Rating: 
Summary: Were it not for the narrator...
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A gripping story of murder and high stakes poker
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Too long...Much too long
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: I held my breath at every turn of the cards. Great writing!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Long winded, Tiring.
Review: 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.
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