The 10th anniversary of PokerStarsbrought with it a variety of high-stakes tournaments with life-changing prize pools. One event held during the festivities was a $10,300 buy-in 10th Anniversary High Roller tournament that drew a star-studded field of 187 players. The final nine featured some of the top names in online poker, including Grayson gray31 Ramage (pictured), who finished in second place for $289,000 and was one of five players to walk away with six-figure paydays.

Before we get into the interview, we thought it’d be useful to show you this talent-laden final table, which featured three players in the top 100 of the Rankings and two former #1s:

1. jcl87 $402,050.00 (jcl87)
2. gray31 $289,850.00 (gray31)
3. Stammdogg $219,725.00 (Stamdogg)
4. DYBYDX $163,625.00 (AshTheDonkey)
5. Chaaai $112,200.00 (Andrey Saenko)
6. ImDaNuts $93,500.00 (Gettin Daize)
7. montecarlo13 $74,800.00
8. djk123 $56,100.00 (djk123)
9. Greenstone25 $37,400.00

Accordingly, Ramage told PocketFives in an exclusive interview, “All the tables were really tough. I just tried to play my game, but certainly tightened up a bit because people just aren’t going to let you get away with much.” In the end, he walked away with his largest tracked cash to date and boosted his total online poker winnings to nearly $2.5 million.

Australia’s jcl87 came away with the win for over $400,000. Given that Ramage fell heads-up to the Aussie, we asked him to evaluate the winner’s game: “All I knew was that he was a cash reg. I made a huge fold to him at the final table in a 4bet pot with six players left and he seemed solid. He was definitely aggressive, but not someone who was going to spew his stack off. He won a lot of pots off me and since we were so deep-stacked, his cash background certainly helped.”

Ramage was in Montreal during the PokerStars 10th Anniversary High Roller event and was living in Toronto before Thanksgiving. “Now, I’m really in between places and probably moving to Mexico after the PCA.” He originally hailed from Texas, but was forced from the American market after Black Friday.

On his nomadic lifestyle, Ramage acknowledged, “It’s hard to live a normal life while constantly moving. I’ve thought about quitting poker after the 2012 WSOP if online poker isn’t regulated in the USA, but the money is just too good that I think I will keep playing either way.” Ramage and other U.S. poker players recently received a lift from the U.S. Department of Justice, which asserted on Friday that the 1961 Wire Act only applies to sports betting.

He admitted that he was a little surprised by his continued success given the obstacles he’s had to overcome as a U.S. online poker player: “I’ve been a little surprised with my success, especially in the last two months. I’ve been running better than I ever have, so it’s been a great heater. I have plenty of confidence in my game, but the results always help reinforce that.”

The 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure runs from January 5th to 14th from the Atlantis in the Bahamas. It’s the first running of the annual series since Black Friday, leading many, including Ramage, to believe the fields will be truncated this year: “I think it will definitely be smaller this time. Most of the very good American players will play it anyway, but the Euros are always fun to play against.” Earlier this year, Ramage finished 21st in the PCA Main Event for $75,000.

Two years ago, Ramage hit it big on the live poker scene after finishing 35th in the World Series of Poker Main Event for $253,000. He told us that the six-figure score was the tipping point in his poker career: “I took a huge shot in that. I had all of my own action when I had like $80,000 to my name. It gave me a lot of confidence that I could play poker for a living and it allowed me to continue playing whatever I wanted on my own.”

Visit PokerStarsfor more information on the 2012 PCA. If you don’t already have a PokerStars account, you can support PocketFives by signing up for one through our links.