Tao of Pauly

Positively Fifth Street

I've been reading: Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker written by James McManus. He is the author of four novels (Going to the Sun won the Carl Sandburg Award) and two books of poetry. This is one of the most interesting fiction books that I read in a long time. He covers the murder trial of Teddy Binion by his young, stripper wife and her lover for a magazine and the author wins a seat at the World Series of Poker (in 2000). A great read for sure.

Here's a touching paragraph from Page 24: "I admit I'm juiced and flush when I win and that penis feels like an acorn when I lose, plus my bankroll is paper-cut thin for a spell, but I'm hardly addicted. And I'm not gonna stop playing poker any sooner than I stop writing poems, a habit that much more expensive. The most I have ever earned for a poem is $100, and that poem took eight months to write. Usually I earn much, much less..."

I've often wondered if I was a pure poker addict. To date, writing is my number one priority. But alas, writing is my mistress... writing is the crack that I put in my crackpipe... you get the idea. So as long as I am not putting off writing to play poker... I'm doing OK!