Jim McManus

Jim McManus is a talented sportsman and a top writer. When he combines the two pursuits he becomes unstoppable – this is backed up by his book sales and when he won the 2001 Peter Lisagor Award for Sports Journalism. Since moving to Chicago, Illinois, in 1959 he has become a huge White Sox fan and even wore a White Sox cap to his wedding in 1992 – to let his wife know what she was letting herself in for! The couple live together in Kenilworth, north of Chicago. McManus is the father of four children.

He studied at the University of Illinois Chicago where he earned his BA in 1974 and graduated with an MA in 1977. He now uses all his experience in writing and in poker to teach at the School of Art Institute in Chicago. An example of how well he puts this in to practise is that one of his courses, on the literature and science of poker, is in extremely high demand each year.

McManus was taught to play poker by his grandparents in 1960 when he was nine years old. His greatest moment in poker came forty years later in 2000. He had been sent to the World Series of Poker by Harper’s to write about the influx of women to the game and the murder of Ted Binion, the son of the tournament’s creator Benny Binion.

Instead of idly sitting by, watching the action unfold before him, McManus took his entire advance from the publishers and entered a satellite for the main event. He beat nine players to claim his place in real tournament. He took his great form with him and outplayed his opponents on the way to the final table, finishing in fifth place with $250,000 in prize money.

The book he wrote based on this experience, Positively Fifth Street, was a New York Times bestseller and reached second spot on Amazon’s sales charts (behind Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Positively Fifth Street is dedicated to his son, James McManus Jr, who passed away in 2001. As well as this book, McManus has had four novels, two collections of poetry, a book of short stories and one non-fiction book published.

His poker career stretches far beyond that one tournament in 2000 and includes 27 cash totals in all, including another two finals at WSOP events. He had totalled over $700,000 in winnings by the start of 2007. McManus is generally disappointed with the standard of poker clubs around Illinois and he now plays lot of his poker online at Full Tilt Poker.

Whilst online poker plays an important part in his life, he still prefers the feel of a live tournament situation, a feeling he thinks is shared by many of the players he faces.