<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Calling his bluff
</TD></TD><TR><TD>Met loves poker, sez source, as Paul's mum on teen tryst
</TD></TR><TR><TD>BY NANCY DILLON in San Antonio, Tex.,
and T.J. QUINN, NICOLE BODE, AUSTIN FENNER, JOE MAHONEY and TINA MOORE
in New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
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</TD></TR><TR><TD>[SIZE=-1]Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca's wife, Sonia Lo Duca, who has filed for divorce, chats on cell phone in San Antonio, Tex., yesterday. [/SIZE]</TD></TR><TR><TD width=10 height=10><!--
--></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- Component: NYDailyNews : component/story/picture.comp -->Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca's public declaration that he only bets on horses was torpedoed yesterday by a source who recounted the slugger's part in high-stakes poker games and trips to Atlantic City.
A former teammate told the Daily News that the feisty Lo Duca was one of a handful of players on the Marlins who took part in big-money poker games on team flights and hit the casinos on the road.
The revelations came on the heels of allegations in recent days - from his wife in Texas and a Long Island teenager - that painted Lo Duca as a womanizer.
Playboy model Sonia Lo Duca, 34, filed for divorce against the Met in June, alleging in a Texas court petition that he cheated on her. The couple has a 21-month-old daughter.
Another woman, 19-year-old Krista Guterman, publicly claimed this week that she had a tryst with Lo Duca after meeting him in a Long Island nightclub - some time after Lo Duca and his wife already had split.
The Long Island teen, a Lord & Taylor employee and SUNY Oneonta student, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Lo Duca has repeatedly refused to address his wife's accusation. Yesterday, he also refused to address the claim from the sexy teen whose My Space account identifies her as a "crazy girl always up for a good time & partying."
"I have no comment," Lo Duca, 34, said. "If you want to talk about baseball, I'll talk about baseball."
The Brooklyn-born catcher held a news conference Tuesday to deny allegations that he had gambling debts and reassert that he and his wife were going through an amicable split. He said he did love horse racing, which he noted was hardly a crime.
With the recent rumblings about Lo Duca's gambling, however, Major League Baseball sources told The News that Commissioner Bud Selig's office will speak to Mets owner Fred Wilpon to determine whether Lo Duca has been doing anything the league needs to be concerned about.
Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said yesterday that Lo Duca assured him he did not have gambling debts nor a gambling problem.
"Paul basically told us that he's doing nothing wrong," Minaya said.
Minaya did not directly address whether he had asked Lo Duca about gambling on other sports.
But Lo Duca's former Marlins teammate described the poker games Lo Duca and others took part in as "millionaires on the plane with lots of cash."
On one trip to Philadelphia, the teammate said, the Marlins landed at the airport around 1 a.m.
Lo Duca and some of his teammates promptly jumped in a limousine and made the 65-mile trek to Atlantic City, where they gambled in casinos before returning to Philadelphia later that morning.
"There's guys like that everywhere, though," the player said.
Asked about the alleged love affair yesterday, Lo Duca's wife, Sonia, refused to comment.
"Please leave me alone," she said after stepping out of her white BMW at her attorney's place in San Antonio, Tex. "I'm just trying to take care of my business."
Sonia Lo Duca, who was wearing a low-cut green tank top and cropped pants with diamond jewelry, waved when she left the office and got back into her car. In her divorce petition, she asked the court to ban her husband from using all bank accounts and from incurring any indebtedness. The petition does not make allegations about gambling.
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</TD></TD><TR><TD>Met loves poker, sez source, as Paul's mum on teen tryst
</TD></TR><TR><TD>BY NANCY DILLON in San Antonio, Tex.,
and T.J. QUINN, NICOLE BODE, AUSTIN FENNER, JOE MAHONEY and TINA MOORE
in New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Component: NYDailyNews : component/story/picture.comp --><TABLE cellSpacing=10 cellPadding=0 width=50 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
A former teammate told the Daily News that the feisty Lo Duca was one of a handful of players on the Marlins who took part in big-money poker games on team flights and hit the casinos on the road.
The revelations came on the heels of allegations in recent days - from his wife in Texas and a Long Island teenager - that painted Lo Duca as a womanizer.
Playboy model Sonia Lo Duca, 34, filed for divorce against the Met in June, alleging in a Texas court petition that he cheated on her. The couple has a 21-month-old daughter.
Another woman, 19-year-old Krista Guterman, publicly claimed this week that she had a tryst with Lo Duca after meeting him in a Long Island nightclub - some time after Lo Duca and his wife already had split.
The Long Island teen, a Lord & Taylor employee and SUNY Oneonta student, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Lo Duca has repeatedly refused to address his wife's accusation. Yesterday, he also refused to address the claim from the sexy teen whose My Space account identifies her as a "crazy girl always up for a good time & partying."
"I have no comment," Lo Duca, 34, said. "If you want to talk about baseball, I'll talk about baseball."
The Brooklyn-born catcher held a news conference Tuesday to deny allegations that he had gambling debts and reassert that he and his wife were going through an amicable split. He said he did love horse racing, which he noted was hardly a crime.
With the recent rumblings about Lo Duca's gambling, however, Major League Baseball sources told The News that Commissioner Bud Selig's office will speak to Mets owner Fred Wilpon to determine whether Lo Duca has been doing anything the league needs to be concerned about.
Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said yesterday that Lo Duca assured him he did not have gambling debts nor a gambling problem.
"Paul basically told us that he's doing nothing wrong," Minaya said.
Minaya did not directly address whether he had asked Lo Duca about gambling on other sports.
But Lo Duca's former Marlins teammate described the poker games Lo Duca and others took part in as "millionaires on the plane with lots of cash."
On one trip to Philadelphia, the teammate said, the Marlins landed at the airport around 1 a.m.
Lo Duca and some of his teammates promptly jumped in a limousine and made the 65-mile trek to Atlantic City, where they gambled in casinos before returning to Philadelphia later that morning.
"There's guys like that everywhere, though," the player said.
Asked about the alleged love affair yesterday, Lo Duca's wife, Sonia, refused to comment.
"Please leave me alone," she said after stepping out of her white BMW at her attorney's place in San Antonio, Tex. "I'm just trying to take care of my business."
Sonia Lo Duca, who was wearing a low-cut green tank top and cropped pants with diamond jewelry, waved when she left the office and got back into her car. In her divorce petition, she asked the court to ban her husband from using all bank accounts and from incurring any indebtedness. The petition does not make allegations about gambling.
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