On February 12th, U.S. nomad Kyle KJulius10Julius (pictured) came away with a win in the PokerStars Sunday Million. There were actually two Sunday Million tournaments that took place that fateful day, and Julius was rewarded with a bankroll boost of nearly $180,000 for finishing first in the second go-around. The supplemental Sunday Million of the day brought out 5,671 entrants and offered up a prize pool of $1.1 million. Right before Black Friday, Julius could be found as high as #14 in the PocketFives Rankings, and currently stands at #139.

“I was in Niagara Falls for a $5,000 Main Event they had,” Julius told us about his big afternoon. “I busted that really quickly and had enough time to run to my room and register for the two Warm-Ups, Millions, and everything else that was running. I had about 35,000 in chips at 80-160 and really never looked back. I felt like I had a ton of chips the entire tournament, and when you get deep in the Sunday Million, there are a lot of inexperienced players who are going to be playing scared. So, I took advantage and just put tons of pressure on everyone, which made it pretty easy to chip up and eventually take it down.”

We’re always amazed by poker players’ ability to be able to put a defeat like the Niagara Falls $5,000 Main Event behind them and switch gears for an afternoon of high-stakes online poker tournaments. Julius contended, “You have to be able to just let it go when you bust these things. You are going to bust them more often than win them, so if you dwell on it, you won’t get anywhere.” He edged out Australia’s weygang1 in the un-chopped Sunday Million.

Julius gave us a quick scouting report on weygang1, who recently picked up his $1 million cash badge in his PocketFives profile: “I recognized his name and had played a lot with him before. I always thought he played well and obviously played sick to take second in the Sunday Million.” The Australian sits just behind Julius at #150 in the Rankings and won the PokerStars Sunday 500 in June.

Following Black Friday, which resulted in sites like PokerStars leaving the American market after action from the U.S. Department of Justice, Julius packed his bags and headed for Vancouver. He admitted that he “got set up a few months ago such that whenever I’m out of the country, I can play” and so makes regular trips back to his home in Illinois. He frankly admitted, “It’s great to be home and see my family, dog, and friends. There is lots of going out when I’m in the United States due to the fact that I don’t have a way of playing poker there.”

September was a landmark month for Julius, who took down the PokerStars $215 Sunday Supersonic for $38,000 and finished third in a $109 tournament on the same site for another $19,000. In January, Julius broke through on the live circuit with a second place finish in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event following a heads-up chop. The Illinois native walked away with $1.5 million after falling to John Dibella (pictured), who earned $1.7 million and the title.

Perhaps fueled by his PCA Main Event success and the risks of playing online poker in the United States, Julius has his sights set on playing more live events in 2012: “I’m just going to play as much as possible live this year until I’m burned out. As long as I’m enjoying playing, I’m going to do so.”

Julius has been a member of PocketFives since 2006 and is about to lap $2.5 million in tracked online cashes. He has about $1.7 million in live tournament scores to boot, according to the Hendon Mob, and has even recorded a Triple Crown on our site.

A total of 810 players finished in the money in the second running of the PokerStars Sunday Million on February 12th. Here’s how the final nine cashed out:

1. KJulius10 – $177,391.58 (KJulius10)
2. weygang – $132,134.30 (weygang1)
3. kinamon8 – $93,401.37
4. padjes – $64,082.30 (padjes)
5. 26071985 – $48,203.50
6. engelberth.v – $36,861.50
7. vwborat18 – $25,519.50
8. p.s.newreg – $14,177.50
9. DONTSTAKEME – $9,073.60

The tournament regularly has a $215 buy-in and comes your way once a week. Visit PokerStars for more details.