Positively Crap Street: Bloggers Sound Off On Latest McManus Column

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New York Times poker columnist and overall lucky sumbitch, James McManus, is not making too many fans in the pokerati sect when it comes to his self-aggrandizing poker columns. Yes, everybody who loves the sport enjoys the fact that poker’s popularity is hovering somewhere high above the stratosphere. However, some feel McManus’ column may be the ultimate price of poker’s fame. Mo’ money, mo’ problems, indeed. This treads right on the turf of poker bloggers everywhere. This week’s offending column proves that hand histories don’t give him street cred. McManus may have the paid gig, but most bloggers have been perfecting the art of writing hand histories for a couple years on an everyday basis. After the jump, a couple of poker bloggers roll up their sleeves, clench their fists and give McManus a well-executed verbal black eye exclusively for Oddjack.

We’re not sure how McManus manages to parlay one half-assed book and a lucky final table appearance into gigs like this, but it’s astonishing how bad his stuff has been since they put him on the story. To paraphrase the moderator of the Knowledge Bee from “Billy Madison:”

“Mr. McManus, what you’ve just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

Here is the latest unholy birth James McManus has squeezed out for the New York Times. Giving you a taste of what lay in wait behind the veil of subscription at the Times-dot-com:

Locking horns two hours later, Juanda and Darden moved all their chips in before the flop. Juanda held Q-Q, Darden A-K. With five cards to come in the classic Hold’em race, Juanda was a 57 percent favorite. But an ace on both the flop and the turn made Darden the overwhelming favorite. Only one of the two remaining queens could save Juanda - and that’s what washed up on the river. Suck and re-suck. Instead of being eliminated, Juanda became one of the chip leaders; Darden was out soon after.

Joe Speaker from The Obituarium expresses his frustration with McManus’ boobery below:

James McManus posts hand histories! There doesn’t really seem to be a point to them, unless it was to get “suck” into The Great Gray Lady. Five times, even. He reaches into his fancy bag of Big Shot Writer tricks—fake Latin, sports analogies—to describe Todd Brunson as a fat redneck. He presumably typed the phrase “less adventuresomely barbered” with a straight face and not-so-subtly reminds us of his final table finish. Which, for the record, was not this year. I won a 440 in the 7th grade. Gimme a track and field column.I suppose he’s going for a wrap-up of the entire Series. The excitement! The “panache!” (His word.) Look at these hand histories! It’s like you’re right in the room!I didn’t get that vibe. I got an August baseball game at Tropicana Field vibe.

Gracie from Sheverb:

These aren’t just ordinary hand histories they are tepid and dry hand histories that remind me a lot of text books I had to read in high school. In fact, I think McManus is onto something revolutionary - a sleep aid that is truly non-habit forming.

Previously: Positively Crap Street Part 2: Blogger Flames McManus [Oddjack]