James McManus, Columnist

Chutzpah Alone Won't Win the Poker World Series

As the World Series of Poker draws to a close, only the fierce still survive.

July 14, 2014 at 8:48 PM UTC

James McManus is the author of "Positively Fifth Street" and "Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker." He has written about the game for the New York Times, Harper's, the New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Esquire and Grantland. He teaches writing and literature at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Chin up, Bruno Politano -- you're looking like a winner. — Chin up, Bruno Politano -- you're looking like a winner.

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As he had early on, Zach Jiganti, an up-and-coming poker savant, dominated his table pretty much from noon to midnight on Day Three and most of Day Four of the World Series of Poker's Main Event.

In one hand, he called a raise in the big blind bet from a middle-aged dad type in a baseball cap and goatee sitting four seats to his left. There'd been some friendly conversation leading up to the hand, apparently about the weather in Florida. "The Dad" lived there; Jiganti had gone to school there. Meanwhile, the Dad, with position on Jiganti, had been raising his blind fairly often.