NYC poker - A-Rod and Hellmuth in NY Post

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STAR'S A POKER STUD

By DAN MANGAN and GEORGE KING
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ALEX RODRIGUEZ
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October 3, 2005 -- Here's Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez with a different kind of diamond — playing poker at an illegal Manhattan card room with pro player Phil Hellmuth.
A-Rod and poker legend Hellmuth stopped by the poker club near Union Square at around midnight Sept. 21, after the Bombers edged the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, at the Stadium to take first place in the American League East Division, a source at the card room told The Post. Although it is illegal to operate a card club that charges admission or takes a cut of the pots, it's not against the law to wager in such an establishment.

The club source said both A-Rod and Hellmuth "signed autographs and they were nice to the other players."

Their arrival generated plenty of excitement — "people were calling their friends to come down and see them."


Asked about the night, A-Rod said, "I am not going to answer any questions about my personal life."

But he later called back to say, "Where my wife and I dine and entertain is a private matter, but I will tell you we were home and in bed by 1:30 a.m." Both Rodriguez and Hellmuth bought several thousand dollars worth of chips, and ended up in a private, high-rollers room playing no-limit Texas hold 'em.



In May, cops raided two well-known underground poker clubs, The PlayStation in Union Square and the New York Players Club on the Upper West Side, seizing $100,000 in cash, and charging 39 employees with illegal gambling.

Those and other illegal card clubs have opened and flourished in unassuming office suites and commercial spaces as poker's popularity has exploded.


Despite the fact that Rodriguez, whose salary tops $21 million annually, was not breaking the law by playing in the club, Major League Baseball has taken a dim view of players consorting with gamblers or bookies.