In November, Steve McNallyvilleMcNally (pictured) finished third in the PokerStars Sunday Million following a six-way chop and put back $103,000. It was the second largest score of his career and his second cash over $100,000, raising his career total past $5.1 million. McNally is the 11th ranked PocketFiver in Mexico, where he moved from the USA four years ago.

PocketFives: How are you feeling chopping the Sunday Million?

Steve McNally: Pretty great. It’s obviously most online players’ dream to finally hit it or have a good run in it. It’s normally the weekend joke going in: “Oh, you could just win the Million.”

PocketFives: How did the chop go?

Steve McNally: When we were six-handed, we decided to look at the numbers and I only knew one other guy, bigbluffzinc, at the table. We were first and second at the time, so it seemed like a good idea. I guess we could have gotten too caught up in the moment and maybe cost ourselves some money by not trying to negotiate for some more money because our lifetime results were quite a bit higher than the other guys left, but I think sometimes when you see yourself with a chance to get over $100,000, you get pretty excited.

PocketFives: Any plans for the money?

Steve McNally: Not really. I guess it just gives me more peace of mind. I’ll probably be smarter with it than I have in the past when I was younger.

PocketFives: Talk about your relationship with fellow PocketFiver Jon PearlJammer Turner (pictured).

Steve McNally: Meeting Jon PearlJammer Turner is 100% the reason I am still here today. I was visiting Vegas when I was 22 and played cash games, mainly at Bellagio. There was this guy there almost every day like me and he seemed to be winning quite often.

One day, we got seated next to each other and struck up a conversation, grabbed dinner, and he gave me a ride back to my hotel. The next day, we talked about playing the daily tournament at the Wynn, which back then was way better than today’s daily tournaments. I believe there were 80 people. We ended up getting heads-up and played heads-up for almost two hours.

A few months later, I finally moved to Vegas and about a year later Jon bought a house in Henderson and asked me if I wanted to live there. At that time, I still played mainly just live cash games, but Jon was starting to take off as a good online tournament player. Maybe the curse for me was that the tournament bug is an easy one to catch.

Jon offered to back me in some tournaments, we stayed roommates, and I was his horse for six years after that. Then, we moved to Mexico together and are actually planning on moving back in together in a few months, but he is the one who got me into tournaments and his backing is the reason I have been able to stay around this long.

PocketFives: How was moving to Mexico? Are you still there?

Steve McNally: I moved to Playa del Carmen (pictured) in August 2011 and am still here and enjoying it to this day. I think it has almost been a secret blessing by forcing me to do something I never would have thought of doing before, leaving the USA. It has been great really. Sure, there are a few things lacking that exist back home like a good cheeseburger or better customer service in many departments, but there is a very live-to-do attitude down here.

I now speak Spanish, have learned a lot about different cultures, and have a whole new view of things, especially American issues.

I’ve been with my girlfriend down here for over two years, so she takes up a good amount of my free time. I’m also still a diehard Northeast Ohio sports fan and can get all of the league packages down here just like the in the States, so I watch my fair share of games. Besides that, I like cooking and biking. I live in a great place to relax, so I definitely know how to do that on my days off too.

PocketFives: Remind us how you got started in poker originally and why it was interesting to you.

Steve McNally: I grew up around card games. We played a lot of euchre and cribbage in my house. My mom has been in the same bridge group now for 40-some years. We also took the occasional family trip to Vegas, which I think always made me dream big somewhat. Back then, all you heard were coins coming out of the machines, so I think I fell in love at a young age with the dream and wanting to get rich from gambling.

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook.