James McManus (1) (1951–)

If you can sit through hours of ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker without blinking, this is a great book to pick up. It weaves the story of the murder of the son of the former owner and founder of Binion's Casino in Las Vegas with the author's first-hand experience as a participant in the World Series.

Switching back and forth between the facts of that case and his own travails at the table, James McManus is able to effectively engage the reader in both, and provide twists and show more turns throughout.

McManus pulls the reader in immediately with a description of the state's attorney's version of the murder of Ted Binion, son of Benny and one of the heirs to his father's casino. With engaging dialogue and blunt detail, McManus rehashes a brutal slaying involving a stripper, her newly acquired, easily manipulated, greedy-goon boyfriend, heroin, ropes, handcuffs, and just a dash of sex on the side. And this is only the first chapter.

After a whirlwind of events describing Ted Binion's demise, we are pulled back into the quiet world of a middle-aged college professor living in the Chicago suburbs, playing poker simulators on the computer and reading into every poker manual ever published as his children bound into the room and his wife readies dinner after a hectic day for both. Such is a slice of the author's life, and one portrayed with refreshing candor. Here we learn of McManus' intent: To take the advance he was granted for this book and go to Las Vegas to research the events behind the slaying of Ted Binion. While he's there, McManus plans to enter the Holy Grail of poker tournaments -- the one players in weekly home games drool about, dream about, even begin putting money to save the $10,000 required to buy-in. It begins as a lark ("Let's see how far I can go"), but ends up swallowing the author, and his readers, in a complex journey equally as enticing as that of Ted Binion's last days.

The transitions between the juxtaposed stories are harsh and blunt, but that is in keeping with McManus' style. The reader at times can be frustrated with ending on a particularly challenging hand of poker for the author or waiting to see the last card, and immediately being thrust back into Ted's World, knowing they must wait through a chapter about Binion before getting back to the shuffle-up-and-deal action. The same can also be said for vice versa: Learning about a key piece of evidence the state has found, then immediately wandering into a satellite tournament with the author, ready to turn $1,000 entry into a $10,000 Golden Ticket for a seat in the Main Event.

As the book progresses, McManus' astounding climb in the tournament beings to overshadow the events behind the murder of an heir to "The birthplace of the World Series," as well it should. The author's self-deprecating wit and humility, shown in his true astonishment that he has lastest as long as he has in a tournament filled with pros, helps his connection with the reader. His candor and asides about his own superstitions and driving forces, and those of his competitors, seem to say "anyone can sit here in this seat and get as close as I have to more than $1 million."

As McManus edges closer to the final table of the ten players left in a field that started with more than 4,000, the book approaches two separate-but-equal climaxes, and neither disappoints.

Filled with nods to other poker playing advice from the pros and their books, it's easy for someone caught up in the poker craze to identify with this author while at the same time learning the true story of a murder they may have even known took place. I pulled this book out of my backpack to give to my brother on the three-hour flight to Las Vegas; he was so engrossed by the time the wheels touched down, he had to read more chapters when we got back to the hotel each night. He was still finishing it on the flight back.

Definitely recommended reading. You might learn a thing or two, as well. show less

Another poker classic but this one has parallel narratives: the Binion murder case and the 2000 World Series of Poker. McManus dropped his freelance fee for Harper's on the buy-in for the WSOP and improbably made the final table. At the same time, the Ted Binion murder trial was taking place (Binion was an heir to the Binion casino fortune, which included hosting rights to the WSOP). I especially enjoyed McManus's literary allusions, which provided nice dissonance with his subject matter. I show more did, however, find the last forty or so pages of the book completely extraneous. Do I really need the close-up look at the Vegas strip clubs McManus frequented? His editor should have guided him a bit more here, I feel. It had little to no relevence to the narrative--and his attempt to explain it away by paralleing his experience with Binion's penchant for strip clubs was pretty weak. But overall, a really enjoyable read. show less

As other reviewers did, I found the introductory chapters to be rather patience trying. The evolutionary psychology (we are hard wired to gamble! Proof? And even that granted, so what? There are so very many books where genetics and EP get used as distracting explanatory crutches!) he uses is both weak and fails to fully address the really interesting evolutionary issues (bluff as an evolutionary strategy for instance). He attempts to get at this through his treatment of Presidential poker show more playing--competition is less fighting than elaborate signaling and strategic stakes raising/folding--but doesn't quite do the job of focussing our attention properly, which is what the introductory chapters are supposedly here for.

But once we arrive at real poker in antebellum America, we arrive at the books virtues--it is very well-researched and McManus knows how to tell a story. Even if he isn't so adept at distilling its significance for us, the story is more than worthwhile in and of itself. show less

Shelf Notes Review


Dear Reader,

This was an audiobook, I feel that fact is important when reviewing because the format of print vs. audiobook can make quite the difference. The Author is a famous poker player who got his fame in the literary world with his informative poker book, "Positively Fifth Street: Murders, Cheetahs and Binion's World Series of Poker". I haven't read that book nor have I heard of James McManus before "Physical". I'm the type of gal that likes to participate not watch show more when something fun is going on, I hate watching games or sports... I like playing them. Maybe this book has piqued the interested in those who've come across his name through his poker playing skills or his books about the game BUT this book is something entirely different. I would steer those people away from this or at least warn them that without an interest in the medical world or stem cell research, they'd probably be disinterested.

So what does a poker player know about the medical world? Quite a lot actually! As much as his knowledge is vast though, his opinions are even bigger. I can only describe this book as someone who experienced everything first hand and spewed all his passion from this experience straight at us like a lightning bolt. I enjoyed his passion but most of the time I found myself rolling my eyes and hoping he would just tone it down a bit. But this begs the question, if he wasn't so passionate would I have liked the book any more? Probably not. His experience is quite unique and his life is chock full of tragedy. I feel for him and can only be happy he can share this with the world.

I would also advise anyone attempting to read this that he is quite colorful with his words and there's quite a few cringe worthy moments of the book. Particularly, the part about his daughter getting stabbed in the eye with a broken magic wand at a birthday party. I won't spoil the details but it gets quite gruesome. For me in particular, I believe this book held more interest because it had so much to do with the medical world and the controversy behind it. It delved into things that I have been realizing for awhile now, things that if I didn't work in the medical field... might go unnoticed. I'm glad to have read it but I'm not sure I would pick up anything else by him, mostly because reading about poker sounds downright dull.

Happy Reading,
AmberBug show less