Positively Fifth Street

Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker

By: James McManus

Narrated by: James McManus

Rough sex, black magic, and the science--and eros--of gambling.

Meet in the ultimate book about Las Vegas.

James McManus was sent to Las Vegas by Harper's to cover the World Series of Poker in 2000, especially the mushrooming progress of women in the $23-million event, and the murder of Ted Binion, the tournament's prodigal host, purportedly done in by a stripper and her boyfriend with a technique so outré it took a Manhattan pathologist to identify it. Whether a jury would convict the attractive young couple was another story altogether.

McManus risks his entire Harper's advance in a long-shot attempt to play in the tournament himself. Only with actual table experience, he tells his skeptical wife, can he capture the hair-raising brand of poker that determines the world champion. The heart of the book is his deliciously suspenseful account of the tournament itself--the players, the hand-to-hand, and his own unlikely progress in it.

Written in the tradition of The Gambler and The Biggest Game in Town, Positively Fifth Street is a high-stakes adventure, a penetrating study of America's card game, and a terrifying but often hilarious account of one man's effort to understand what Edward O. Wilson has called "Pleistocene exigencies"--the eros and logistics of our primary competitive instincts.

©2003 James McManus; (P)2003 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

“James McManus narrates the story of his dream assignment, which must have seemed like a royal flush...the results are highly rewarding, and entertaining, informative and dramatic yearn, full of twists and turns and sweaty palms, read all the more convincingly by an author who's not just acting the part.” —The Dallas Morning News

Great book for the poker enthusiast

The book starts with nothing to do with poker and everything to do with greed, sex, and murder. McManus dances between the Vegas murder mystery of Ted Binion and his own trials at the 2000 World Series of Poker. Great book. Time melts away with books like this.

Don't fold on this one!

The opening minutes took my breath away. Expecting to hear about the ins and outs of poker I was "treated" to a moment by moment retelling of a grizzly murder. I was repulsed but intrigued. Did I have the right book? By the time he revealed what was going on, McManus had me hooked. He was "playing" me, just like a poker player, luring me in for bigger and bigger stakes. "Positively Fifth Street" is about poker, but poker as a morality play. "Good Jim" and "Bad Jim" don't so much wrestle for control of the author's "soul" as they tease, entice, and pursuade with the book's opening horro set against the lure of that ultimate stack of cash - and a bracelet.

McManus' prose is superb and listening to the book provided a distinct pleasure that reading wouldn't have afforded. McManus draws the listener to the table with his voice, sometimes reading in a tone that sounds like a stone-cold gaze, sometimes softening, letting you feel the anguish and ecstacy of his experience. I was sitting right at the table with him and there were times when I found myself holding my breath, waiting for next card to fall.

I had no idea what to expect when I started "Positively Fifth Street," in fact, I just sat down to listen for a few minutes but in the end I had to play the whole game out. 3 1/2 hours after it started the story ended, and I could breathe again.

Positively engaging

I thoroughly enjoyed this look at the WSOP (World Series of Poker) and the author. Risk and its consequences is played out on the green felt of Binion's Casino and the author's psyche, family and business. A quite intriguing, humorous and educational journey past the flop, to the turn, and ultimately Fifth St. Recommend the listen.

I thought there were slander laws

This is really 2 books. One about the author's participation in the poker tournament. The other is basically an all-out personal attack, backed by circumstantial evidence, against the folks suspected of murdering Ted Binion. I enjoyed the former, not so much with the latter.

Positively a good read.

McManus interweaves his personal experience with some history of the World Series of Poker and the Binion family who created it. A great read for poker fans.