Positively Fifth Street by James McManus

It’s the time of year when we think of the opportunities we have. Those who have come before us have made it possible to accomplish what we want.

I’m talking about the Main Event at the World Series of Poker. What did you think I was talking about?

Next week thousands of professional poker players, amateurs and Matt Damon will convene in Las Vegas for the shot to win millions of dollars and a gold and diamond bracelet. No other sport has more people compete for the chance to win one championship. Thousands of bar poker leagues send representatives for the chance to make the Main Event. It’s not unheard of for an unknown amateur to make a Cinderella run. Last year, Darvin Moon almost became the WSOP champion, finishing second only to a bulletproof Joe Cada.

However, Moon wasn’t the first Cinderella at the final table.

Ten years ago, journalist Jim McManus was sent to Las Vegas for two reasons; to cover the Ted Binion murder trial and to chronicle the rise of women players at the WSOP. While he does his task, he takes his advance and enters a satellite tournament. The winner gets a seat at the Main Event. He outmaneuvers poker pro Hasan Habib and plays his way into the WSOP Main Event.

This is the incredible true story in Positively Fifth Street, penned by the man who made an incredible run to a fifth place finish. His book plays out a lot like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, where the writer becomes part of the story, mixed with a cast of characters who you think are too unbelievable to be true.

We spend some time with Ted Binion’s murder and the accused killers; his cheating girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her boy-toy Rick Tabish. The trial has many twists and turns that would have made the writers for “Law & Order” have a plot orgasm.

The tournament coincides with the WSOP Main Event, which is being played for the last time at its ancestral home, Binion’s Horseshoe Casino (yes…the same Binion). McManus, a lifelong poker player, pores through poker books the same way a college student crams for a final. He practices poker hands on a computer while reading David Sklansky, T.J. Cloutier and Doyle Brunson (Side Note: You can’t get two styles of play that are more different than Brunson and Cloutier). In the Main Event, McManus plays face to face with poker psychic (which if you’ve ever seen him correctly guess what other players have; you’d use the same word. It’s downright scary) Daniel Negreanu, has a return go around with Habib, plays his “mentor” Cloutier and eventual champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.

It’s so well written with a judicious sprinkling of classic literary references.

Even if you’re not a poker fan, read it. If you become a fan after that, watch the highlights on ESPN.

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Poker Session 2 Review – So Close…

Much like my beloved Red Sox, I started out strong and faded at the end. That, and eventual champion Wyn got his mojo back with a win in Week 7 and a runner up in Week 8 to seal the title by almost 30 points.

If I’m really being honest, the better player won the session. Congratulations, Wyn!

As disappointed as I am that I didn’t hold on for the win, I know that I must get ready for the regional tournament on May 11 at the Blue Fox in Arden Hills. There's still a chance that I can make state, but I'm going to need to play an almost perfect tournament to do it. 
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It All Comes Down to This - Week 8 Poker Preview

Who knew the showdown in Week 3 would have been the preview for the championship of Session 2 at Erick’s.

So while I went out on the bubble last Tuesday, and Alan (second place in points) was still playing when I left, the points race tightened up. The only issue is that since the Minnesota Poker League website didn’t update last week, I have no idea how close the points are.

Needless to say, I need to play very well if I’m going to go to state. If not, I have to perform well in the Regional at the Blue Fox just to get to state.

If anyone sings the final countdown, I will throttle him.

Stay tuned. The biggest upset in poker history may happen tonight in St. Paul.

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Week 6 Review, Week 7 Preview

Another week, another final table appearance at Erick’s Bar in St. Paul. The bad news is that this was my lowest finish in Session 2. The good news is that it helped extend my lead in the points chase. I am now almost 200 points up with 2 weeks to go, which is not a lock for a league session championship and an automatic bid to the state tournament May 22. There are some really good players behind me in the points, and any of the top 10 can win a tournament and pile on some point quickly. However, if I have point finishes the last two weeks, I’ll be in a good position to pull off the biggest improbable run since Butler’s Championship Game appearance.

I was fortunate that the winner and second runner up were new to this session. Let’s hope for more new players and not chopping pots on my only good hands.

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Week 4 Review, Week 5 Tonight at Erick's

Last week, an Ace/Queen off suit beat my pair of 10s (pulled an Ace on the flop), which was good enough for me to finish 6th for the night. Tonight, I will do my best to protect my point lead in the Minnesota Poker League WSOP, Tuesday night game. Half way through, I am the only one to make the final table every night. I have a 166 point lead of the second place player. Here are the standings so far…

1 IAN SHANE 572
2 Wanda 406
3 Wyn 392
4 Allen 369
5 Tom 368
6 Pete 328
7 Dan 314

Almost...There...

It's not much of a secret that I have never liked any of the layouts on Blogger. So, until I can come up with one of my own, this is just going to have to do for the time being. This backgroung is in celebration of my Butler like run in the Minnesota Poker League.

Vegas III, In Review

Usually, I would get excited about going to Las Vegas. I pepper my blog with Pre-Vegas themed entries (such as Top 5 Vegas Movies, and Vegas Tips). That is if I know if I am going in advance. I found out about the latest and third trip to the real city that never sleeps about an hour and a half before takeoff. I had plans with my fiancée to celebrate her birthday (Thursday), wander around the Uptown Art Fair (Friday), and see one of my favorite bands, Flogging Molly, at the Irish Fair (Saturday). But first, we were going to pick up a friend of hers from high school at the airport on Wednesday night.

When we get there, I spotted my best man and one of my poker buddies. Confused, I asked the natural question.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"You're going to Vegas."

"I'm not going to no Vegas. I'm not packed."

"Yeah, you are," D said as she popped the trunk and pulled out my suitcase, and my computer bag (which I still want to know how she did that without me knowing). "It's your bachelor party."

It slowly started to dawn on me that D's plans for a weekend were not only a cover, but prevented me from making other plans. There was no friend of hers at the airport; it was just to get me to drive out there with her. So three friends of mine (and one we'd meet with out there) flew away to the Ian Shane preferred vacation spot. Lots of things were going on for the trip, so I'll just give you the Reader's Digest condensed version of the trip.

-Had a great room at the Luxor, however I found it amusing that they were trying to brand themselves as the "green" casino by installing energy efficient lights and a requesting that we re-use towels to save water. Keep in mind that this is the casino that has 7 high powered lights that shoot a beam into the air for no real reason.

-Playing poker in Vegas is not as scary as you would think. The prevailing logic is that the best of the best go there to play. It's poker Top Gun, and if you are a middle of the pack kind of player (which I am), then you'll lose quickly and you won't have any fun. The truth is that you're not going to find Dan Harrington playing a $52 dollar buy in tournament at the Lux, or a 1-2 no limit game. The fact is poker rooms are usually populated with drunken rubes and first timers. These are the people who watched maybe one or two WSOP tape delays and thought "This is easy. Anybody can do this." The way they play makes you believe that they would be more than willing to give you their money directly, but since poker room rules prohibit such acts of charity, they'll limp into a pot with a pocket Jack/4. If you play a patient game (which I admit, I didn't the last night there…fatigue was starting to set in.) you can walk away with a bit of money. I was up 100 bucks in 45 minutes in 1-2 no limit the first time I played.

-I don't care what the "How to Play Blackjack" books say about odds, when a dealer shows a six, nine times out of ten, the under card is a five, and the dealer will pull a face on the draw. Conversely, when you have an 11 and you double down, you'll draw a two 90% of the time.

-Never, never, NEVER play roulette. It's a game specifically designed to draw in newbies and rubes who think that they can beat the odds.

-Girls who wear the "Las Vegas Hottie" T-shirts aren't fooling anyone.

-Las Vegas is Spanish for "The Buffet". Which if you are looking for a great place to have a reception dinner after your Vegas wedding, it's not a bad place to be. You're paying 26 bucks a person, and you let the guests decide what they want. You don't have to painstakingly go through menu options. As long as your jerky guests don't do the annoying clinking of the glass to get the bride and groom to kiss, then you're welcome anytime.

-Pound for pound, I still say that Fremont is the place to be. I love the old school Vegas. We played poker at the Fitz, and it was the highlight of the gaming portion of the trip (although it may be the highlight because I finished better than everyone else in the party, and sixth out of 33 entrants).

-Trip highlight was the Diana Krall show at the Palms. The show was great, and her version of "Jockey Full of Bourbon" was lights out. If there's a Tom Waits song being performed by someone other than Waits, then it damn well better be Diana.

By the time we got on the plane, I was ready to leave that wretched place, and looking forward to the next time I go.