He may have been booted from sites like PokerStarsand Full Tilt Pokerbecause he’s from the United States, but Bryan theczar19Piccioli (pictured) moved to #1 worldwide in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Player Rankingsthis week. He’s one of only a few top players ever to hold both the #1 PLB score and #1 Pro Poll score in the land at the same time and sat down with us to discuss his most recent achievement.

On April 15th, the founders and payment processing gurus of Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker were indicted in the United States on charges that included money laundering and violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. For Piccioli and other U.S. players, it meant being cut off from the largest U.S.-facing sites instantaneously.

His last recorded score came about a month ago on April 13th. Consequently, he admitted that reaching #1 post-Black Friday was a little bittersweet: “It’s strange having finally gotten there this long after the whole Black Friday ordeal considering I haven’t even played a tournament online in a month now. I never really got into the Rankings as much as some of my friends, but moving up was always a goal of mine. I definitely never thought I’d reach #1, but now that I have, it feels pretty good.”

Piccioli acknowledged, however, that his stint at #1 will likely be short-lived: “Obviously, it will be short-lived. Hopefully, I can keep Chris moorman1 Moorman (pictured) off my tail for at least another week or two, but I wish I were still able to grind online to try and keep my rank.” Moorman, the top ranked player in the United Kingdom, shot up from #6 worldwide this week to #3.

The Black Friday indictments and seizures have resulted in many U.S. online poker players seeking other means of income. Some who have elected to stay in the industry have contemplated moving to other countries, while others have turned to sites like Carbon Poker, Lock Poker, and RPM Poker, all of which continue to take U.S. players.

Piccioli gave PocketFives.com readers a glimpse into his future: “The first thing that came to mind was moving to Toronto. I’m originally from Buffalo, which is just south of the Canadian border and only about a two-hour drive up, so I would have still been close to my family. However, I’ve been doing some thinking lately and my plan now is to play a bunch live with the WSOP coming up and reevaluate my decision based on a few different things, mainly how the WSOP turns out and what the future of online poker in the USA is looking like a few months from now.”

While some pros have been a bit gun-shy about sharing their financial status, Piccioli told PocketFives.com that he has about 75% of his net worth locked up on Full Tilt: “Once PokerStars let us cash out, it gave me a little breathing room, but I have considerably more on Full Tilt as I did on Stars. If we’re still not able to cash out from Full Tilt by the time the WSOP starts, then I’m going to have to sell much more action than I had planned on.”

So far, Piccioli and other U.S. online poker players have been able to cash out on PokerStars, while funds on Full Tilt, UB, and Absolute Poker remain inaccessible. According to a recent USA Today article, the Poker Players Alliance estimates that between $100 million and $500 million was seized as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s raid a few weeks ago.

On Black Friday, Piccioli could be found at the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour’s Lima stop. Away from his home country, Piccioli took to the forums to find out the latest news from his peers.

He retraced his steps on Black Friday: “It was quite strange being out of the country hearing the news, but I was with a few fellow grinders down there and we all weren’t quite sure what to make of the whole scenario. The next day, we realized how serious it was. We kept reading updates on the forums online and once we realized that we wouldn’t be able to play online at all anymore, it really hit us.”

He summarized his emotions by recalling, “I decided it was best to figure everything out when I got back to the USA.”

Back in February, Piccioli took second in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series Two-Day Event for $282,000, his largest internet poker score to date. Just before Black Friday, he finished third in the Full Tilt $450,000 Guarantee for $59,000.

Check out the rest of the PocketFives.com Player Rankings.