Martijn 'Quadchrazs' Ardon becomes Supernova Elite in Just 52 Days!

Becoming a PokerStars Supernova Elite is certainly not news - unless you're like Martijn 'Quadchrazs' Ardon and accomplish this feat in just 52 days! The Dutch grinder became the fastest-ever player to reach Supernova Elite status, which involves earning 1 million VPPs at PokerStars in one year. And as you'll find out, the amazing thing is that Ardon didn't even originally intend to reach this goal.

As far as the lofty standards that he sets for himself go, Quadchrazs wasn't happy with his volume last year. "I was kind of lazy in 2014 and decided I wanted to work hard in 2015," Ardon said. "That kind of spiraled into three really big days at the start of the year. It then became apparent I was first in the leaderboard and I wanted to keep it that way. I looked up the VPP record and decided to go for it, as I felt I was still playing fine."

What ensued was a daily routine that consisted of playing $100 buy-in sit and go's most of the day, with each delivering roughly 20 VPPs. Considering the fact that he was averaging over 1,000 SNGs daily, Ardon sometimes earned over 35,000 VPPs in a single day. If not for a stomach flu that forced him to quit playing for a week, Quadchrazs would've crushed the record much sooner. Even including the flu-ridden week, he eclipsed Andrew 'azntracker' Li's old record for fastest to a Supernova Elite by 7 days.

Groundhog Day

"I cannot see how this (record) can be beaten," said Gareth Davies, VIP Program Manager at PokerStars. "It must have been like Groundhog Day!"

To Ardon, Groundhog Day was a good way to describe his insane daily volume. "Yes it was at some point," he admitted. "Ideally I would have wanted to quit after 40 days or so. The games were really hard at some point in February because PokerStars was doing that 'ULTIMATE' promotion, which caused a lot of good players to make a lot of extra hours."

It's almost difficult to grasp just how amazing of an accomplishment Quadchrazs achieved by becoming a Supernova Elite in only 52 days. But it becomes even more incredible when you get an idea of his daily schedule during this feat.

"My standard day was getting up at between 12pm and 2pm and getting to sleep between 4am and 6am," Ardon said. "I would usually do four three-hour sessions a day depending on the action. I played 6-Max hypers mostly - my game of choice for the last few years.
"In February, when the $60 spin and go's were released, I was forced to play a little more hours and a little more other games as well, like fifty50 sit and go's and satellite hypers. The spins are very popular but I wasn't planning on learning an entirely new game while in this chase."

Ardon has a love for SNGs

Even the most-ardent poker lovers might find their resolve tested by playing over 1,000 SNGs per day. However, Quadchrazs definitely sees the positive in playing these single-table tourneys. "If you think SNGs are boring you miss a lot of important stuff to take into account!" He added that playing a high volume of SNGs is "more like a lot of stress than it is boring."

The fact that Ardon will already be earning rewards at PokerStars' highest VIP level certainly has to add to the excitement. Going further, it must be even sweeter when you consider that Ardon got his start playing penny poker in college. As he describes it, "The standard story of a student playing poker to try to make some easy money on the side which spiraled into something more."
That "more" now includes a prestigious record at PokerStars that should stand for quite some time.