MICKEY ZEE'S POKER WEEK IN REVIEW + WSOP PHOTOS FROM FLIPCHIP

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We’re on the downward slope toward the WSOP Main Event and yours truly will be on the rail again this year.

Greetings, pokernuts! Ol’ Mickey Zee is back from the land of the lost after a bad bout of gout and a couple of hugely disappointing attempts at a Main Event entry. I could have avoided the gout by sidestepping Vera’s ham and those extra Buds, but I couldn’t avoid a long bout of dead cards and the bad beat that took me out of the running for my stab at the Big One this year. I’m keeping my dollar and sparing you the sad tale.

FlipChip/LasVegasVegas.com photos shot Monday 07/24 on location at the Rio All-Suite Resort in Las Vegas on, Home of the 2006 World Series of Poker.

It takes a lot of poker dealers for a successful WSOP.

Instead – I’m going to point you to a series of reports about some upcoming legislation that could mean the ultimate bad beat for all-o-us who like to play poker wearing nothing but our underwear.

The Senate is staged to act on HR 4411 – widely know as the Anti-Internet Gambling bill – sometime before the August recess. There seems to be some question as to whether a) the Senate will get to a vote before Aug. 4, and b) if they do, whether they will pass it or not.

There’s also a bit of a debate on whether the bill actually outlaws internet poker. Longtime poker-pro, author and commentator, Lou Krieger is of the opinion it doesn’t, but poker-blogger Royal isn’t so sure.

I’m of the mind, though, irregardless – this is a bill having less to do with protecting so-called family values and more to do with getting votes come election time and is laced with all the viscous hypocricy we’ve come to expect from our elected ones.

Now you can sit there and just shake your head and return to your remote and the tv tube in a few months or you can get off your duff and let your Senator know how you feel. Plus, if you’re so inclined pay a visit to the Poker Player’s Alliance and find out what else you can do.

Go on, git. I’ll be back in a week or so.

In the meantime, don’t forget to tip your dealer!