Rating: 
Summary: Great Premise - Disappointing Results
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious, informative and wildly entertaining
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Positively average.
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Best poker book written in last ten years
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: royal flush nonfiction
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: This book has it all
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Poker enthusiasts, read this book. Others, pass.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: 5th place in the WSOP isnt good enough for its own book
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Stream of Consciousness
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: Not Entirely Timely
Review: 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.
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