still preferred to play
live games because I liked being able to read people at the table. But the more I played online, I realized that you could read players there too even though the other players were not physically in front of you.

In 2005, Ted and I decided to buy a house in Las Vegas. We had spent the past couple of years spending 4-5 months out of the year living in the Bellagio during tournament time. We would visit and realized that since poker was both of our professions, it would make more sense just to live in Vegas. We moved into our house in October and have been in Vegas ever since!

Ironically, it was at this time that I began playing online poker more often. Outside of tournament time, the 100-200 limit holdem game didn't go every day and the games were often hit or miss. So I began concentrating on improving my online game. At this time, I played mostly at Party Poker because Ted played at PokerStars and we couldn't play in the same game. By the end of the year, I was comfortable enough to play 8 or 9 games at a time...quite a change from playing one live game.

After Party Poker closed its business to U.S. customers in 2006, I began playing exclusively at PokerStars. Even though I would still play live at the Bellagio once in a while, I would now say I was an online player. By this time, Ted didn't play as much online, so I now could play mostly any game I wanted.

In 2007, I became pregnant with my first child. As my pregnancy progressed, I enjoyed spending more time at home, sleeping in since carrying a baby can be exhausting. So if I decided to play poker, it was now strictly online...it was too tiring to go out to play.

After giving birth to a beautiful baby girl at the end of 2007, I have definitely been spending more time at home raising her. So in 2008, I would often play at PokerStars while the baby was napping or if she was with her father. Since I was at home most of the time with the baby (especially during the first 6 months), I found myself putting in alot of hours playing online at PokerStars. By accumulating so many VPP points during this time, I found myself in the position to achieve Supernova Elite status. I reached Elite status by the end of December and get to reap the rewards right away by playing in the 2009 PCA!

I am very excited to visit Atlantis again. Ted and I attended this event in 2005 and 2006 and we had a great time. Also, since there are so many pools, we are excited to bring our daughter Ashley there to play--she loves the water! I am also excited to play in the tournament. Ted is good friends with Mr. PokerStars himself, Daniel Negreanu, so he has given me a lot of good tournament tips that l can't wait to use. Even though Ted says Daniel's an idiot and I shouldn't listen to his nonsense, I think I'll follow Daniel's tips (these two always fight like little kids--it's like having 2 more babies).

So that's my story of how I got to Supernova Elite. Hopefully we'll have a chance to meet each other at the PCA!

by Eric Liu

I'm a 23 year old high stakes cash game player and instructor at CardRunners who has just recently started playing live tournaments. I've had good success so far, cashing in all 3 of the EPTs I've played in (PCA, Monte Carlo, London). Just recently a few months ago I moved to San Francisco and brought along my car, a Mazda RX-8, and needed to get a new clutch for it. Well, the clutch was too tight, so I kept stalling, which is very bad news in San Francisco because of all the hills.

Naturally, I decided to get a car thats powerful, nice looking, and very good on hills, and nothing is better at doing that than a Range Rover! Coupled with the fact that I've wanted a Range Rover or Escalade for some time now, it just seemed like the natural decision to make.

The specific SUV that I purchased is a black '08 Range Rover Sport Supercharged. I've only driven it a few times so far as its new and I'm out of town so much, and so far I simply love it. I love the way it looks, and the stuff inside is incredible. Technology these days is incredible--everything is automatc: seat positions, windshield wipers,lights, temperature, GPS, etc. There are also a few quirks about it that are amusing but mostly useless: a dial that allows driving in all different kinds of terrain (rain, snow, gravel, sand), a button that raises and lowers the car, and the most ridiculous of all, a large yellow button that allows the car to go down a 45 degree incline on loose sand.

In a few years when my RX-8 gets old and I'm settled in Las Vegas (where there are no hills), I'm probably going to replace it with a porsche 911 turbo. Hopefully I'll have enough FPPs by then to get yet another car from Pokerstars.

He used them to buy a truck. This truck.

We asked PokerStars newest man behind the wheel a few questions.

How did you get started playing?

knifefish8: I started playing online about three years ago. I deposited $20 online and the next thing I knew I had over $1,000. I played limit Heads up at first to build my roll. I have always liked playing heads up sit and goes over any other type of poker. Later on, I found out about poker stars and played the majority of my games there. Now I mainly play $220-$1,100 heads up.

What do you do when you're not playing cards?

knifefish8: Besides cards, I am also a full time college student here in Ft. Myers. I will be graduating next year with a degree in criminal justice. It could be very easy to drop out of school and not go to class when poker is going well, but I made a decision to stick with it. Between poker and school, I play on a competitive baseball league here, and hang out with friends whenever possible.

How long did it take you to build up the points to get the truck?

knifefish8: It's hard to say how long it took to get all those points, but it was less than a year. I knew for a while that I would be using my points to purchase my next vehicle, so that kept me real motivated to keep playing. This year I also really wanted to reach Supernova Elite (which I did), so I have been grinding a lot throughout the year. I have gotten pretty good at multi-tabling, and can usually run four heads up at a time. During the 1.5x VPP promotion heads-up, I was often 6-7 tabling $220-$550 Heads up, so that helped with the points a lot (not necessarily my bankroll though). I would also play the $109 and $225 9 and 10 mans, around 15 tables at a time when I did, just to try to get to Elite and get points for the truck (again, did not improve my bankroll).

What do your friends say when you got a truck with FPPs?

knifefish8: It is hard to explain to people how you can make money and earn points by playing online poker when they have no idea. A lot of people think that since I can do it, they can, when really there is so much involved in the game before you show a profit, it isn't even worth it for them to start. I do have some close poker friends whom I get to talk poker with and who understand the whole concept, but with other people I try to not talk about it so much. I have already gotten some items with my points, such as electronics and gift cards, that my friends thought were incredible, so when I told them that my poker site paid the dealership with my points for the truck, they were shocked. The funniest reaction comes from the car dealers, though. When a young guy comes in asking to see an expensive truck and tells the dealer he doesn't have a job, and wants to pay the whole thing in cash, the expression on their faces is priceless. I love the truck and am glad I put it in the work to get it. It has a GPS system, leather, sunroof, a great sound system; it's top of the line.

What's next for you?

knifefish8: For now, I will still be playing. I have achieved Supernova Elite, so I plan to take advantage of the FPP multiplier, and plan to get to the next milestone bonus, 1,250,000. I will be finishing up school in a year, and my first baseball game starts Sunday so I am excited about that. I also used my Elite package for a free trip to the PCA in the Bahamas. This is really my first big live tournament, so it should be interesting.

In the month of July, we witnessed seven people reach the highest level of the VIP Club: Supernova Elite. Among those seven, messier111 did it the old-fashioned way (busting his tail end at the tables). Six people, however, found themselves with Supernova Elite statuses without putting in the full grind. The following people won special tournaments that carried them the rest of the way to Supernova Elite: amarillion, Nookx, vinny ferret, Milwaukee2, non5ense, and IntenseDawg.

Amarillion played in the Platinum Star freeroll at the end of the month. Mainly a mid-stakes cash game player, you'll often find him in the big Sunday tournaments. Living in London, Amarillion has been playing fulltime for the past couple of years.

"I'm looking forward to the WCOOP events, especially the Main Event, as it should have a huge prize pool," he said. "As for now, I'll make the most of Supernova Elite by playing a lot of cash, and hopefully a few EPTs this year. I'll try to earn myself a Porsche in the not too distant future, too."

Across the Atllantic, Alan "IntenseDawg" Liu woke up one day as a regular PokerStars VIP Club member. Before he went to bed again, he was a Supernova Elite. Liu started playing poker seriously at the beginning of this year. Inspired bu a friend who grinds mid-stakes for a living, Liu started off playing with play money.

"I eventually moved to the 2-cent tables, and now I regularly play .50/$1 NLHE cash games," he said.

Now, a grinder in his own right, Liu is a Supernova Elite, thanks to the PokerStars 2X VIP Status promotion tournaments.

"At first, I had zero expectations going in," Lui said. "I was playing really well, made it to the final table, and willed my way to the top two."

Lui plans to continue his .50/$1 grind, while is still keeping his eye on the chance to move up as soon as possible. His new Supernova Elite status will get him an entry into the EPT Monte Carlo or the World Series Main Event. Lui hasn't decided which he wants yet.

"My dream is to play in big live tournaments and try to make a name for myself in the world of poker," he said.

by stevie444

I am 19 year old and live in southeast England. Growing up, I have always been obsessed with one hobby or another. I used to play golf a lot and would play multiple rounds almost every day on school holidays. It was hard playing poker when I started taking it seriously because all the best tournaments are at night time for me, being that I am five hours ahead of ET. It's a lot better now though, and although there are definitely downsides to sleeping at around 8am to 4pm, I love playing poker for a living and wouldnt change it. I feel incredibly privileged to be in a position where I can make the money I do at my age just by playing a game that I love and traveling all over the world.

I started playing full time when I finished school in July of 2007. I played primarily MTTs and within half a year I was ranked 11th on P5s. In December, I took a lot of time off to hang out with family and play my first live tournament, EPT Prague. I really enjoyed the experiance of playing live and meeting up with other poker players. So, when I got back I played a few PCA Step 6 tournaments. I ran pretty good, won a few seats, and had an awesome time in the Bahamas. It was so much fun. I also managed to win a 1k side event.

During this time I was playing a few SNGs and realised I was making quite a few VPPs. I was excited when the Steps came back, as the PokerStars package for PCA was great. I was looking forward to more live events. I also really enjoy the Steps because of the adrenaline rush you get from being deep in a tournament for a lot of money - that is one of the reasons I enjoy MTTs and with Steps its almost like you start at the final table, so you get that rush a lot more.

Another great thing about the Steps is how many VPPs you get. I realised pretty quickly that if I played a decent amount of them I could achieve SNE. A few months later and I have won more 100 tournament packages from Steps and have visited the Bahamas, Warsaw, San Remo and Monte Carlo and have had so much fun - the accommodation included in the packages is fantastic and the whole experiance is definitely one I would recommend.

I would say collecting VPPs was a big motivation for me to play - especially when running bad and a few days ago I crossed the 1 million mark after making 62k VPPs on the first two days of the month thanks to the double points promo for WSOP satellites. Unfortunately I wont be able to use any of my 63 packages until 2010 due to my age, but I look forward to attending a lot of EPTs this year and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that PokerStars will run Steps to most of them. I currently play the Step 5 and 6 events on a daily basis along with the biggest MTTs.

When I came back from Warsaw it was a Sunday on the day of my return so I decided to fire up some MTTs and Steps that night, as Sunday is the best day of the week for poker. I needed to get straight back on to my 'American' sleep schedule. I hadn;t had much sleep the night before though and I was kinda tired from traveling and as the night wore on I got more and more sleepy. Eventually at about 5am I had busted all my MTTs and was ready to collapse into bed as soon as I had finished the one last Step 6 that I was playing. I could barely keep my eyes open and 1 tabling wasn't helping. In Step 6 there is a 5 minute break after 1 hour and I had around 3000 chips when we hit this break which was around 10BBs for when we returned. Anyway I thought it would be a good idea to rest my eyes during this break and the next thing I remember is waking up to the message 'Congratulations, you have finished 6th' and several IM's from confused friends asking me why I was sitting out of a Step 6.

I guess dedication comes at a price.

The PokerStars VIP Club operates much like a penthouse. Few people get to the very top, but those who do live the high life. Just ask George Lind III, the first Supernova Eliite of 2008. He's one of two people so far in 2008 who achieved the highest rung of the PokerStars VIP Club. Those folks get five Frequent Player Points for every VIP Player Point they earn. They get hundreds of thouands of dollars worth of freerolls every month. They also get free entries to two big time events like the World Championship of Online Poker main event, the EPT Grand Final, and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the World Series Main Event, and APPT Final.

This time last year, PokerStars had around 25 players on pace to hit Supernova Elite. Apparently, word got around. The folks at PokerStars say there are 60 players on track to make it to Supernova Elite in 2008.

In 2007, Team PokerStars Pro Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier became the first person to ever make it to Supernova Elite. Today he's nearly collected enough FPPs to put a down payment on a very nice house. No word yet on whether he intends to buy a penthouse.

The great thing about the VIP Club's Supernova Elite program is you don't have to have a special card to get in. You have a long ride to the top, but when you get there you'll discover it's been worth the wait.

The 29 year-old from Hanover, Germany is no pro poker player. He works as a software consultant and it's only in his spare time that he gets free to dabble in his hobbies, poker and bridge. When he does get a chance to play cards, he plays $1/$2 NL online and the occasional $27 SNG. He poked around in the World Series Steps events but never had much success.

"I have tried some but can't recall ever making it past Step 3," he said.

The decision to play the VIP Club satellite put SanchoHH in a position he'd never been before. He picked up the Step 4 ticket and recouped 187 Frequent Player Points. So, he moved on to the Step 5 event, something that would cost $700 for a direct buy-in.

You see where this is going, right?

Within 24 hours, SanchoHH had won a Step 6 ticket plus 250 more Frequent Player Points...and then in the Step 6 he won a $12,500 package to the World Series Main Event and another 1,250 Frequent Player Points.

So, let's do the math, eh?

SanchoHH buys into an event for only 1000 Frequent Player Points. Within 24 hours, he's sitting with a $12,500 World Series package and 1,687 Frequent Player Points.

Said one PokerStars official, "We paid him 687 FPPs for the WSOP package."

Nothing like getting paid to go to the World Series.

Supernova Elite is the highest rung of the ladder in the VIP Club. Players have to earn one million VIP Player Points to earn the distinction. Last year, only 39 players managed the achievement (Team PokerStars Pro, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier was the first of that year).

In April of last year, a friend told Jorj95 about the Supernova Elite program. " I thought it would be a fairly easy thing for me to accomplish while making some money along the way," he said. "Then I earned over 500,000 VPP in just the month of May and pretty much coasted the rest of the year to make it to Elite."

He makes it sound pretty easy, no? Well, that was last year. Consider this. He has been married for less than a year and he's already made it to the Elite level...twice.

Taking a look back at jorj95's poker history, it's hard to imagine him failing at anything. In 1998, he started playing low limit games recreationally in casinos. In early 2000, he took a shot at 20/40 hold'em.

"Within about six months I was playing as high as 400/800 mix games," he said.

He played big bet seven card stud games and made enough money that, by April 2001, he had quit his computer programming job and started playing cards fulltime. It seemed he had found his calling. Or maybe not.

"In early 2004, I pretty much quit playing poker because I got bored with it and I got into sports betting," he said. "I did this for a few years, but a lot of the opportunities with sports betting have dried up."

What's fairly amazing is that jorj95 didn't start playing cards again until he learned about the Supernova Elite program this time last year. So, he got married, made Supernova Elite, and set his sites on 2008.

As 2008 began, jorg95 didn't log on to play. He relaxed for a few days, went to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and didn't worry about the Supernova Elite program for nearly two weeks. He didn't play a single hand online until January 13.

Two months and five days later, on March 18, jorj95 became the first Supernova Elite of 2008.

As for what he's going to do now, that's still up in the air. Whatever he decides, there is certainly more poker to be played this year. By virtue of making Supernova Elite, he gets free entry into the World Championship of Online Poker main event, as well as two big buy-in live events...all for less than three months work.

Congratulations to jorj95 for the achievement.

These are all things that PokerStars player blego151 had to have thought when his teenage daughter came home from summer camp. There, she had been riding a horse all summer.

"She just loved him to death," he said.

Of course, it was easy at first. The horse belonged to somebody else. Blego151 simply couldn't buy it for his daughter. Then things changed.

"When he came up for sale," he said, "she just had to have him."

Money what it is today, blego151 was having a hard time justifying the expense of actually buying a giant animal for his daughter. And then he happened upon an idea: the PokerStars VIP Concierge Service.

A few e-mails later and belego's daughter had her beloved horse. "They go to jumping lessons once a week and are getting ready for the local shows in the summertime," he said.

In just the past several months, PokerStars players have used their Frequent Player Points for a safari, plane tickets, homes, and cars. This marks this first time in history someone has traded a collection of FPP credits for an animal.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the gift horse's honest to goodness registered name?

Midnight Gambler.

Of all the new Porsche owners in the PokerStars stable, nobody knows about the speed better than DDBeast. And he's found a way to get around the whole speed trap thing.

You'll recall, DDBeast picked up his new Caymen late last year. Where some people might have parked the car in the driveway for all the neighbors to see, DDBeast did something else.

He headed to the track.

A novice racer, DDBeast recently spent a weekend turning his new Porsche into a race car and learning how to drive it in such a way. Under the tutelage of some national Autocross champions, DDBeast quickly realized the less-than-conventional things he could do wiith his car.

"I had plans to sell the Cayman before I got it," DDBeast admitted, "but now there's no way I can let go. I was simply amazed at how well the Cayman held the road. You couldn't lose control if you tried."

After a weekend of training, DDBeast ended up in a five-minute high-speed showdown in his class of novice racers. Out of more than 30 cars, including two Lotus Elises, DDBeast came in first place.

"It was so amazing," he said. "When I tell everyone how I got the car they are blown away."

Even if that were the case, the rewards alone might make it worth it. The PokerStars players who make it to to Supernova Elite get five Frequent Player Points for every one VIP Player Point they earn. They get weekly freerolls into events with tens of thousands of dollars. They get a free entry into a $100,000 freeroll every month. Finally, they get free entry into the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, and entry into their choice of two big events like the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the World Series Main Event, or the Grand Finals of the EPT or APPT.

Indeed, the rewards alone might be worth locking yourself in a room with a cooler full of energy drinks and a case of Visine. Then think about what you can do with all the FPP credits--millions of them, overflowing your PokerStars account that can be used for just about anything you want. Worth it? I'd say so.

Bigjoe2003 was the second person to achieve Supernova Elite Level at PokerStars (Team PokerStars Pro's ElkY was the first). That was a mere nine months ago. After seeing the guy with his massive poker playing set-up, I couldn't help but be impressed at how normal he looked. He was not robot. He didn't look like he hadn't seen the sun in days. He only looked like he was about to cash in and in a very big way.

So, what then? A car? A trip around the world? What was bigjoe2003 going to do with the fruits of his labor?

How about a house?

After making it to Supernova Elite, bigjoe2003 went to Las Vegas for the World Series, Prague for the EPT, and to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He spent a lot of time with his business partners on a SNG coaching web site. He also started delving into the traditional business world and started working to start up an oil and gas recovery company. That kind of smart thinking is enough to humble just about anybody.

But, what did he do next? He cashed in his Frequent Player Points...and bought a house. In fairness, it would take a lot of FPP to buy the whole house. So, bigjoe2003 simply used enough to pay for $100,000 worth of the downpayment. Yeah.

A hundred grand.

It's not just any house. The 5400 square feet boast of a heated pool and hot tub, three waterfalls, six bedrooms, a game room with a pool table and dartboard, a bar room, eight plasma screen TVs ranging from 40-50 inches, a small orchard in the back yard consisting of 2 fig trees, 2 apple trees, a pear tree, a persimmon tree, and a plum tree.

"I grew up in a trailer park, so being able to live in a million dollar house was always a dream of mine," bigjoe2003 said. "I greatly appreciate PokerStars' help in allowing me to reach that goal."

Any illusions about pasty-faced robots should now be put aside. Bigjoe2003 seems to be setting the standard for what one can do with Supernova Elite status. Oh, and if you're looking for a place to live, bigjoe2003 bought another house in his hometown to rent out to the people he coaches.

Get in line.