Jim McManus Bio

James McManus is famous for his popular book "Positively Fifth Street." McManus makes his living as a novelist and writing teacher at Chicago's Art Institute. In the spring of 2000, he had an assignment from Harper's Magazine to cover the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, and he entered the competition as a player. He stated, "You've heard stories like this: Writer mixes it up with the pros, gets his ass kicked the first day out, writes about how tough the Big Leagues are." This story, however, turned out a little differently.

McManus finished fifth in the 2000 WSOP Championship Main Event, and followed it up in 2004 with a fourth-place finish in the $5,000 limit hold'em event.