James McManus

word type: person

  1. An author, poker player and Full Tilt Poker Red Pro with a unique place in poker history.

Story Arc

In the year 2000, when print magazines were still a thriving business, James McManus was assigned to cover the murder trial of Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy, who were accused of killing gambling scion Ted Binion.

The trip to Vegas coincided with the World Series of Poker main event, which McManus satellited into. The result for McManus was a 5th place finish in the event (the year Chris Ferguson won) for almost $250K and an article in Harper's several thousand words long about his adventure to the final table.

The article, combined with coverage of the trial and crime he was originally sent to report on, became the basis for a book that was published in 2003 entitled, Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker.