Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker

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Positively Fifth Street is one of those rare nonfiction books that read like a great first person novel. It doesn't hurt that McManus follows in the gonzo tradition of Hunter Thompson on his journey. The book begins with McManus a professor and freelance writer who is hired to write a story on how women are appearing more and more at the World Series of Poker and how women are becoming more visible in the game. But this is no ordinary World Series, because the Binion family that has run the event every year since its founding is distracted by the murder trial of sibling, Ted Binion. And to top it off, author, narrator, Jim McManus is also a bit of a poker player himself.

Jim wants to enter the tournament with his writing advance, but he doesn't have enough money. He has two college aged children and two young children at home and nothing but bills. With all of the tension of the story Jim is sent to cover, his own personal tensions slowly become the center of the book, especially after he enters the tournament and goes up against famous players, including the author of Jim's favorite tournament book, TJ Cloutier.

I found the writing very immediate like a conversation that happens immediately after the event. I also found the tension internal and external was enough to sustain the multiple storylines. McManus seems to end each section of commentary at a natural conclusion and this makes the transitions easy to follow. I enjoyed Alvarez' great history ONLY GAME IN TOWN and found Anthony Holden's BIG DEAL quite interesting, but neither was as fun to read for me as POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET.

This is the kind of book that you can enjoy regardless of your poker knowledge. It may even convince you to take up the game.

Fifth Street replaces "The Biggest Game in Town," as the ultimate insider's guide to the World Series of Poker. There is no better chronicle of the multi-million dollar event in or out of print today. McManus has accomplished something that no other poker player/writer could - he went to Vegas to write about the biggest poker game in the world - and he almost won it. For that reason alone, his book has to be considered the most authentic volume on the subject. It's also a pretty captivating piece of journalism.

Andy Bellin
Author of Poker Nation

First, let me say that the story McManus tells is fascinating; a no-name in the world of poker making it big on the game's biggest stage is compelling for even the non-card player. You become addicted to his progress in the tournament and the words don't come quickly enough at times.
It is when McManus wanders from this story that I began to dislike the book; needless and sometimes annoying time is spent on his wife and their fantastic lovelife; awkward attempts to tie in the Binion trial; it all seems like forced filler that nevers gels smoothly with the main story. I would have stopped reading had I not been so intrigued by his Word Series of Poker run...
I congratulate the author on his incredible run in the WSOP but can only recommend this book to those readers with more than a passing interest in gambling.

By coincidence, while McManus is playing in the World Series of Poker (to enhance his journalism, of course), a block from Binion's Horseshoe is the courthouse where Ted Binion's mistress is on trial with her lover--Ted's pal--for murdering Ted in a gruesomely kinky way (she Burked him--read the book). McManus interweaves the story of the trial with the story of the tournament and the game itself. Along the way he explores the more feral nooks and crannies of humankind. I don't think I can do the book justice other than to say it's like Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil--only this is great writing from someone who was there. A better comparison is with In Cold Blood, Capote's groundbreaker. Positively Fifth Street is Cold Blood for the new millenium, a factual account that reads like a novel. I don't care if you've never even played a hand of solitaire. This book will take you by the throat and keep you reading and won't let go. The book's ancestors, like Tony Holden's Big Deal and Alvarez's Biggest Game, are excellent. But they never transcend the subject, nor do they try to. McManus has hit on something so specific but so universal it's Shakespearean. Literary journalism at its peak.

The author is a well known writer who gets an assignment from Harper's Magazine to go to Las Vegas and cover both the Ted Binion Murder Trial and the 2000 World Series of Poker. This he does in a most spectacular fashion. McManus takes some of his $4,000 in expense money and buys his way into a one table satellite. He wins it but makes a saving deal at the end using up the rest of his bankroll. However, his Vegas odyssey has just begun.

When it's over, we have read not only a fascinating description of the trial, but have looked over Jim's shoulder as he manages a fifth place finish in the $10,000 No-Limit Championship that includes a quarter of a million dollar win. We meet many of the important people associated with poker and Las Vegas, and feel the tension and pressure of high limit tournament play. This is the best book of it's type I have ever read, and once you start reading, it's hard to put down.

POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET
James McManus

The first eleven pages of this non-fiction book relate, in exacting detail, how Las Vegas casino scion Ted Binion was tortured and murdered by his stripper girlfriend and her ex-linebacker lover. On the next page, author McManus admits that the account is merely how he "imagines" the murder occurred. Hey, thanks for telling us in advance, Jim.

Don't expect things to get any better.

The book grew out of an assignment the author received to produce a short feature on the World Series of Poker, held each spring in Binion's Horseshoe Casino, for Harper's Magazine. As a short feature it might have worked, but expanding it to book length was the worst idea since Sammy Sosa decided, "what the hell, no will ever know it was corked."

One of the problems is that McManus, like many academics, does not possess the writing skills to handle the transition to the longer form. His style is so clunky and ponderous that the book ends up reading like something translated from the original Russian by Howie Mandel.

"Because La-Z-Boy time dandling our kids with the game on while Mom beams across from the sofa is simply to scary to contemplate losing; most of us also respect other men's need to preserve their domestic bliss," reads one gem, perhaps the worst sentence in the history of American publishing.

A patron in a bar is "comprehensively bewitched." The author, attempting to explain that he is bored, tells us that "time trudged recalcitrantly," thereby achieving the bad grammar hat trick: felony sentence construction, inventing an adverb, and clueless as to the meaning of the word in the first place.

The second big problem is his struggle to come up with the extra 380 pages. Padding, as anyone who has ever tried to stretch a half page of material into a three-page term paper knows, is a difficult task. McManus becomes so desperate that he even resorts to using the same Dostoyevsky quote twice. Did he really think no one would notice?

The solution he finally adopts, even though he is in a casino jammed with interesting characters, is to write about himself.

Biiiiiigggg Mistake!

Not only is his life totally devoid of interest to anyone but him, he compounds the problem by including long, pointless conversations with his wife in which they call each other by their pet names. Hey Ted, now we know how it feels to be tortured.

McManus fares no better with his facts, stating, in an attempt to illustrate the skill of Vegas attorney Oscar Goodman, that Charles Harrelson, who murdered a federal judge in Texas and is the father of actor Woody, was set free because of Goodman's brilliance. Well, Goodman is brilliant all right, but Harrelson was convicted for that murder and has resided in the federal slammer ever since.

"I must have been crazy to try this," the author says at one point. Finally got something right.

Harper's magazine hired novelist James McManus to write an article on the World Series of Poker. The magazine is interested in the relatively new phenomena especially the impacts of female players, information technology on the game, the murder of Ted Binion of the host family, and the subsequent arrest and trial of a stripper and her boyfriend. Once McManus arrives at Las Vegas' Horseshoe Casino he rationalizes that to truly write this article, he must participate. Being an apartment house player, McManus risks his advance to join at the table.

POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET: MURDERERS, CHEETAHS, AND BINION'S WORLD SERIES OF POKER provides great depth into the mindset of the cast (not just the card players, but also the groupies) than the original article that Harper's magazine published. Mr. McManus is at his best when he reports his guilt over the hedonistic pleasure of the game and side benefits while leaving at home his wife and daughters. The rest of the story, mostly fulfilling what his editors want as described in the paragraph above, is well written and engages the audience through the use of poker vernacular and metaphors. Still the first-hand account at the table draws the final card in a royal flush nonfiction that casual card players will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

I spent two days lost in this book. Quite a performance by Jim McManus, and I don't mean only the writing. For a fancy wordsmith, he is one heck of a poker player. To come to Las Vegas and play in your first tournament and make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker is one very fine achievement.

Jim McManus, 49-year-old novelist, poet, teacher, and sometime journalist on assignment in Las Vegas for Harper's Magazine takes part of his $4,000 retainer and buys into a satellite tournament hoping to win a pass to play in the big one, the $10,000 buy-in no limit hold'em event that annually decides the world championship of poker. Not coincidentally he is also covering the trial of Sandy Murphy, a saucy, skanky Vegas lap dancer and her linebacker beau Rick Tabish who are accused of the murder of Ted Binion, brother of Becky Behnen, host of the tournament, and one of the sons of Benny Binion, the long time owner of the sponsoring Horseshoe casino.

What results is a suberb example of a genre that I call "participatory journalism," the sort of thing the made George Plimpton, Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson and some other very fine writers famous. What happens in participatory journalism is the journalist himself joins in the action and becomes part of the story. Because of McManus's cleverness with the pasteboards (actually they're made of plastic of course), his discipline, and because he did indeed get lucky a time or two on Positively Fifth Street, his experience became more than just part of the story. As he covers the trial and the World Series of poker from the inside, he focuses intimately--sometimes perhaps too intimately--on himself and what it was like, first person singular, to play the kind of high stakes poker that most of us can only dream about. And to win. Not all the marbles but enough of them to pay off the mortgage and, as he says, maybe pay for a semester of college for a daughter in 2016.

Reading this book--*living* this book, I might say, because it is such a vivid and engaging romp through some things and a part of the world that I know very well--was an adrenaline pumping and humbling experience for me, poker player and writer myself. I was dazzled at times by the sheer energy of his prose, at the worldly-wise (and wise-acre) metaphors, references and striking allusions that jump off the page as adroitly expressed and appropriately placed as notes in a symphony--a modern symphony with discordance and harmony splashed out with wild and sardonic energy. Or maybe I should say, Jim McManus writes like a poet with an ear for the vernacular and an eye for the kill.

He begins with an informed imagination on just how handcuffed Ted Binion was "burked" to death with girlfriend Sandy Murphy naked on his chest and big boy Rick Tabish forcing a turkey baster full of heroin and Xanax down his throat while holding the millionaire's nose shut. Not a pretty way to die. Now enter the journalist, perhaps a bit like Jackson Browne's "The Pretender," no longer young and strong, in fact a little strung out on pills and booze and cigs, but a forty-nine year-old still in charge of himself, with a second family and some bills to pay, some temptations to resist, some oats to sow, a man torn between the irresponsible machinations of "Bad Jim" and the socially and domestically appropriate behaviors of "Good Jim," a guy who calls his young wife at least once a day while managing to interview nearly naked lap dancers at their place of work on his lap without losing his...composure.

But what McManus does best is weave an exciting account of how he played cards, what his opponents were like, how he behaved and covered the stories, and how made the right calls and the right lay downs and especially how he sat on his hands when he needed to and nursed his stack so that was able to arrive, against some very stiff odds and against some very good players, at the final table. He highlights several of the pivotal pots during his nearly miraculous run by telling us what cards he held, what cards his opponents held, what flopped, what the turn card was, and especially what hit the felt on fifth street. He gets it all right and crystal clear and he reveals his bad reads and questionable plays as well as his good ones. He shows the camaraderie and the competition among the players and does it all in such a vivid manner that we feel we are there with him. Along the way he quotes from Dante and Edward O. Wilson, Dostoevski and Jared Diamond, etc. on human nature past and present.

He does get a little self-indulgent at times (although personally I think he has license) and some readers might want to skip the digressions into his youth and flash past some of the mini book reviews and philosophic arias and just stay with the story. It's one of the best I've ever read and captures a culture, and a time and a place, as only a master of the craft could.

Positively Fifth Street is the best book about poker I've ever read, and I've read just about all of them. The history of card art, of poker, of Binion's World Series, of the science and technology of the game as it's being played now. And if you ever doubted that an average or above-average home player could "catch up" to the pros using primers and computer
programs, this book will definitely change your mind. The strip club and courtroom scenes are pretty good, too. READ THIS BOOK!

The author is now such a strong player that he routinely dares to tempt fate and play the great no-limit maestro K-REX heads up.

If you are looking for a book to read about poker, pass on this one unless you are desperate for any poker read. Do so for a very simple reason: there is surprisingly little about poker in this 'poker book'.

There is a detailed account of Ted Binion's murder which courses through the book. In fact there is much more about Binion than about poker. But this book was not found in the mystery section of the bookstore; it was in the poker section.

Or you might like some insight about going to a jewelry store to pick out an anniversary ring for your wife. This is covered in more detail than McManus' coverage of his WSOP satellite tournaments. In fact, the author's wife Jennifer's ring size is six, a fact which for some reason I can't get out of my head. But the book was not in the weddings/anniversaries section of the bookstore; it was in the poker section.

Are you curious about McManus' childhood, his parents and grandparents? Then this is the book for you, although it would usually be found in the autobiography section.

There is even a fascinating, endless chapter on whether A. Alvarez should have had intercourse with Sylvia Plath, and whether such coitus would have interrupted her eventual suicide (our author thinks not, but we all know it depends). But this book was not in the self-help-for-sick-poets section of the bookstore; it was in the poker section.

In all seriousness, I could go on and on with examples such as these. It's not a bad book; in fact the sections on poker are really quite good. If the author had edited out three quarters of the book, I would give it five stars. When I go to the poker section of the bookstore and buy a book about poker, I want my goddess poker to be the topic.

If you're looking for one person's experience with poker, mostly but not exclusively in Vegas, read Anthony Holden's "Big Deal". It's a great read, and it's even about poker.

This book is absolutely fantastic. I read it because I am a fan of poker and a long time follower of the World Series of Poker. Others have written about their own poker adventures, but Mr. McManus takes us beyond just poker. He writes of Benny Binion and the murder of his son, Ted. He shares with us intimate stories about his family and his own past. He delves into the history of poker and some of its more famous players. This book is far beyond just a "poker adventure" book. The stories are very informative, insightful, entertaining and at times touchingly personal. You do not have to be a fan of poker to enjoy this book. If you have ever thought of what it would be like to follow one of your dreams, then you will enjoy this book.

......

The genesis of POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET occurred when the author, James McManus, was assigned by a magazine to cover the World Series of Poker and the murder of its host, a Las Vegas personality named Ted Binion. POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET begins with a graphic description of Binion's murder by his ex-stripper girlfriend and his best friend, who happens to be the stripper's boyfriend. As the book progresses we learn the back story of the principals involved in the murder and in the tournament and about Las Vegas. We also learn, on a parallel track, about how the lure of the tables proved too much for McManus to resist and how he risked his entire writing advance to play in the poker tournament himself. His initial excuse was that he could effectively write his article only by actually experiencing play at the table. It is McManus's step-by-step account of his transformation from a student of the game to finding himself seated at the final table that is the heart of the book.

This, in and of itself, would be interesting enough. McManus gives an excellent account to the untutored as to what is involved in the game of poker, both in the basics and the advanced strategies, but the book really only begins there. McManus writes with a looseness of association that is at first a bit disconcerting but ultimately reveals its purpose.

POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET delves into such topics as the history of the card deck --- it's fascinating, even if you haven't looked at a deck of cards in years --- and the appeal of what are politely known as "gentlemen's showbars." There are good, strong biological imperatives that these establishments appeal to and there are equally good, strong sociological reasons why they should be avoided. While not everyone who falls in love with a stripper meets the same fate as Ted Binion, there is more than one way and degree to ruin your life. What happens in Las Vegas may stay there, as the commercial goes, but that doesn't mean it won't have repercussions back home.

POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET is a wonderfully kaleidoscopic view of a city, a pastime and ultimately a way of life that entrances without seducing. While you can read it without feeling the urge to jump on a Nevada-bound plane, you'll never look at a deck of playing cards the same way again.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Jim McManus' experiences playing in the WSP as a long-shot were riveting and would have made a wonderful magazine article. His coverage of the Binion trial, as well, would have made a good article. But instead of taking the prudent course and publishing them thus, McManus ties the two together on the premise of a number of absurd, overwritten parallels between poker and murder, interweaving pages upon pages *upon pages* of irrelevant subtext about his own life, self-destructive tendencies, family history, and wonderful, wonderful (am I sick yet of hearing about how wonderful she is?) and forbearing wife, Jennifer.

Mc Manus' editor should have been demoted for allowing the number of divergent, run-on pages (chapters, even) that detracted from the two interesting main storylines. All wrapped together as the book is, it doesn't make for good reading unless you know which 60% to skip.

The author is sterling when he decides to discuss the Binion murder and its outcome. He possesses a wonderful knowledge of poker and illuminates his readers considerably through the facts and history that he shares. His success in the tournament is admirable and rather amazing.

Unfortunately, he teases us with the Binion Las Vegas Confidential angle intermittently throughout the book. Its 400 page length becomes excruciating as his need to discuss himself overpowers his desire to tell a tale. In the end we get a bit of a muddle.

Yet, overall, the book is definitely worth reading and informative even if McManus is one of the most self-indulgent writers I've ever encountered. His constant personalizations ("Bad Jim"/"Good Jim") are pure torture. He is not nearly as interesting as the coverage assignment he received from Harpers.

This is really an autobiography of a sensitive, New Age academic who appears to have completely bought into feminism, post-modernism, chic leftism, multiculturalism, and every other theory to come out of the narcissistic 1960s. Had he merely given a journalistic account of the murder and the WSOP tournament in 200 pages I would have given him, in good faith, five stars for his effort, but his self-fascination degrades the product at every turn.

Mr. McManus is a novelist and a writing instructor which is evident in his extensive vocabulary and occasional witty turn of phrase. Yet he seems to use extraneous metaphor after extraneous metaphor in chapter after chapter. Indeed, the thing that is most characteristic of "Positively Fifth Street" is its overwriting. Is someone who takes 500 words to say what he could in 50 really a great writer? I don't think so.

Poker is pure Americana, as is Las Vegas, the setting of James McManus's non fiction memoir of murder and gambling.

This is one of the oddest books I've ever read. It's a reporter's memoir on a double assignment he received in 2000 from Harper's magazine. McManus was to cover the World Series of Poker, focusing on the increased prominence of women players. At the same time he was to follow the denouement of the murder trial of the event's manager, Ted Binion, killed two years before by his girlfriend. Or by a self-administered overdose?

But McManus isn't some two-bit scandal sheet reporter. He's a professor of literature. He's an ageing child of the sixties who managed to live fast without dying young, but not for lack of trying. He grew into the American dream of a mortgage and 2.5 kids and with a wife who looks hotter than the topless-dancer-accused-murderess, which we can check since the wife's picture opens chapter two. There's more.

Why sit on the sidelines when he can enter the World Series himself by using Harper's $4000 advance to pay his entry fee. Ethical? Well he told Harper's and his wife. So he competes against 532 players from all over the world and ends up at the final table of six.

McManus writes narcissistic prose, yet he's humble throughout. He dresses the text up with vignettes of famous poker players like Annie Duke and T.J. Cloutier, against whom he ranks himself no higher than an amateur, he thanks his wife and kids and his luck. He takes us on the two week rollercoaster ride he took, with all its emotional ups and downs. Loads of fun.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

What a wild, rollicking ride of a book! We jump right in with a detailed re-creation of the murder of an heir to one of Las Vegas' great fortunes. It's not just any murder...not when sex, handcuffs, Xanax, heroin and a turkey baster are involved. The victim is Ted Binion, son of Benny Binion, founder of Binion's Horseshoe, the last family-owned casino in Vegas. His accused killers are his live-in girlfriend and one of his employees.

Call it fate, or perhaps irony, but it turns out that the conclusion of the Binion murder trial will overlap with the 2000 World Series of Poker, which is the Horseshoe's signature event and the richest, most prestigious of the many stops on the big money poker circuit. Enter our hero/author, who is also an avid amateur player. He wrangles an assignment from Harper's magazine to cover the tournament and the trial.

Although the parallel is inexact, McManus then decides to pull a George Plimpton and use his advance from Harper's as seed money to enter the tournament itself. Only through actual experience, he reasons, can he accurately convey the full sensory impact of this adrenaline-charged event. He resolves to school himself in the subtleties of the no-limit game, though he entertains no illusions about his chances against the experienced pros he'll be facing.

Without giving anything away, it's fair to say that a combination of luck and skill carry Jim much farther along the road to glory than even he could have imagined in the beginning. And when the trial concludes almost simultaneously with the final hands of the tournament, the whole story seems to come together in one big, gaudy package.

Along the way, McManus manages to weave in the history of poker, even of the deck of cards itself, autobiographical slices, observations on the poetry of Sylvia Plath....So, this is a book about poker, and about sex. It's also about life, death, love, lust, greed, hopes and dreams....in short, it's about just about everything that makes us who we are.

I am fascinated by the world of competitive poker and I love a great murder/crime story. I thought this would be the perfect book my summer reading. I looked forward to learning about the sorrid history of Binion's WSOP and how to survive the tournament. I gave up about halfway through. The author is a journalist and you can tell. He can't sustain a train of thought for more than 5 pages. How did his editor let him get away with this?

What I really hated was the Bad Jim/Good Jim. The multiple page soliquy on whether or not to receive a lap dance served absolutely no purpose. His inner ramblings only made me dislike the author more. I was hoping he would be eliminated from the tournament and his wife would leave him for losing thousands of dollars.

This book rocks. I haven't read this book yet, but my friend who read it said it is incredible. I am an amateur poker player and my favorite game is texas hold'em. I love playing a low pocket pair all-in against a higher pocket pair and hitting trips on the river and winning. In general, this is a losing strategy, but when you win, it feels incredible. One time I played no limit hold'em against a friend who is a great poker player. As a joke, I didn't look at my cards throughout the game, and I started betting and he raised and I re-raised. He knew I wasn't looking at my cards. In the end, it turned out I had pocket kings and he had pocket queens, and he lost and said, "I can't believe I just lost to a monkey." That was awesome. Everyone who hasn't read this book should put their pencils down and buy this book. Then give it to a friend to read (even if you don't end up reading it yourself).

I'm a recreational poker player, and also very familiar with the World Series of Poker. In addition, I also work from my home, and during the Ted Binion murder trial, I got to see most of the very dark and seedy tale of how two people tried to murder and rip off a Vega$ legend, even if that legend was somewhat of a drug addicted, sex addicted, money addicted loser. All men can sympathize with Ted Binion on those last three, even though most of us don't ever want to be even one of them. Okay, maybe one of them... ha ha

What could be more Vegas than this: A highly dysfunctional casino heir meets a beautiful, sexy, stripper from the midwest who knows how to get anything she wants from a man. They have kinky sex together, do drugs together, and parade around Las Vega$ together, until the seductive stripper get's bored with that. And then she gets greedy, real greedy. So, she enlists yet another man to help her kill the casino heir and steal the heir's silver that is buried in the Nevada desert. If you're already excited, BUY THIS BOOK NOW!

McManus takes you through his miraculous trip to the final table at the World Series of Poker, while intertwining the Ted Binion Murder and trial, the author's personal life, and the many interesting happenings that have occurred in the Binion family over the last generation. The Binions are making the their 'last stand' among corporate giants in Las Vegas. And like our own families, they are disfunctional and catty at times, but they are still a family trying to make things work, and we can all relate to that.

I devoured the book, but I must admit there were slow times in the middle, especially the coverage of the author's family and personal life, but the book was far and above the best non-fiction poker book to come out in 20 years. If you liked Poker Nation or The Biggest Game in Town, YOU'LL LOVE THIS BOOK!

I truly don't understand the fuss made about this pretentious and very awkwardly written book. It's really awful and unbelievably self-indulgent. If you want stories about poker told with some elegance I suggest the works of Alvarez (Biggest Game), Holden (Big Deal), and Konik (Telling Lies). This one is a complete mess.

I loved this book from start to finish. I thought he told the story of the Binion murder trial well and the poker portion of the book was riveting as well. Unlike some, I had no problem with the interweaving of the 2 stories, And beyond all of that, I thought that Mr. McManus had a beautiful and flowing writing style that I could never hope to duplicate in 100 year (even though I sort of write for a living). Every sentence was put together just right. This is why I was especially shocked to see a few complaints about his writing, which I though was an absolute strength. If I had any nit to pick, it is the poker lingo often got so heavy that I felt like I had to refer to the Terminology section over and over again, which tended to disrupt the flow of the reading (even though I have read a few other poker books like Andy Bellin's Poker Nation which I also enjoyed). However that nit was not nearly enough for me to give the book anything less than 5 stars.

Jim McManus--he's known as Jim in my house--is my favorite type of writer. Damn smart, funny, not afraid to make liberal use of Dante, and equally unafraid to write "low", too. In fact, one of my favorite parts of this awesome book was Jim's quoting of his little daughter at opportune, and not so opportune, moments: "Good girl, Dat!" Jim hit this poker thing long before anyone outside of the once-secret world of Texas Hold 'Em, and has written a layered, intelligent, highly entertaining work of narrative nonfiction. The only flaw, in my opinion, is the last chunk where Bad Jim emerges in full flower in a strip club. He is trying to complete the parallel, I realize, between himself and the late Ted Binion, whose trial he follows, again, in parallel, as he plays in the World Series of Poker. But to me, that fell flat; and his editor obviously let him get away with the artistic flourish that mars an otherwise freakin' brilliant book. The point of all this? I could not put it down.

McManus' Harpers article was supposed to do three things: Cover the World Series of Poker; more specifically, cover female professional poker players; and cover the Ted Binion murder trial.

The first ten pages cover the murder; and there are approximately five more pages throughout the book that are really relevant to the trial. There are maybe a total of three pages in the book that talk about female poker players, and the vast majority of that is descriptions of their breasts. I am not making this up.

There *is* poker in here, and it's pretty entertaining. However, here's my reconstruction of how this book was "designed". McManus went to Vegas, and kept detailed stream-of-consciousness notes. When he got home, he filled out the notes with research... and left absolutely *nothing* out. The result is unbelievably boring. Boring history of cards, for no reason; boring life stories of several poets, for no reason; ridiculously puerile comparisons between poker and sex, for no reason. On and on and on and on. I would not have thought it possible for a description of a lap dance to be tedious. Turns out it is quite possible.

The only way to have a positive experience with this book is to leaf through it, and read only the passages describing actual poker play. Even then, you have to be prepared for obvious errors in terminology (e.g., according to the Appendix, a "blank" is the same as a "rag," false) and betting sequence (according to the seating chart, McManus must already have acted, but he has himself fold later in the round).

Decent book about the WSOP, gives some insider perspective on what it's like to make it to the final table, the poker scenes are very well rendered.

Trouble is, the author is a bit of a goober and there's an awful lot of padding. It seems he had more than enough material for a Harper's article, but not enough for a book. There's really nothing he doesn't talk about. Most strangely, he refers to his own genitals repeatedly throughout the book - no kidding. Sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically, but about once every chapter. I found myself thinking, "Look pal, I really don't want to think about your scrotum."

Considering his experience, he could have written a masterpiece if he delved into the personalities and histories of the players around him more and his own life and mid-life-crisis worries less. Anybody who follows this stuff knows that the sport doesn't lack for interesting personalities - anecdotes about the other players would have been much more interesting than about him shopping for his wife or going to a strip club (passages written as if the author were the first to explore some exotic country).

Also, his "imagination" of the Binion murder in the opening chapter also almost stopped me cold by fictionalizing the account to such a degree and then telling the reader afterward, essentially "oh, by the way, I basically just made that up - but I did a lot of research!" Bad Jim, indeed.

McManus' foray into the world of Las Vegas tournament poker is quite compelling, so much so that I, a devout non-gambler, began looking into other poker books and simulation games as he did; I've also become a fan of ESPN and Travel Channel poker. I thought there was just enough Vegas and poker history here. The Binion murder trial stuff was interesting as well, if excessively lurid and sensationalized in the openning chapter.

What gets supremely annoying, however, is the author's failure to get out of the way of his own book. He seems to have operated on the principle that whatever he happened to be thinking about or doing on any given writing day was prime material for the book - how else to explain weird asides like the Sylvia Plath disquisiton that intrudes on page 60 or so? One grows weary reading about his family, his relationship with his wife, Good/Bad Jim, etc.

So, do read the book if it interests you, but don't be afraid to skip any chapter or section that strays from the tournament or the Binion trial. (The author's self-indulgent self-loathing does offer the reader some useful instruction: should you find yourself in a festive mood while in Las Vegas or wherever, and decide to treat yourself to a lap-dance, DO NOT tell your wife about it, no matter how special you think your relationship is).

Living in Los Angeles, Las Vegas has become my adult Disneyland over the years and I've adopted it as my vacation of choice; something about the allure of isolation, lights, potential riches in a matter moments, alcoholic binges, women, you name it...all within a 4hrs drive.

But when I can't be there in the flesh, the next best thing is the written word...and the word better be written damn well. Only three books so far have brought Vegas to me: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (of course!), Super Casino, and Positively Fifth Street.

Unlike the other books mentioned, PFS delves deeply into the annual World Series of Poker, tactics and all, along with the intrigueing story of the Binions--the hosts of the WSOP--and the high-profile murder case involving (you guessed it..or did you?) none other than the Binions. A classic Vegas fairytale/tradgedy amidst the most prestigious poker event around. It's simply pure vintage Vegas wrapped within a tight 422 pages of text.

Interested in high-stakes hold-em poker? I barely knew poker till I read this book...now I find myself buying all the strategy books on hold-em mentioned throughout the text, I'm now hooked...after reading this book I want so desperately to wrap that WSOP bracelet around my wrist after reigning over Chris "Jesus" Ferguson or J.T. Cloutier...how fun would it be to take down the 'Gods'??....Hellmuth, you're on my hitlist as well. ...

Buy it, read it, absorb it...what an engaging read this is.

If you want to read about poker, the author provides a bibliography from which you may chose one. This is not a book about poker or how to play poker, although the WSOP is sort of at the core of it. If you want to read a Las Vegas murder mystery, this is not it, although a murder takes place. The first 20 pages describe the torture/strangulation death of a poker mogul by his girl friend and her boyfriend. There is no investigative thrill or courtroom drama. There is a biography of each of the murderers, neither of whom is interesting, unless you enjoy case studies of dummies. The book is sort of an autobiography of the author, who is probably a real neato guy, but why would anyone other than his family care to read about his life? If, however, you seek a book where the phrase "by an order of magnitude" is overused, this book is for you. Having heard about the book during an NPR interview with the author, I signed up for it immediately at the library. I am glad I did not gamble and pay the hardcover price of $.

I picked this up expecting to read an interesting social and cultural history of poker, the World Series of Poker in particular. While I got that in part from this book, I also was treated to a bunch of other stories I wasn't interested in.

McManus goes to Vegas ostensibly to cover the progress of women players in the WSOP. He ends up spending his advance on getting into the tournament and placing fifth to everyone's surprise. This in itself is an interesting story. But for some reason McManus insists on offering the readers weird sidetrips. Ten pages on Sylvia Plath, his trips to strip bars, a whole chapter on his family history. Even as I was reading it, I was confused about what on earth his grandfather's trip to the British Isles during WWI had to do with poker. Turns out, nothing. McManus just likes talking. He even gives us illustrations of his grandfather's letters written while on duty, letters in no way related to poker. McManus also assumes we are interested in his sexual exploits and the relationship between him and his wife. I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to know is how his wife fills out a Victoria's Secret teddy, and how hard it is for him to be "Good Jim" (his persona...he also has a "Bad Jim"). Icky.

The murder trial of Ted Binion is a nice sidestory, but McManus doesn't develop it enough. It makes random appearances, often at the stretch of literary credibility. We get to hear comparisons between poker, Ted Binion, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and the author all in one sentence. If you are confused, you should be.

All this aside, the poker story itself is interesting. I don't know anything about poker, so found it hard to follow the lingo at times, but this wasn't a major obstacle for me. While he's playing in the championship, McManus can be quite a good tourguide, even gonzo at times. One only wishes he would have stuck with this storyline, and left his wife's lingerie out of it.

I generally love reading any book regarding gambling. This book is the exception. I can't even finish the thing because he's SO boring. He rambles on and on about things that aren't relevant. I spend more time skipping pages than I do reading them.

The author was blessed with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell an insider's story of the World Series of Poker, all set against the background of a sex and drug-laced murder and trial. Rather than being content simply to tell that story and to try to tell it well, Mr. McManus meanders through pointless and uninteresting self-analysis ("Good Jim" v. "Bad Jim" -- my gosh . . .), self-important asides, and just plain lazy writing. An editor would have been useful.

Save the cost of the book and bet the money in Vegas instead. Even if you lose, your money's been better spent.

Author David Sedaris raves on the back cover of this book: "In writing about poker, Jim McManus manages to write about everything." For me, that's just the problem. "Positively Fifth Street" is an ambitious effort to tackle too many stories at the same time while spiking the whole of it with as many side anecdotes as possible. The book's three stories - the World Series of Poker (WSOP); the horrific murder of casino legend Ted Binion; and the success of women at the tournament - are meant to bolster one another. The discussion of highly competitive, testosterone inducing late-night poker is meant to illuminate how Ted Binion's savage murder could become a game to his murderers - a friend and his lover. Unfortunately, the murder mystery is not remotely as interesting as the poker tournament, and McManus makes giant, and unconvincing, metaphorical leaps to keep the two stories intertwined.

Over the course of the book, McManus covers the history of playing cards, baseball's similarities with poker, artificial intelligence, his teaching career in Chicago, and Aristotle (among other things). The intense thrill of the World Series of Poker is continually interrupted to update the Binion murder trial, and the discussion of women and the WSOP gets abandoned at roughly the same time that the book becomes a pseudo-autobiography.

Despite the schizophrenic nature of the book, McManus's play-by-play of his success at the tournament is spectacular. Sent to the tournament as a journalist with no poker tournament experience under his belt, McManus wins a spot in the Big One (the tournament) by winning a satellite tournament, and keeps winning all the way to the final table - an incredible feat. The tournament is four days of agonizing and exhausting play, full of daring bluffs and inconceivable luck, and the author's battles with Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and tournament titan T.J. Cloutier are gripping.

McManus is a great writer with a knack for explaining the intricacies of no-limit Texas Hold'em poker, but the murder mystery element slows this book down. I want to hear more about what it feels like to have the trey of diamonds spike on the river when you've got an A-4 in the hole, and a possible flush draw set up by the deuce and 4 in the flop. But too often, McManus deals us the wrong story.

Not knowing a straight from a royal flush, I can't really say what drew me to this book. But I picked it up, flipped through a few pages in the middle and again at the end, bought it, and never regretted it.
McManus initially planned to write an article for Harper's when he went to Las Vegas to cover the World Series of Poker - and somehow it expanded into this utterly engaging nonfiction book that includes strippers, murder, sex, gambling (duh), drugs...well, why not? It's Las Vegas, after all. In 'researching' material about the world of gambling for his article, McManus enters the competition - and damn near wins!
A delicious inside look into a world that 99% of us will never see and can barely imagine - and then there's that cheetah...

Positively Fifth Street by James McManus is positively the best broad survey of the world of poker in print today. Even though it is filed in the poker section of the bookstore, it is not just a simple strategy manual. McManus' artful account of his experiences in the 2000 World Series of Poker makes you feel as if you are sitting right at the poker table with him. From the strip club to the poker felt to the courthouse, McManus gives the reader an enthralling portrayal of the seedier sides of Las Vegas.
McManus also does an excellent job of giving an exciting account of the poker action, while interspersing some of his own interesting commentary. He has an uncanny ability to seamlessly combine and relate his own personal experiences in the tournament to the murder case of Ted Binion, the tournament's host. McManus also effortlessly mixes in some much more "cultured" material, such as Dostoevsky's "The Gambler" and Darwinian Genetics, amidst his accounts of murder, sex, and drugs.
Overall, McManus's down to earth prose, and easy to read cadence, along with wonderful poker insight, make this book worth reading whether poker player or not.

This memoir by James McManus is a lot more than simple story about Las Vegas and gambling. He's a writer for Harper's magazine and, in the spring of 2000, was sent to Las Vegas to cover the annual World Series of Poker. Not only did he cover the story, but he also participated and managed to make it to the very last table in this very competitive game. While he was there, the trial of two people accused of murdering one of the heirs of the Binion family empire was going on, and he skillfully interweaves this story along with his experience of the tournament. In addition, he writes about his own background as well as his present life, including his relationship with his wife and two young daughters who are at home in Chicago. He's a fine writer and engaged me completely in his story. And, as the book moved along I was holding my breath as he described every turn of the cards.

All the personal details about his life certainly enhanced the story. I got to know James McManus well as he struggled with the "good Jim" and the "bad Jim" in his personality. Not only did he share his background, but he also took me right with him into the clubs in Vegas where he indulged his curiosity as well as his libido in enjoying a lap dance. The reader also shared all his mixed feelings about how much he should tell his wife about this.

The title refers to the card game itself. "Fifth Street" is the name of the final card that is turned up in this version of the game. The first two cards are dealt face down and then everybody at the table watches with anticipation as the dealer turns up the next five. This final card can make or break a hand. And for armchair travelers such as myself, reading this book was almost, but not quite, the next best thing to being there. It took me little while to get all the nuances and I found myself re-reading the details of some of the more complex hands. But once I got it, all I can say is WOW.

I really enjoyed this book. And I learned a lot about poker too. Highly recommended.

On the jacket a reviewer says this book contains some of the best sports writing you can read. I agree totally. And unlike some of the other reviewers, I did enjoy the sections on the Ted Bunion murder trial (this past month, the conviction of the woman involved was overturned). However, I felt it was poorly edited. It just didn't flow. And finally, I think we are all in agreement that the reader could have done with a lot less of his person life and upbringing.

Title says it all...you have to wait till 5th street to even find something interesting to read.

Be forewarned, about half of this book is devoted to the Binion murder case, with about a half devoted to poker. I was expecting more poker action and what it's like to play the wsop. I didn't really care for the Binion material.

If you ever wanted to know about the world of high stakes poker, this is the book. McManus is a legitimate writer and his style is excellent and unobtrusive. He weaves several diverse threads together into a wonderful story. Like all good books this is a book about a lot more than just its main subject.

Mr. McManus puts you into the center of the action and deftly explains what is going so even the merest poker dunce will be enthralled as he tells his tale of gambling in poker paradise.

James McManus (fiction author, sports journalist and sometime poker player) went to Vegas to cover the trial of the murder of Ted Binion (whose father started the World Series of Poker (WSOP)) and to cover the rise of women at the WSOP. He ends up taking part of the advance money, winning a play-in satellite tourney, and getting a seat at the 2000 WSOP.

He made it to the final table and fifth place.

He intertwines his own story (an amatuer amongst some of pokers greatest names) with stories of the trial (where Ted's girlfriend and best friend are accused of murdering him), Jim's own personal history, the history of poker and the WSOP and the parallels he sees between them all.

The insights into the game, the hands, the mannerisms, and particularly what Jim is thinking at the time (fold? call? raise? who's that beautiful dealer named Red?) dividing the voices in his head (see? not just me!) into Good Jim and Bad Jim, make the writing of the actual WSOP satellite and tournament the best part of the book. But the other stories are woven in intricately and smoothly (with only a few abstract jumps), mixing in Dante and Dostoyevsky to prove his point.

Since the book has been written, the number of players entered into the big Texas Hold-em WSOP tourney has climbed in from the $1.5 million Chris "Jesus" Ferguson won (and 512 entrants) in 2000 to 2006's $12million Jamie Gold won amongst the 8,773 entrants (and around 12,000 are expected this year).

Read it before the big one this July 6, and it will help you imagine the action.

As both a writer and a poker player myself, I found this book to be absolutely the most engaging thing I've read in quite some time. From the first page, McManus grabs the reader's attention and doesn't let go. I know of few other places where a reader can get such a smorgasbord of scintillating subjects: steamy sex/money scandals, murder, courtroom drama, Vegas politics, the psycho-sexual nuances of poker, a history of gambling, Sylvia Plath, and the most thrilling, edge-of-your seat account of a sporting event (albeit poker) that I've ever read. I loved every page and hated to finish it. The only negative thing I can say is that I'm jealous--I wish I'd written it!

This is fantastic journalistic-style fiction that has all the elements of a great book: gambling, Vegas, murder, sex, and the potential for personal ruin.

This book is ostensibly about the murder of Ted Binion and the sex/money scandal surrounding that. This storyline is what sucks the reader in, but McManus quickly abandons that story for a much, much more fascinating one about playing in the World Series of Poker, held at Binion's Horseshoe and founded by the Binion family. McManus was sent by Harper's magazine to cover the Binion story, but he's a cocky poker player himself, so he puts his welfare and relationship with his wife on the line by taking his entire advance and playing into the World Series.

Knowing that McManus has his own money on the line, and he's not funded by the magazine to make a good story, makes this journey absolutely amazing. McManus teaches the reader how to play poker and gives the basics of the poker masters' strategies, so that the reader is able to play along with the highs and lows of the game. McManus even finds himself playing against people whose poker books he has read, so he knows what they taught him and the rest of the world about poker, which makes for interesting mind games at the table.

I would love to give this book 5 stars, but there is some material in here which really should have been edited out. McManus goes off for pages about how he knows David Sedaris or the illustrator of Me Talk Pretty One Day, or some other fact that is unrelated to the book and serves only to prove how cosmopolitan the author is. He also gives not only his childhood story, but that of his father and grandfather, and I found those to be very trying chapters that distracted from the high paced action of the book without adding any real meat to the story.

This is a great intro to poker, and McManus gives the reader enough info to get them intersted in the game, and to know what books and software to check out if they want to start playing. I highly recommend this book to any non-fiction lover.

I bought this book hoping for the atmospherics of the World Series of Poker plus insightful coverage of Ted's Binion's murder & the subsequent trial. That stuff can be found, but for the most part the book is a cut-rate Hunter S. Thompson knock-off primarily focussed on the author's fascination with himself. Do you want to learn detailed minutia about 4 or 5 prior generations of McManus's? It's there. Are you interested in all the intimate details of the author's tawdry behavior in casino lounges? It's there. If you caught the guy on one of the episodes of the WSP on ESPN, you already know more about this pompous lunkhead than you need to (the "You called with a jack high?" episode -- yup, he's the one). I recommend instead Alvarez's "The Biggest Game in Town." Somewhat outdated, but at least that guy can write.

Author James McManus takes the reader on a journey through the World Series of Poker, the biggest card event (and biggest sporting event, purse-wise) in history from a very personal perspective: as an entrant.
Parlaying a $4,000 advance from Harper's into a $10,000 entry fee seems like a monstrous accomplishment in its own right. But McManus then steamrolls his way deeper and deeper into the tournament, squaring off against talent-laden opponents including his sometimes-mentor but current adversary TJ Cloutier. Along the way, McManus covers the murder trial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, who were accused of murdering Ted Binion.
McManus delves into history to create backstory for the trial, his own poker skills, and the game of poker itself, and integrates all of the knowledge, along with scores of literary references, into a personal narrative that can be riveting, and which also provides useful information for an aspiring poker player.
The Good and the Bad:
Early on in this book, I thought that the nonstop literary references and the creation of a dichotomy between "Good Jim" (the author at his best) and "Bad Jim" (the author at all other times) were distracting, somewhat highfalutin', and often forced. He makes references to Hunter Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and A. Alvarez (The Biggest Game in Town), both of whom created intelligent and respected books out of their Las Vegas pilgrimages. It seemed as if McManus was trying, none too subtly, to insert himself into a respected pantheon of authors, and I have to admit that I resented him for it.
But as McManus's adventure in Las Vegas develops, I grew to enjoy his authorial voice more, and eventually found the thrills of his poker experiences to more than make up for any shortcomings I found in the text. The Good Jim/Bad Jim device at first seemed like a way to evade responsibility for making bad choices (Hey, don't blame me! I'm Good Jim!). In retrospect, however, that device also allows him to disown and reject his negative impulses without giving up any of his pride or values. He knows that Bad Jim is bad, and can therefore reject those influences more readily.
McManus also brings us a refreshing dose of honesty, both at the poker table and in his personal life. He describes the thoughts behind his poker decisions as they come, and manages to take credit where due without being overbearing, while at the same time disclose those moments when he had totally misread his opponents. I contrast this book favorably with a poker advice book by professional Phil Helmuth, who never tells an anecdote in which he makes the wrong decision.
By giving a comprehensive account of the murder trials, and delving into the history of poker as it evolved, McManus waters down the most exciting aspects of his book, but this is a small criticism; it's not as if those topics are boring in the slightest. It's just that they lack the raw power of the author facing off against icons of the game.
The only digression that I found to be inappropriate, and even puzzling, was when McManus devotes a few pages to the biological reasons behind the impulses that men feel to cheat on their wives. Interesting? Yes. But it came off as slightly defensive for the author who rarely lets a woman go by without mentioning her level of physical attractiveness, and who openly courts marital disaster by hobnobbing intimately with strippers and attractive opportunists. We'll call his chapter noting the progress of women to the top of the game a penance for these transgressions.
But as a reader and a poker player, I don't really care about how bad Bad Jim can be. I demand to be entertained and instructed, and this book accomplished both, in spades. I feel like it improved my game, and also gave me things outside of the game of poker to think about. Was McManus trying to insert himself into a pantheon of highly respected books about the game? Probably. But the important thing is that he belongs there.

When the author decides to stick to one subject the book isnt bad. But going off on multi-page tangents that add little to the story really gets tiring. The WSOP related stuff was good, the murder stuff was ok, the other 150 pages are just excruciating. Unfortunately for the reader they are all entertwined so to get one you have to go through all.

IMHO, I thought the author was trying to copy Alvarez's (Biggest Game in Town) style, but where Alvarez would go off on a paragraph or two to fill in a story, this author would go on for pages.

What disappointed me most about this book was the writing, which I would consider mediocre at best. If it hadn't been written by a journalist/reporter, I would have been less disappointed. But to think, the author has previous writing experience! I wouldn't have guessed it by this book.

Parts of this book were great. In particular, those parts recounting the author's play in the World Series of Poker, the history of card-playing, specifially poker, and his primer on the game of Texas Hold 'Em and its strategy.

Unfortunately, I think the author was self-conscious about making himself the star of the book. He therefore added a superfluous account of the murder of Ted Binion and parts of the trial of his accused murderes. These parts did not add to the book, but they did not detract either.

Other parts did detract, however. For instance, there was no need for a chapter on an obscure poet who had committed suicide (except perhaps to show that the author considered himself a poet before an autobiographer). So also his many pages devoted to other works on poker were tedious. Worst, he repeatedly tried to put poker onto a tremendously lofty plain by making grand philosophical leaps about its place in humankind.

This book easily would have been a four star, perhaps a five star, effort if the author had stuck to the game of poker generally, its strategy and the hugely entertaining recap of his participation in the tournament. An editor should have told him it would have been okay to leave it at that.

McManus is a writer for Harpers Magazine as well as a writing teacher, somewhere below on that list he’s a long time poker player. Old players like Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim honed their skills through decades of play but McManus admittedly extracted most of what he knows about Hold Em’ from reading poker books, though he was corrupted by summer stays at his grandparents’ house as a kid. With an advance of a few thousand dollars to cover the World Series of Poker in 2000 for Harpers Magazine, he elected to try a different perspective and attempt to get his research by actually entering the tournament. The entry for the main tournament was $10,000 so the advance was a great deal short of just an straight out buy in entry. McManus had to score at least one satellite tournament win to assure him a seat.

The book has 3 main stories, James McManus’ progression through the WSOP, the murder trial, James McManus’ life in respect to the whole ordeal. The murder story concerns the clout of the former owner of the Horshoe Casino, Ted Binion (hosts the World Series of Poker) by his estranged girlfriend Sandy Murphy and mutual friend of theirs, Rick Tabish.

In the first few pages it is painfully obvious McManus’ has a well honed ability to construct sentences and resurrect words that have accumulated years of dust to phrase them with. I opt not to agree with some of the other reviewers on the format of inter mixing the stories together because there is a need for character building to pull off the resulting plot. If he were to just include the World Serious of Poker portion, it would have just been another poker book about a guy who placed only 5th and not a writer there to investigate two stories. Anything less than first place certainly could not warrant a story on its own merits so I enjoy this book as is.

In 350 pages (plus an appendix of poker terminology), the professor from the Art Institute of Chicago details what happened when he took his $4,000 advance from Harper's Magazine for an article on the increasing presence of women in high stakes poker and the murder trial of fallen casino heir Ted Binion, which was concluding concurrently with the World Series, and entered the 'Big One'. For any fan, the poker coverage is riveting, and the ins and outs of the trial will leave you pondering right to the end: are they gonna get off? The interspersed history of Jim's family, and the seemingly forced battle between what he calls 'good' and 'bad' Jim are less successful as literary tools go. Any poker fan will appreciate the insider look at the 2000 World Series of Poker from a man who went from dead money to being invited to sit with Becky Behnen, the Horseshoe Casino owner, as the verdict was being read in the trial of her brother's alleged murderers. But, I'd caution those without a love of the game from forking over the chips to see what McManus is holding in this one. I'd put him on a medium Ace, and it really depends on your point of view whether those are rags.

Had Mcmanus confined himself to a 150 page book on his experiences with the world series of poker, he would have had a great book. Unfortunately, the story of the Binion murder and trial is written in a stilted and artificial fashion - almost like a Hemmingway wnabe. Skip this part and you will have an enjoyable read.

To quote Kenny Rogers: "You've got to know when to hold, know when to fold." Sent by "Harpers" to cover both the World Series of Poker and the trial for Ted Binion's accused murderers, McManus had unexpected success as an actual player while failing in his book-length effort to capture the combined essence of the two events. Despite beginning with a lurid, fictionalized account of Bionion's actual demise, he quickly makes it clear that his interest lies in the game and he embarks on a rambling, self-indulgent description of his long-time fascination with poker, combined with a detailed report of his progress to the final table for the Series. There are desultory attempts to provide further details on Binion, his accused and the demimonde they inhabit but the author's intent seems to be to convey the thrill of high-stakes gambling. Whether the recapitulation of poker hands makes for an engrossing read perhaps depends upon the individual reader's own interests. It struck me as tedious and lacking in the tension which presumably attended the actual event.
Dealt a challenging double assignment, McManus sought to parlay the experience into a winning book. His professional work as a writing instructor did not serve him well in this attempt. Deficiencies in structure and foccus detract from the finished product. Better he should have folded.

I had hoped for much more. The author has A LOT of first-rate, first-hand material to draw on, but gets bogged down early in IMAGINING the Binion murder (the writing is ridiculously inane at times) There is also too much "textbook" filler and clutter about the great game of Texas Hold Em that one will enjoy far more in A. Alvarez's classic (Alvarez's writing is better than McManus's by a factor of five). But the Good Jim/Bad Jim stuff is fun, and will make you laugh. I also enjoyed the author's narrative from the final table at the WSOP, though at times it inexplicably bogged down. This book could have used a strong, rock-em-sock-em editor. It is hardly the classic some people here think it is. And that's a big disappointment because the author had the "nuts," as they say in Hold Em, to write that classic. He just failed to deliver.

Not Aces, but definitely very, very good. The editing was a bit inconsistent as he tends to ramble a bit afield early on. Both stories (Binion murder trial and WSOP) are very well done, as is the telling of his own family tale and how it ultimately relates to his experience in the Big One.

This book was written before no limit Texas Hold 'Em became the rage everywhere. The author does a good job of explaining the game and following Binion's World Series of Poker while covering a sensational murder trial. Some readers will enjoy as well digressions on the history of card playing and so forth. My only wish is that his prose was more vivid and exciting--it's a great topic but a little more of a Hunter S. Thompson fear and loathing bite would make it a superb book.

Positively Fifth Street provides two interesting story lines in one book. First; the trial and background to Ted Binion's murder sets the stage for the author's visit to Las Vegas. Along the way, he enters a satellite to win a seat for the 2000 World Series of Poker. His wonderful run at the tournament lands him a seat at the final table. One feels the tension of playing the "big one" as the reader rides the author's highs and suffers his lows. It is a very entertaining book as the reader will see the dark side of Las Vegas gambling community and the shady history of the Binion family. But far and away the chapters on the poker tournament are the best. If you love poker, you'll love Positively Fifth Street.

This is the ultimate rags-to-riches story (only eclipsed by Moneymaker's own improbably run to the title).
And, McManus is a fine writer.
But, while everything he writes about poker is riveting, the book tries to do too much. McManus -- ostensibly in Vegas to report on the Binion murder trial -- lucked into a better story, his own run at the title.
But, in reporting the better story, he still feels compelled to inter-weave the murder trial and its background.
It's an interesting conceit to try to do both, and clearly, the Binions and the World Series are inextricably linked.
But, ultimately, he doesn't quite pull it off.
The book would have been stronger if the focus had remained more clearly on his run at the title. While the murder trial is compelling, it takes away from the drama at the table.
And, while I am a fan of true-crime books, and am not diminishing the Binion murder story, there isn't quite enough dramatic arc or plot twists to write a book about just the murder case.
McManus would have been better served writing a magazine article about the Binion trial, and focusing his book on his WSOP play.

This book has some good parts, but it's much too long for what it is. McManus tries too hard at times, and ends up writing too much about the unimportant. One thing that surprised me is that half of the book is about the death of Ted Binion and the whole scandal surrounding it. McManus makes the book too personal at times. It's almost like a journal, and although he might care about his own hourly activities, we don't. We also don't care about his family and his children. A good editor could have made this book much better. How sad. Better stick with the poker McManus, because you're not much of a writer.

Positively Fifth Street, written by James McManus, is a book about two things, the mysterious death of Ted Binion (former owner of the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas) and James McManus. It's not entirely an ego trip. McManus surprised everyone, including himself, by reaching the final table in the World Series of Poker, a tournament he entered as part of the research he was doing for this book.

McManus goes back and forth between the suspected murder of Binion and his upward climb in the tournament. The passages about Binion's death are the most riveting. McManus thinks he has his murderer in Sandy Murphy, Ted's beautiful and easy to hate girlfriend. And this is the main problem with the book, as of 2004 Sandy (and her lover Rick Tabash) were acquitted of the murder. The book, written in 2003, gives us a vague sense that justice was done...the evil Sandy and Ted were found guilty and put in jail, but the case was more complicated than that and the author, distracted by his own story, ends up doing little to investigate what was really going on.

The poker side of the book also has it's faults, McManus is too close to the story to provide smart objective reporting. He does offer some excellent advice in how to not only play poker but to practice for tournament poker play. He also does an excellent job in conveying all the fears, joys, anxieties, highs and lows that go along in tournament play.

If you're a poker player or want to be, get the book and read the poker chapters. If you're a mystery lover, wait 'til a more complete book comes out on the Ted Binion case. If you're just looking for a good, consistent read...keep looking.

Answer the following questions:

1) Have you ever watched the World Series of Poker on ESPN and found it entertaining?

2) Did you like the movie Rounders?

3) Do you watch Court TV?

4) Do you enjoy a book that propels you forward from chapter to chapter?

If you answered "yes" to even ONE of those questions, you will enjoy this book. It's highest-stakes gambling written against the backdrop of a grisly murder trial (or is it a murder trial written against the backdrop of the WSOP?) A fun summer read and guaranteed to make you laugh out loud at least a few times.

I enjoyed reading Positively Fifth Street. I began playing Texas Hold 'Em two years ago and consider myself addicted. The majority of the book covers his tournanment experience and the Ted Binion murder trial; both areas were intersting. However, his editor should have deleted the sections on his family history and relationship; they really dragged down the story when it was getting interesting. Did he think he was still writing for Harper's? I got the impression he was writing a book and "thought it would be cool" to write about his family history and his relationship with his wife (whom he also included a photo of for some reason).
I will recommend it to my Poker buddies, but I will tell them to skip the family history chapter.

Jim McManus, Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2003)

Jim McManus made the final table at the World Series of Poker.

That alone should make any poker player want to pick this book up and read it immediately. It gets better when you realize that McManus went in as the rankest of rank amateurs, the guy whose previous poker career revolved around the $3-$6 Hold 'em game at the local VFW. Yes, folks, Jim McManus is living proof that anyone CAN do it. And, as This American Life host Ira Glass says on the back cover, the poker writing to be found here really is some of the best sports writing you are likely to ever see; McManus' descriptions are easily the equal of Laura Hillenbrand's race descriptions in Seabiscuit (and this is high praise indeed). Its when McManus gets off the subject of poker that things tend to go downhill.

Unfortunately, this happens often. McManus was in Vegas for the purpose of covering the Murphy/Tabish trial (Murphy and Tabish were accused of murdering Ted Binion, wayward son of the owner of the casino where the World Series of Poker is held*), and much of the book details McManus' attempts to get at the meat of the psyches of Binion, Murphy, and Tabish, in order to write the article. Despite the tenuous connections McManus makes between murder and poker towards the end of the book, these are two separate pieces, and should have been treated as such.

Worth reading for the cards. Skim the rest. ***

* For the sticklers in the audience: yes, "is" is the correct tense. Binion's reopened on April 1, 2004.

I had a difficult time getting through this book. Mainly because McMannus's writing style jumps around from topic to topic and some things are presented fast with a lot of street slang thrown in. Had it been written better I would have given it a full 5 stars because the material in the book is great.

There is an awful lot of fascinating information about the big poker tournament and playing poker in general. Additionally, you can better understand the lure and excitement that drives people to mostly throw away their money almost on a whim at some of these tournaments.

This seems to me to be two books and several short stories all rolled into one volume. I thought the book about Binion family and especially the murder of Ted Binion was an average book that I would not have been interested in reading, had it not been intergrated into this overall book. I thought the author's digressions were, for the most part, of little or no interest to me. I thought the author's account of his amazing adventure to Las Vegas and all the way to the final table at the WSOP was spellbinding. I loved the adventure and the great insight into high stakes tournament poker, but finally began to page through the distractions to get to the white meat.

"Positively Fifth Street" is an interesting book that anyone interested in poker or gambling or Las Vegas should probably read. But be prepared to wade through pages and pages of useless fluff and drivel to get to the good parts. The book would have been many times better if it were about 75 pages shorter.

The author is clearly a skilled wordsmith and weaves an interesting story about the death of Ted Binion with the story of his experience in the World Series of Poker and the history of that event. The book is good mix of humor, drama and reality that will leave the reader both laughing and thinking to himself, "yeah, I've been there!"

Unfortunately he also goes off on numerous tagentially related stories about himself and various other matters that really could have (should have) been left out of the final edit. It's almost as if he were getting paid by the word instead of the number of copies sold.

The upshot: ultimately I would have to say the main stories of the book (the death of Binion, the World Series of Poker) are worth the labor of getting through the pointless material that should have been left out. Wait for the paperback and give it a try.

James McManus was sent to the World Series of Poker to write an article about women in poker for a magazine. He decided to try to win an entry in to the tournament and does. Then he plays in the tournament and survives the first day. At the end of the second day, he has a pile of chips in front of him. He ends up making it to the final table (the final nine players out of 600+ who enter) and has a chance to be World Champion.

This book is a great read. Even if you don't know the first thing about poker, you will be entertained by the people the author meets on his way to the final table of the World Series of Poker.

Lets follow along as the author James Mcmanus a writer for Harpers magazine goes to vegas to cover the 2000 world series of poker and the death of Ted Binion done in by a greedy stripper and her boyfriend.Mr. McMnaus convinces his wife that to get the true experience he will take his advance and get in the world series of poker where he eventually makes it to the final table and along the way tyes in the story and trial of ted binion.I really could have done with out the binion story but this was a excellent book and you root for the author all the way.If you like this book and you should especially with explosion of interest in holdem poker i would recommend also anthony holdens book big deal

I'd just finished watching The World Series of Poker on ESPN when one of my book club's featured POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET, so I couldn't resist.
Harper's Magazine hires McManus to cover the Ted Binion murder trial. For the uninformed, Benny Binion, Ted's father, originated the World Series of Poker; Ted Binion, his son, was murdered by his paramour, Sandy Murphy, and her lover Rick Tabish for the millions in silver he kept buried in the desert. McManus decides to use his advance to enter a satellite tournament, and when he wins he enters the WSP.
In No Limit Texas Hold'em, the main event at the WSP worth over a million dollars to the winner, each player is dealt two cards face down; the players then bet, quite often trying to drive the other players out by going "all in" or betting all of their chips. If someone calls, the players are dealt three common cards (called the flop); betting ensues and if players remain, they get another common card called the "turn" or fourth street; they bet again and if two players are still in the pot, another card the "river" or fifth street (hence the title) is dealt. They bet again and best hand wins.
McManus will remind you a lot of one of his heroes, Hunter Thompson, gonzo journalist who wrote FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. McManus has the same rambling style and also takes a lot of drugs, although most of his are prescription. Other than poker and the murder trial, McManus alludes to his wife and two little girls, two older children from a previous marriage, his morning swims, his purchase of an expensive diamond ring for his wife (she never got one when they got married) as well as literary allusions by the ton (He's also a writing teacher at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago). He loves Dante so much he named one of his daughters Beatrice. McManus also has an annoying habit of whining about just about everything. Fifth place isn't good enough for him; he's got second place prize money, over $800,000, spent before he's eliminated. Apparently, during one of the rewrites, McManus realized he was complaining too much because he starts making fun of himself.
McManus refers to himself as "Good Jim", the Jim who keeps pictures of his family at the poker table for good luck and "Bad Jim", the Jim who buys lap dances with his winnings, then agonizes over telling his wife about it. Eventually we realize that McManus includes all of this personal information because he's comparing his own situation with that of Murphy, Tabish, and the Binions and what a fine line there is between them.

Being a poker player, I had heard all the positive press on this book and was looking forward to it. Frankly, I was disappointed. Too much about the author, not enough about Ted Binion or the World Series of Poker. It was sort of like the author didn't know which book he wanted to write. It gets really draggy when he talks about himself. I think the positive press on this book is more a function of the time in which it came out rather than the book itself; poker is "the new black", and trendy right now. 5 years ago this book would have been completely ignored. There are better books on the subject.

I was so excited to read this book after all the glowing reviews. I had previously enjoyed Big Deal and the two Michael Konik gambling story collections and I was ready to add this one to my list of classics. Not even close! Unbelievably boring writing about poker which is surprising considering that the author got so far in the World Series, and it's filled with many technical errors that any regular player will find annoying. Very disappointed.

I finished it in one sitting.
Some people will approach this book from a 'This American Life' angle (among other accomplishments, McManus was David Sedaris' writing teacher in college), others from a Poker angle (McManus did end up at the last table at the 2000 WSOP), and, finally, some will combine the two (people like me). This last group will probably enjoy the book the most. Out of the rest of you, the Sedaris fans will enjoy the Poker stuff a lot more than they might expect to, but the Poker fans aren't going to enjoy the non-poker stuff as much; they might prefer Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player by Anthony Holden.

This is a great book. The author is a breath of fresh air in his writing style. Even if you have never played poker you will enjoy this book. It is a book that will keep you up as I could not put it down. The last third of the book will keep you on the edge of your chair. It does read like a novel and the author is not one to stay the course and there are some chapters you may not like....I skimmed the chapter on how he learned to play poker. And if you have an interest in poker you will want to keep it in your library. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

This book is so boring in the beginning that I haven't even been able to finish it to get to parts that other reviewers say are exciting. I thought it was about the World Series of Poker and the murder trial. Instead I have to read about McManus' childhood. Of course I've seen him on poker shows and he seems pretty boring in real life too.

If you're looking for a poker book, pass on this one.

This is a great book for anyone who is a fan of poker or interested in Las Vegas history. McManus' account of his World Series of Poker experience is incredible. He took a big gamble himself by putting up most of his book advance to try to qualify for the Main Event. It really made a great story.

I also enjoyed the story of Ted Binion's murder. McManus goes into great detail about the case and trial. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the case and McManus did a great job of sifting through it all. He also had quite a few great interviews related to the case that really helped get a lot of good inside information. I highly recommend Positively Fifth Street.

As another reviewer said in his 1-star review of this book, the sections on poker are excellent but they are buried inside of seemingly endless chapters on Ted Binion's murder, the author's grandparents, and all kinds of other nonsense. While those subjects could possibly be fascinating, McManus isn't nearly good enough as a writer to make them interesting. So what we're left with is a highly-compelling description of the 2000 WSOP for about 1/3rd of the book and then 2/3rds garbage.

Best avoided if you're looking for a poker book.

I loved the book, but when I searched for it on Amazon, I did not see the unabridged version. Since its purchase, I found out it's available and I would have preferred to have bought it instead. The 3 CD abridged version does not contain all the anecdotes my friends have been telling me they read or heard in the unabridged version. Why don't you have the unabridged version at Amazon, or why did your search engine not find it?

Supposedly a non-fiction account of a poker tournament and a murder investigation the book is actually an exculpatory note for actions carried out by the author in the penultimate chapter of the book.

Reread long passages about the link between competition, creativity, and sexuality in light of those final chapters and an undercurrent of deception comes to light. These passages are the preparation of a defense that come of as self serving and biased as opposed to a cold hard look at the facts.

The author in essence is providing a similar defense to those of the murderes in his book. They are victims of their environment and their hormones too.

The stories of the tournament and the murder trial are pretty good in comparison. And the books is a very smooth quick read.

This is an excellent book. A real life personal story wrapped around a murder mystery/trial story, the every-man poker player will love Bad Jim and his assault on the WSOP. Everyone wants to play there and everyone wants to win. McManus came 5th and his story is compelling and truly fun reading. Plus you learn the work BURK. What could be better than that?

As some reviewers have commented, Fifth Street, is not Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But it's not supposed to be. Even though both have the common premise of an author writing about himself while on a journalistic assignment to Las Vegas, their purposes and approach are very different. Comparing McManus' book to Thompson's doesn't provide insight into either.

As for Fifth Street itself, McManus is at his best when writing as a journalist, even though he seems to take some license with the facts related to Ted Binion's murder. The juxtaposition of a No-Limit poker tournament and the death of someone who lived without limits is a terrific premise. The book is best when it sticks to these topics.

The author's description of the poker tournament becomes fascinating as he finds himself playing at the final table with some of the world's best players. His descriptions of the thinking process of top poker players and how they interact are insightful and very well written. But his focus on the tournament detracts from writing about the trial and bringing the two topics together in a common theme. The book may have been better if he'd lost in the early rounds and kept a broader perspective.

Unfortunately, the book becomes about the author's personal life. But given the putative premise, McManus' diversions to discuss his and his wife's family history, potty training of his children, and other extended diversions, distract from the strength of this book.

The first line is an attention-grabber, worthy of a great true crime book, but POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET is so much more than that. On a long shot, McManus enters the World Series of Poker when he goes out to Vegas to cover it and the Binion murder trial for HARPER'S magazine. He does a great job of covering it all, including history of poker and Vegas and the Horseshoe, his own personal history as a poker player and sketches of his fellow contenders, as well as the reactions of his wife as he first enters the tournament, then slowly progresses. He renders it in a style that gives us the facts but also gives us access to the hyper-articulate and often just plain hyper (and always entertaining) stream of consciousness patter constantly going on in his brain.

I was skeptical when i first noticed this book. I skimmed through it and still wasnt sure. But when i actually purchased it and started reading it, i got into it. Alittle uninteresting at first but when i got to the part where he describes his experience at the WSOP i couldnt put it down!! A well put book when suspenful poker action ...A must read at an inexpensive cost!

And what tales they are. If you want to get in on the action right from your favorite easy chair Positively Fifth Street and The Craps Underground will take you to the world of the great players in the most exciting venues in the country! These are must read books for casino gamblers and others wishing to go on the great adventures with larger than life characters!

Brilliant, rambling and highly insightful stuff ranging from a murder trial to the various influeneces his grandfathers had on his character...

A really good book - plain and simple. A terrific, surprisng, interesting story written exceptionally well. I enjoyed all of it. It's the kind of book you want to read when you don't want something that's "heavy," but rather something that's pleasurable and a page turner. Nothing assuming about Mr. McManus' style. Just right on point. Thank you author for a delightful book.

McManus is a great writer. The book covers everything from his experience as a finalist in the World Series of Poker to the death of Ted Binion. Now, as a writer/journalist, I love anything written by someone like McManus. But there are several chapters I skipped because I didn't buy the book to learn about the author's childhood, and, by the end of the book, I knew enough about his wife and life that I skipped the final (or last two) chapters.

Still, the book is recommended because you get to follow the author's progression from reporter covering the WSOP to a player finishing fifth in the tournament.

I love going behind the scenes and this book does it with a passion. The other book I really enjoyed had to do with craps players who have developed the ability to alter the odds at dice. This is found in The Craps Underground, another great book in the same vein as Fifth Street.

It amazes me that this book has sold so well to the general public, as opposed to the poker community. Although I found this book to be quite enjoyable (sans the Binion murder trial), I felt it was interesting simply because I was first learning the game at the time. If you've played the game and have aspirations of playing in the WSOP some day, you'll no doubt enjoy this book. However, a few friends who never play poker borrowed the book and returned it after reading just a few chapters.

But not great. I enjoyed this book, yet somehow it left me wanting more. I guess I wanted more of the seamy underbelly of Vegas, and a little less of the "Good Jim v. Bad Jim" !! But that's not how his experience was. The poker part of the book was excellent & in depth. The psychology of the game and the way He explains his moves were very good. The murder really did captivate the city (& still does!) Absolutely everybody in Vegas has an opinion about it and shares it whether you ask for it or not!
Don C.

This is one of the greatest stories I've ever heard in the world of poker. I mean to take a risk like Jim did, study as much as he did, play as well as he did, then wind up having to face his "poker mentor" at the final table.... I mean WOW. The side story of Ted Binion will only be appreciated by those who enjoy the Binion family stories. If you like poker, its a must read. Though it's not a how to book by no means, you will learn about good poker playing if you pay attention. I would highly recommend this book and I look forward to reading more of Jim's works.

This year I really got into watching WSOP and other poker events on TV. I found the poker, the characters, and the stories fascinating. When I saw McManus's book, I was excited to read it. I did some review reading at Amazon.com and other places to see what it was like and bought it. I'm not sorry. It was great fun to read about some of the very same people I saw on TV. I also enjoyed the background of the Binion family--I didn't follow the murder/trial--which was fascinating as well. I don't know why some of the reviewers had trouble following more than one storyline in the book. I thought McManus did a good job of interweaving the Binions and other poker characters, the history of poker and the WSOP, and his own thoughts and foibles into an interesting, informative, and funny read. I absolutely loved Good Jim and Bad Jim! It's so real! I would definitely recommend this book even if you know nothing about poker. I don't say that lightly. This is my first online review--hopefully not my last--and I only recommend books to people I don't know if there is something about it that is special and that I think they will enjoy.

Enthralling. I couldn't put it down. One with just a passing interest in poker is likely to become obsessed with the game of skill.

I could not stop reading this book. It tells the story of the biggest poker game in the world with lots of inside information, because this journalist to everyone's surprise, became a leading contender. You learn a lot about Texas Hold'em and the WSOP tournament in particular.

He fills out the book with sex, drugs and even murder, though the expert players he portrays seem a colorful, yet ascetic bunch. All the sensationalism is justified because it IS Las Vegas and the murder victim ran the tournament in the past.

A serious look at no limit poker.

BTW, I read this as an ebook. I find a book in that form has to be a real page turner to finish it. This certainly was.

Who knew the World Series of Poker could be so fascinating? Or maybe it's just the way McManus writes about it. For any guy (or lady) who fantasizes about winning big at cards, this is for you.
Also recommended - "Who's Your Caddy" by Rick Reilly and "No One's Even Bleeding" by Lenny Castellaneta

I'm a professional poker player, and this book is an incredible look at the World Series of Poker and what it's like to be a part of it, along with the Binion family, Ted's murder, and Las Vegas. Mr. McManus is a brilliant writer who manages to weave everything into a brilliantly compelling story.

I missed a World Series event this year because I couldn't put this book down-- I stayed up until 7:30 in the morning to finish it, then couldn't get up to make the noon start time. To me, that is the ultimate recommendation.

An incredible journey of a writer who not only explores the ins and outs of the world series of poker but also goes into the history and legend of Binions, murder and the history of what high stakes no-limit poker is and what it takes to play the game.

At one time this might have been the bible on the WSOP experience. However, today, it merely provides sound bites of a past. As many have noted in other reviews the author just jumps topics from page to page never really focusing on any one thing or item or person for more than a few paragraphs. It's like looking around in a crowded place and describing each person you see for just a moment. Once described you just move right along. Maybe you will come back, maybe not. To call this a story is really stretching it--there is no overriding plot except the author and even then the way he writes about himself includes tons of details, details which seem to be there to fill space and have no true relationship to what everything else is about. And, the entire start of the book is completely unrelated to anything. I actually thought I was reading a XXX sex novel and thought Amazon delivered the wrong book to my iPhone. Twenty pages later I realize it is the book I ordered, but this book about the WSOP & poker spends a ton of time talking about something the author is speculating about. Really weird.

I've read a lot of the "Can I win the World Series of Poker", "I wonder if I could be a poker pro", or "should I go from semi-pro to pro" genre. If I could choose just one book out of many, I'd recommend this one at the very top of the list.

Extremely well written. This guy definitely has the journalist creds to pull something like this off in a fun, addictive and easy read.

Although I wondered whether I'd like the "sub-plot" of the Binion story, I actually found myself immersed in his tale about the seamy side of Vegas. It adds edgy overlay to provide a spicy hint of what the real poker world is like. Let's admit it, our dark side (he calls his evil side "Bad Jim"), is what attracts many of us to the Vegas poker pro fantasy. And I learned a new term: "burking". Nope, it's not a new poker strategy. You'll have to look it up.

Highly recommended if you are looking for something beyond the usual poker playing manual. Even my Labrador who intently watches me read while I simultaneously play on-line Hold 'em, gives this one his "four paws up" rating.

If you are looking for playing instruction, this isn't your book.

McManus has written a deft, funny, and literate work that is hard to put down -
if you like poker, that is. For non-poker enthusiasts, or those unwilling to at least learn the basics of Texas Hold'Em, the many detailed descriptions of Bad Jim's amazing run at the WSOP will undermine the power of this terrific book.
McManus has many things going for him. He's an intelligent novelist who brings his keen observation to the worlds of poker, Las Vegas sleaze, and the murder trial of Ted Binion. He's also a fanatic poker player ( and a very good one, better than even he realized when he first landed in Vegas to cover the World Series ). He is well read in a variety of subjects, and thus the book has a Moby Dick feel, with Good Jim the writer making countless excursions into other areas and interests in his investigation of poker, sex, power, addiction, and art. Best of all, Good Jim has an ironic detachment about himself and his own weaknesses, and is not afraid to play the part of nebbish, though he is anything but one. Some of Good Jim's digressions don't really lead anywhere and slow the book down ( i.e., the pointless two pages on his former student, humorist David Sedaris ). And some of the digressions into psychology also bog down a bit. But these are compensated for by his quick, funny portraits of some of poker's great characters. All in all, a classic.

I still cant' believe the guy made it to the final table. What an incredible feat. He writes really well too. Great story, well written. Ah, the catch is, this is definitely a GUY book, whatever that mean.

An amazing book. Somehow the author is simply telling the story of how he played in the World Series of Poker but also weaves in all of the following:

- Murder
- Adultery
- The history of poker
- The history of cards
- The history of Las Vegas
- The mob
- What constitutes "cheating" on your wife?
- High ethics
- Discussions of game theory
- His own family tree

And just about everything else. All of it in brilliant prose that makes it fascinating.

At the same time he brings you to the poker table and you feel the tension of re-raising TJ Cloutier with the author. I felt sick a few times as the author described playing pocket jacks aggressively.

If you love poker or gambling or marriage or reading or life, read this book.

McManus has taken several plot lines of varying interest and wrapped them into one messy book. The real-time WSOP diary part of the book is outstanding--funny, gripping, and a great way to live out every small-time rounder's dream vicariously. It's well worth the price of the book. The rest of it... I wasn't nearly interested enough in McManus as a personality to enjoy the insights into his poker-playing youth, and the coverage of Ted Binion's weird life could have been cut without me missing it.

At half the length, this would have been a positively five star book.

For decades, I went to the World Series of Poker as a side-game player and a writer. Like so many, I played mostly and wrote a little. All the writers I met over those years just have to be jealous of James McManus. He played well and made the final table and the big bucks AND he wrote a best-seller about it. I am a poker writer, but I do not pretend to have a fourth of the skills of the eloquent Mr. McManus. He is the Dean of American Poker Writers. England has some fancy wordsmiths. This book is not just for poker players. It would make a great gift for anyone. McManus throws in the saga of Teddy Binion, to boot.
Johnny HughesTexas Poker Wisdom

If you look at the reviews for this book, you'll see a wide range of opinions. From 1-star all the way up to 5-stars. I believe the reason for the wide range is because the book cover and descriptions (including the back) fails to manage the reader's expectations. Similar to many other reviewers, I expected a book 100% about poker and related topics. However, it's really 60% about Ted Binion's murder, and 40% about poker. I did realize that Binion's murder was a topic in the book, but I though it was just a backdrop for the poker story. The murder almost dominates the book. If I had that 60/40 expectation I think I would've enjoyed the book more. So i penalize it 1 star because it didn't meet my expectations. I also subtract 1 more star because the author goes off-topic way too often. Other reviewers rant on how off-topic the book goes, so i don't need to again. 3 stars.

This is a very unique book that tells many stories in one - the murder trial of accused killers of Ted Binion, Jim's own sensational poker run, and mixed in is lots of tidbits of poker history and player profiles. Overall, it is pretty good, but could have been better were it not for too many tedious pages of personal history, minutia of the tournament, and philosophical digressions that had me yawning. A good quarter of this 400 page book just wasn't all that interesting to me. On the other hand, in reading other sections, I found that I couldn't put it down.

Overall, getting through the tedious sections was made worthwhile by not only his great tournament story, but a real education on the history of the game, and where it is at present. BUT, if you bore easily, this may not be the book for you.

Don't waste your money. If you feel you have to have this book buy it 2nd or even 5th hand. It is boring and not well written. I find myself simply skimming through many pages that get completely off the topic. If I could return any of the books I have purchased from amazon or anyplace else, this would be the one.

The writer may know how to write a story. but he strays away from poker so often u forget you are supposed to be reading a poker book about the WSOP

Las Vegas history is entwined with this account of one man's trip to the World Series of Poker. For the mystery buffs, there is also a murder tied into the story.

Poker account was interesting, I already knew the story being told in the account of the Binon murder and was not as interested in this portion of the book.

This book was recommended by numerous people to me and it didn't fail to impress me! Well written, great personality to it and a nice behind the scenes insight into the WSOP.

If you lobe Vegas, Poker, Murder mystery trials, or big personalities...then this book is for you.

I lived in Vegas at the time the book was written, and it is interesting to read another view of what was going on at that time (Binion trial). The poker writing is also excellent, and I would recommend this book highly.

The author really brings you into a world where he plays poker at the highest possible level, challenging the masters at their own game as a relative novice, while he simultaneously weaves a tale of the brutal murder of a debauched casino owner. A great pair of stories that will fascinate aficionados of gambling or Las Vegas. The descriptions of the murder itself and of the author's final moments at the World Series of Poker gave me chills.

"Hey," I thought when I saw this book at a local store - "What a neat idea for a book!" Interested in gambling and all things Vegas, I bought it. The author is a good storyteller and he weaves adroitly between the tales of his unexpected run at the World Series of Poker and the trial of the two people charged with murdering casino operator Ted Binion, whose Binion's Horseshoe Casino hosts the annual WSOP.

For poker fans, including the thousands (millions?) of new enthusiasts introduced to the game by all the recent televised poker, it's a good read. The author also provides a decent account of the trial and the events leading up to it. But where he fails is in his interjecting of his own strong personal views about the principals involved. His blatant dislike of the defendants (he finds them both "guilty" in the book's opening pages), their attorneys (including the mayor of Las Vegas), and others, taints the story and attemtps to influence opinion instead of just presenting the facts. I was further disappointed at the author's political railings, which are totally unrelated to the story, at the end of the book.

Nonetheless, the poker and courtroom action are quite revealing and interesting. If the author had stuck more to the tournament and the trial and less to his political beliefs and family history, this could have been an even better read.

If you are looking for a lot of poker wisdom, this is not the book for you. This is the book for you, though, if you are a hold 'em poker enthusiast looking for a good story.

Since there are 84 others out there, I'll keep this short: I thought that the book was well written and kept me wanting more throughout.

This is a wonderfully entertaining and informative account of Mr. McManus' experience at the World Series of Poker. His adept touch at weaving the unbelievable details of the Binion murder with the almost equally unbelievable play of his own in the Tournament makes for an incredible read. When i was half way through i felt as though I had read two or three books (in a good way). His turn of the phrase is intelligent and humorous and his respect and admiration for the great players of yore shine throughout the book.

Definitely a must read!

a good book but the author did get off track at times

Positively Fifth Street is an exciting well written book by James McManus about his entry into the World Series of Poker. I thought his writing was very good and sometimes excellent. I especially enjoyed his many references to authors like Jared Diamond, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Sylvia Plath. Even if you know nothing about poker, you will enjoy this book.

The best parts of McManus' book are by far the scenes he depicts at the poker table. He's a journalist who makes it to the final table at the WSOP and lives to tell about it, so if you enjoy reading well-written pieces about Texas hold'em, you'll like the book.

McManus' style is easy to follow and his honesty is compelling. I especially enjoyed his accounts of the other WSOP competitors and his feelings toward them during play--hilarious and so true!

About half the book is spent on an account of the Ted Binion murder trial, and for me, things slowed down at that point. I would have rather the two separate stories find their way into two separate books.

That's my lone beef about Positively Fifth Street, however. All-in-all I liked it. If you're a poker fan, I'm betting you'll like it too.

Lately there have been books about the "behind the scenes" lives of various gamblers or players. This is one of the two best in the genre. The book is a rivetting account of a murder and the competition that goes into the poker world. The other book is Frank Scoblete's The Craps Underground, which tells the behind the scenes story of dice controllers who have won millions from the casinos. If you enjoy the inside scoop on people who make their living challenging Lady Luck, I recommend this book and Scoblete's book as must reads.

MaManus has great style and insight and his take on tounament poker, sex and life and death in Las Vegas is excellent. His insights in to the death of Ted Binion are interresting but he may have been a little too close to Ted's family to have a completely clear perspective. The prosecution never proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The death of a heroin junkie is almost always due to the drug not foul play and it takes a lot of direct and circumstantial evidence to reach beyond a reasonable doubt and the proof against the accused was speculative at best and non existent at the worst. Sandy Murphy and her boyfriend were convicted on suspicious circumstances and other factors not evidence. The turkey baster and Burking theories were never more than the fantasy of the hired expert brought in from N.Y. The Supreme Court of Nevada has reversed the murder verdicts against Sandy Murphy and her lover and ordered a new trial not on lack of reasonable doubt but on other irregularities in the sensationalized trial which was unfair to the accused. Perhaps McManus will write a sequel dealing with the new trial. However this time he should stay out on the strip where his line of sight may be better. Also I would like to read his insghts as to life on the strip and tounament play at the Bellagio. Maybe his publisher will provide the seed money again.

This is a very interesting profile of the the various low-life characters in Vegas. I travel there on for conventions but can't wait to return now to see some of the places described in the book. It also helps you develop an understanding of the game you see them play on ESPN. I actually ordered some of the computer simulation games the author mentions to learn more about the game itself.

The author did alot of great research but some of it is a bit long-winded. However, stay with the story and you'll enjoy the drama of the game and of the trial that is part of the story.

Two incredible stories tied into one amazing experience and one great book. A word of caution for all of you looking for a how-to-win at poker book - this is NOT IT! Some of these other reviews are obviously from people wanting more about how to make it to the final table at Binion's - this is not that book.

What it is though is an exciting tale, very well written by a true literary who happens to be a poker fanatic that had a great string of luck at the most opportune time. The murder portion of the story is quite incredible itself and I'd be surprised if there isn't a TV movie made about it soon - because you won't believe what went on.

I loved it - READ THIS BOOK!

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. I heard about this book and thought it would be really great. As it is marketed, it's an intriguing story. At first glance. Unfortunately, it takes forever to get to the story. First, Mr McManus engages in a lengthy and melodramatic rundown of the murder of a casino heir, Ted Binion, then tries to transition into his own story. While it's relevant background info since the World Series of Poker takes place at Binion's Horseshoe, JUST TELL ONE STORY, MAN! Even worse, McManus takes great liberties with some of the actual events related to the murder of Binion. He admits this. And then he cannot resist referring to himself and his dark side throughout the book as Good Jim and Bad Jim. A flourish I could have done without.

Perhaps McManus or his editor or publisher lost their nerve in regards to publishing a book JUST about his experiences in The World Series of Poker. Perhaps that was never their intention. HOWEVER, that's the only interesting stuff in the book. The stuff about the death of Binion is, for the most part, [annoying]. Particularly annoying is the clunky manner in which it is bolted on. And it's nowhere near as enchanting as the thought of a writer for Harper's going to Vegas, exchanging his expense money for chips, and then somehow making it all the way to fifth place. Plus, there is some really interesting information about professional poker players.

I thought this book had a lot of potential. A real bummer to not exercise more restraint, and focus on one story.

Like James McManus, I love the game of poker, though I don't have the nerve or the bankroll for no-limit games. I am also a fan of nonfiction murder cases. So what's not to like about this book? McManus' intelligent discussion of the game of poker from all aspects was enlightening and entertaining. While he played in the WSOP (totally untried--totally computer-educated), he also covered the trial of Ted Binion's wife and lover, accused of his grisly murder. The marriage of these two themes results in a lively, intelligent and well-written text. I love the book.

Biography meets poker textbook meets true crime meets history of gambling meets seedy Las Vegas travelogue...it's not a book, it's a "Now That's What I Call Literature!" compilation of magazine features. Despite the pinball narrative structure and the occasional lapses in taste (whaddya expect from a man who wore a baseball cap at his wedding?), McManus has crafted a compelling tour of the obsessive behaviors that define us all, whether we admit to them or not.

James McManus went to the World Series of Poker to write a story and ended up at the final table, slinging cards with the best players in the world. Along the way, tidbits of how to play certain hands, the computer simulations the circuit players use to build their skills and the murder of Ted Binion are explored.

The world and rules of poker are a bit confusing to me. Then again I certainly did not inheirit the family gambling gene. I was still able to follow McManus's explanations of the game and the hands dealt.

The contrast between McManus's life in the casino during the World Series and his regular life with wife Jennifer is conveyed in their phone calls to each other. McManus is buzzing with excitement and the sheer amount of money being betted with each hand while Jennifer cares for their two small daughters.

But through out the hands dealt and the quirky players, the accused murders of Ted Binion get their day in court. The story of the casino heir with everything and the stripper is an interesting one.

To anyone who has played a hand of poker, visited Las Vegas or is a true crime fan, "Positively Fifth Street" is a fascinating look into another world.

The title is a blatant "tell"regarding the author's holdem acumen."Fifth Street" is a stud term,any holdem player worth his salt knows the last community card is called the river.