Canseco skipped San Jose poker event; will he show for Ladies Day?

A press release just made its way over from our ad department to me, and it included a list of notables who would be playing in the World Poker Tour’s Shooting Star event at Bay 101 in San Jose this week. There was really only one name worth noting from outside the poker realm: Jose Canseco.

Didn’t show. Didn’t call either. Tournament director Matt Savage said Thursday that Canseco “was not there when the jet showed up” Sunday in Los Angeles.

Was it because he was going to have to pay the $10,000 entry fee? Was it because, although he’s a chemically enhanced slugger, the flakiness comes naturally? Savage had an educated guess.

“There’s a ladies tournament on Sunday. He’s become famous for playing in ladies tournaments, so maybe he’s doing that.”

The ladies tournament is also in at Bay 101. Will Josie be there? Have the steroids messed with his testosterone levels that dramatically?

California’s anti-discrimination laws have become very clear on this point in the past year: Men can play in ladies-only events if they choose. So Canseco has become a pioneer of sorts. He’s the Michelle Wie of the women’s poker circuit — competing and not competing very well, but competing, by gum!

And if he gets to cop a feel under the table? Well, that’s just pure bonus.

News Added: 15 March, 2008

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