Community

The PokerStars VIP Club recognizes its community members and their achievements. When did the VIP Club start? How many players earned 1,000,000 VPPs last year? What is the record number of VPPs earned in a single year? Learn about the VIP Club’s history with related facts and figures.

You could be part of the legend. Check the VPP Leaderboard and see what it takes to join the year’s top fifty VPP earners.

VIP Club History

When it began, the PokerStars VIP Club was the first of its kind, rewarding players for playing real money poker games at the site. It’s gone from strength to strength ever since, and it’s still the biggest and best poker loyalty program there is!

The PokerStars VIP Club was opened on January 1, 2006. Before the VIP Club opened, players were able to earn FPPs and buy items from the VIP Store but there were no VPPs or VIP Statuses and VIP Store item selection was limited.

Supernova Elite

The year after the PokerStars VIP Club opened its doors, a new VIP level called Supernova Elite was added. This lofty VIP status requires 1,000,000 VPPs to be earned within a calendar year. 2007 saw 39 players reach Supernova Elite VIP status.

Year	Supernova Elite VIPs
2007	39
2008	147
2009	209
2010	342

To see this year’s top VPP totals, visit the VPP Leader Board .

Trailblazer

ElkY became the first player to achieve Supernova VIP Status. In 2006, he earned 100,000 VPPs in just 12 days. After the Supernova Elite VIP level was added in the following year, ElkY set his sights on it and went on to also become the first ever Supernova Elite VIP. He earned his 1,000,000th VPP in 2007 on May 6th.

Fastest to Earn Supernova Elite

The fastest member of the VIP Club to earn Supernova Elite is Andrew ‘azntracker’ Li. He set the record-breaking date for reaching Supernova Elite on February 28, 2011. For those keeping track, it took him 59 days. And he didn’t play for 9 of them. Li broke the previous record, held by George ‘jorj95’ Lind, by over two weeks.

Most VPPs in a Calendar Year

In 2010, Kevin ‘WizardOfAhhs’ Thurman earned 3,055,385.53 VPPs. This broke the previous record of 3,000,010.00 VPPs, set by George ‘jorj95’ Lind in 2009.

PokerStars Porsche

Dario Minieri saved up 3,000,000 FPPs over most of 2006 to become the first to purchase the coveted Porsche Cayman S from the VIP Store. Since then, a total of nine have been purchased by players from around the world. PokerStars VIPs have also used their FPPs to pay for vacations, tuition, a wedding, and even a horse!

Stellar Rewards

In 2010, VIP Stellar Rewards were introduced, offering cash bonuses for accumulating yearly VPPs. The rewards expanded in 2011 to offer a total of twenty VIP Stellar Rewards worth $1,200 for earning 100,000 yearly VPPs. At the same time, the FPP cost of Milestone Cash Credits was reduced to 1 FPP and a special $20,000 Milestone Cash Credit was made available to Supernova Elite VIPs.

The popularity of the instant cash rewards prompted a change to VIP Reward Bonuses in October of 2010. Previously requiring clearing, VIP Reward Bonuses were changed to immediately credit players cash once purchased from the VIP Store.