On the first day of January, Shane shaniacSchleger (pictured) got the 2012 calendar year started off on the right foot by taking part in a seven-way chop of the PokerStars Sunday Million. That’s right, the weekly tournament, which attracted about 7,300 players on January 1st, was chopped seven ways. Schleger took home $84,000 and finished in seventh place when all was said and done, a feat stirring enough for us to chase down the longtime PocketFiver for an interview.

Schleger told us that it was the “utility” of the money that mattered and that he was only sitting on 12 big blinds when the deal was struck. It will go down as his largest online poker score to date and, accordingly, he admitted, “It feels great. It’s hard to script things better than making the final table of the Sunday Million on New Year’s Day.” A total of $1.5 million was paid out.

Curiously, his two largest online poker cashes have come on festive occasions. His seven-way chop of the Sunday Million happened on New Year’s Day, while his largest score to date prior to that, a $76,000 payday in the PokerStars $100 Rebuy, happened on Super Bowl Sunday. Coincidence? “I definitely like playing on these Sundays when people are distracted or hung over. I have to imagine it helps that I am rested and focused, while other people are hung over or watching football.”

Following Black Friday, Schleger, an American, was forced to seek alternative means to continue playing online poker. His solution was to move to Rosarito Beach, Mexico (pictured), just a few hours away from his girlfriend in California. He told us, “I split my time between Mexico and Santa Monica, where my girlfriend lives. It’s only about a three-hour drive plus the wait at the border, so I can maintain some connection to my life in California and my girlfriend. In general, I will probably be spending five days a week down there grinding online and try to get back to California two days a week or so.”

Schleger joined PocketFives in its very first year of operation. Over the course of his career, he has multiple wins in the PokerStars $200 Rebuy and $100 Rebuy. He also owns a MiniFTOPS title and has a colossal $2.6 million in tracked earnings to his name. In January 2007, he was as high as #22 worldwide in the PocketFives Rankings. He’s also a member of Team PokerStars Online after having signed on with the site in February 2011.

Schleger has now returned to PokerStars, which left the U.S. market following Black Friday. We asked him to describe the process of being reinstated on the world’s largest online poker room and continuing his sponsorship: “You need a lease, a bank account, and a utility bill in your name. I had to establish a residency outside the U.S. in order to keep playing on PokerStars after Black Friday. I was in Canada for a few weeks before Mexico, but that ultimately didn’t work out.”

By the way, players from the United States and elsewhere looking to relocate to poker-friendly countries can utilize a service like Poker Refugees, which has moved people to destinations like Costa Rica, Panama, and Canada. Learn more about Poker Refugees.

When Black Friday struck, poker players in the United States were at a crossroads. Some pondered playing live poker, while others moved to various countries. Some have gotten out of the game entirely. Schleger admitted that not being a poker pro was never an option: “I certainly didn’t come up with any alternatives and the opportunity to continue my sponsorship was something I could not pass up.”

He’s started off 2012 with a bang and explained what his goals for the remainder of the year are: “I want to be able to put in a solid year on the MTT grind, which I was not able to do last year. I’m hoping to get into a good flow and routine, put in a lot of hours down in Rosarito Beach, hopefully see some results, and make the most of the Black Friday fiasco.”

Visit PokerStars to play with Schleger and the rest of Team PokerStars Online.