Born in 1955, James "Jim" McManus is a poker player, teacher and writer. He is best known as the author of the book Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker. He has also written for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Harper's Magazine, and The New Yorker among others and has been the poker columnist of the New York Times and Card Player.
Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker, which was based on his trip to Las Vegas to cover the progress of the 2000 World Series of Poker and the death of Ted Binion. He used his advance from the book to enter a satellite tournament to win an entry into the Main Event. He outlasted all the other players, including professional Hasan Habib to qualify for the seat. He ended up making it to the final table, finishing in 5th place and winning $247,760. His final table included Habib (who he beat in his satellite), Chris Ferguson, and TJ Cloutier, whose book ("Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em by T. J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy") he had read on the plane ride to Vegas in preparation for the tournament.
McManus pursued undergraduate degrees from Loyola University Chicago and University of Illinois Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 and a Master of Arts degree in 1977, both from UIC. He teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the history section of Harvard's new online poker university.
Besides being an acclaimed writer, McManus has also built up a respectable poker resume. He has 7 WSOP cashes and total WSOP earnings of $414,581, 4 WPT cashes, and total live tournament winnings (as of 2008) that exceed $740,000.
Log in to post comments
or Register
hagosmike on July 11, 2007
thealpha1 on October 5, 2006
DonkeySlayer on May 23, 2006
igot2pair on May 14, 2006
abhorrent1 on September 26, 2005
Great Book You Wrote on September 20, 2005
haley on September 12, 2005
blah blah blah on August 29, 2005
benefactor15 on August 28, 2005
Unregistered on August 24, 2005
jackhigh on August 23, 2005
jackhigh on August 23, 2005
billtrem on August 18, 2005
ante on August 15, 2005
Janette on August 13, 2005
Ellix the Sexless on August 12, 2005
Elix Skipper on August 4, 2005
Unregistered on August 4, 2005
Chitown Fan on July 29, 2005
McManus on July 23, 2005
pacecar86 on July 11, 2005
darin loveland on July 7, 2005
spexx on June 26, 2005
sdudley on June 20, 2005
Greg Covotsos on June 11, 2005
Steve Skye on June 4, 2005
bob on May 27, 2005
nico hoon on May 26, 2005
Mark Turnbull on May 19, 2005
Unregistered on May 18, 2005
jambees on May 10, 2005
hater on May 9, 2005
brettjames on May 9, 2005
jambees on May 8, 2005
James McManus on May 3, 2005
CKittle on April 30, 2005
boonedog on April 27, 2005
Dave/ davidahenton on April 7, 2005
dougla7876 on March 30, 2005
River Rat ATL on March 23, 2005
patch406 on March 15, 2005
surly on March 15, 2005
jack high on March 14, 2005
tommy the lobster on March 8, 2005
Jim McManus on March 7, 2005
sachs74 on March 4, 2005
k barnfield on March 2, 2005
Canadian Bacon on February 28, 2005
publisher on February 22, 2005
jack high on February 20, 2005
ellix-poker-academy on February 20, 2005
Mark/ changspine on February 14, 2005
WildeyeJack. on January 29, 2005
Leo McDermott on January 25, 2005
Unregistered on January 23, 2005
poker canuck on January 18, 2005
Jersey Joe on January 2, 2005
Robert Biedrzycki/ Villagekid on January 1, 2005
John Whisler on January 1, 2005
abhorrent1 on December 31, 2004
Unregistered on December 30, 2004
bilk on December 29, 2004
eldan on December 28, 2004
canadian bacon on December 25, 2004
poker lover on December 24, 2004
big slick in nyc on December 8, 2004
gman on December 7, 2004
Jim McManus on December 5, 2004
nsilverman1 on December 4, 2004
B MED on December 1, 2004
Enkhbat on December 1, 2004
abhorrent1 on November 26, 2004
abhorrent1 on November 26, 2004
BobbyC on November 22, 2004
Luckyleru on November 18, 2004
dfrombx on November 3, 2004
dfrombx on November 3, 2004
Jim McManus on November 3, 2004
Kevin_Bickram on November 2, 2004
Jim McManus on October 31, 2004
bizen on October 30, 2004
Jim McManus on October 26, 2004
you guys are tarts on October 20, 2004
fan man on October 15, 2004
Gannon McCaffery on October 12, 2004
You're Awesome on October 8, 2004
Jim McManus on October 5, 2004
bluffer on October 3, 2004
jaslomba on October 3, 2004
roaddog on October 3, 2004
Jim McManus on September 23, 2004
Pokrstudent on September 23, 2004
thekranz on September 23, 2004
Jim McManus on September 23, 2004
thekranz on September 22, 2004
elix powers on September 22, 2004
Jim McManus arramc on September 21, 2004