How many people have you met who list among their hobbies, "drinking with friends, being balla and traveling?" If you live in the poker world, your answer probably includes a list of more than a few people. Now, however, see if you can find any people among that list who are top table tennis players and own a Porsche they bought without money.

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.

Boston's Jake Abdalla wanted it to be a special moment. Certainly, anyone who makes it to the PokerStars VIP Club's Supernova Elite status could pretty much write the one million VIP Player Point off as special and move on. But, hey, people have already done that. Abdalla wanted something different.

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.

Click image to see full version

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."

When Eric Liu found himseld in need of a new car, he didn't just go down to the used car lot and pick up a clunker to get him around town. He chatted up the folks at the PokerStars VIP Club and ended up paying for most of his vehicle with Frequent Player Points. We asked him to let us in on the story, and he obliged. Here's what he had to say.

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.

If PokerStars Frequent Player Points ever started weighing anything, carting around a few million of them would be a pretty hard task. PokerStars VIP Club member knifefish8 may have just come up with a solution.

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.