By Dylan Howard – Senior Executive Editor, Star magazine 
 
 New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez played in an underground, illegal poker game where cocaine was openly used, and even organized his own high-stakes game, which ended with thugs threatening players. 
 
 A blockbuster Star investigation, published on RadarOnline.com, has uncovered the sordid charges being made by eyewitnesses who played in games with A-Rod, in the top-secret Texas Hold ’Em circuit. 
 
 Star first blew the lid off Tinseltown’s clandestine gambling ring in June, revealing that A-list stars including Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon were deeply involved in the illegal games. 
 
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 Now, in a dramatic turn, A-Rod is facing potential fallout from Major League Baseball, which previously warned him to stay out of illegal poker clubs and now has two investigators looking into his activities. 
 
 While the 36-year-old boyfriend of actress Cameron Diaz previously denied participating in the celebrity games, former players in the ring say otherwise and have indicated they’re willing to provide testimony to MLB investigators. 
 
 The insiders tell Star exclusively that A-Rod gambled on at least two occasions, in games organized by stunning brunette Molly Bloom, who coordinated the sophisticated poker operation. 
 
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 Poker pro Dan Bilzerian told Star how the slugger’s first foray into the elite poker circle quickly turned into a fiasco. 
 
 That game was hosted at investor and record label owner Cody Leibel’s $16.5 million Beverly Hills mansion, and cocaine was openly used. 
 
 Bilzerian revealed that a fight nearly broke out when Leibel refused to pay after losing more than a half million dollars. 
 
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 Bilzerian told Star: “Molly ran one game at Cody’s mansion. [One player] got all coked up. Everyone had to chase Cody down for the money, and he later paid me a sum and gave me a watch but stiffed me for $100,000.” 
 
 Star has chosen not to disclose the name of the person using cocaine but can reveal that others at the game included Rick Salomon, and Kenny Tran, a professional poker player who won the 2008 World Series of Poker, according to Bilzerian. 
 
 With tempers at the table flaring, A-Rod tried to distance himself from the game, another insider told Star. “He just shook his head, not knowing what the hell happened,’’ the whistle-blower revealed. 
 
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 “He didn’t want to deal with it at all. He was like, ‘OK, whatever. It’s your game.’ I would estimate A-Rod lost, like, a few thousand dollars that night. After everything that happened, he paid-up and left.” 
 
 Leibel did not return several requests for comment. 
 
 He is one of many being sued by the victims of Ponzi schemer Bradley Ruderman, a Beverly Hills financier who embezzled $25 million of his clients’ money and used $5.2 million of it to pay off monster poker debts to a host of Molly’s players, including Tobey Maguire and The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes. 
 
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 The Las Vegas–based Bilzerian told Star: “Molly was supposed to vouch for anyone who stiffed, but [she] didn’t cover the loss, and that’s why [in part] she left Los Angeles to go to New York to run games. 
 
 “It was a rough initiation to high-stakes for poker for A-Rod,” added the whistleblower, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
 But Star can reveal the source was on Molly’s payroll and had intimate knowledge of her business’ inner workings, regularly working at her games, which were held at private homes and luxury venues. 
 
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 Star also has learned that Molly, 33, claimed to have had a steamy affair with A-Rod. 
 
 Molly bragged to friends that she helped him put together his own hush-hush game in Miami in November 2009, just weeks after Leibel’s fateful event. 
 
 Molly and dealer Manny Lopez flew to Florida to oversee the high-stakes game, Star has confirmed. 
 
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 Lopez, who is one of those being sued by Ruderman’s victims, refused to comment when contacted. 
 
 But the Florida gathering also ended in controversy when one “dubious” card shark lost tens of thousands of dollars and called in several thugs in a bid to intimidate rival players and avoid paying his debt. 
 
 “The thugs were big and aggressive and were sent to the game with one goal in mind: so their friend could attempt to escape paying what he owed,” the insider told Star. 
 
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 “A-Rod was freaked out by the company he was keeping and left the game with Molly.” 
 
 The source said A-Rod later called some of those involved in the game to discuss what had happened but never again played in Molly’s high-stakes games. 
 
 Complicating A-Rod’s woes, it now appears that he has given misleading statements about his involvement in the ring. 
 
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 On June 26, the Yankees third baseman sought to deny Star’s report that he had secretly attended one of the games. 
 
 “Mr. Rodriguez has not participated in these poker games,” insisted his spokesperson, Richard Rubenstein. 
 
 But when confronted with specific evidence about the games he played in, including the one at Leibel’s home, Rubenstein refused to comment, beyond telling Star: “I am not prepared to comment any further about alleged sightings.” 
 
 For more on this story, pick up the latest issue of Star — on newsstands now 
 
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 Alex Rodriguez is getting called to the commissioner's office -- again. 
 
 The New York Yankees third baseman is being investigated by Major League Baseball for participating in illegal poker games and could face suspension. 
 
 "We take this very seriously and have been investigating this matter since the initial allegation," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said in a statement. "As part of the investigation, the commissioner's office will interview Mr. Rodriguez." 
 
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 The first allegation came early last month when Star Magazine published a story that several people saw Rodriguez playing in poker games that were also attended by celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. 
 
 Rodriguez declined comment, and his spokesman, Richard Rubenstein, told the New York Daily News: "Mr. Rodriguez has not participated in these games." 
 
 Wednesday, RadarOnline.com alleged that drugs were used in one game, and that another game organized by Rodriguez ended when a fight not involving the slugger nearly broke out. RadarOnline.com cited unnamed "eyewitnesses." 
 
 In 2005, Rodriguez was spotted at a poker parlor in New York playing with poker pro Phil Helmuth, and then warned by the Yankees and MLB to avoid them, according to the Daily News. 
 
 Rodriguez has been on the disabled list since July 14 after surgery on his right knee and is expected to return in mid-August. He was investigated and interviewed by the commissioner's office in 2009 after he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to '03. He was not disciplined in the matter. 

 CHICAGO -- Major League Baseball is taking "very seriously" the allegations that Alex Rodriguez took part in some illegal, underground poker games, one of which reportedly turned violent, and he could face suspension if his participation in the games is confirmed. 
 
 "We take this very seriously and have been investigating this matter since the initial allegation," MLB said in a statement. "As part of the investigation, the commissioner's office will interview Mr. Rodriguez." 
 
 An MLB executive, speaking to ESPNNewYork.com on condition of anonymity, indicated that Rodriguez could miss games if the investigation proves he was at the poker games. 
 
 "We're talking to people involved in the investigation and we're taking this very seriously," he said. "Because he had been warned about this before, I would say a possible suspension would be very much in play." 
 
 The allegations, first reported by Star Magazine, are that the New York Yankees third baseman played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at a record executive's Beverly Hills mansion, where "cocaine was openly used" and a fight nearly broke out when one of the players refused to pay after losing "more than a half-million dollars." 
 
 According to the story, details of which were reportedly provided by another player at the games, Rodriguez "tried to distance himself from the game," once the violence broke out. 
 
 "He just shook his head, not knowing what the hell happened," the whistle-blower said. "He didn't want to deal with it at all. He was like, 'OK, whatever. It's your game.' I would estimate A-Rod lost, like, a few thousand dollars that night. After everything that happened, he paid up and left." 
 
 In 2005, Rodriguez had been warned about gambling in underground poker clubs by the Yankees and by baseball commissioner Bud Selig, both of whom were concerned that possible involvement with gamblers who might be betting on baseball games could result in a Pete Rose-type lifetime ban from baseball. 
 
 Rodriguez later acknowledged "it wasn't the right thing to do," and checked in with the league before holding a charity poker tournament the following year. 
 
 Various reports have the games under investigation going back to 2007. 
 
 Although baseball's investigation centers on Rodriguez's card-playing, and he is not thought to have gambled on the outcome of any baseball games, the fact that he may have disregarded Selig's warning is said to have angered the commissioner. 
 
 "I don't really have any comment on that," manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday before the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 18-7. "Let baseball handle those things."
– Alex Rodriguez may have wagered more than he thought. The Yankees slugger is facing possible suspension over alleged involvement in high-stakes poker games, reports ESPN. The third baseman is accused of playing in at least two games—one at the Beverly Hills mansion of a record producer that included open cocaine use and the threat of violence when another poker player lost "more than a half-million dollars," according to a person who claims to have been in the game. (Details on that from Star, via Radar.) "We're taking this very seriously," an MLB exec tells ESPN. "Because he had been warned about this before, I would say a possible suspension would be very much in play." MLB and the Yankees warned Rodriguez to avoid underground poker clubs previously in 2005. A league spokesman tells USA Today that Rodriguez will be summoned for an interview. The initial report by Star said celebs such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck regularly took part in the underground games.