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The Yankees have warned slugger Alex Rodriguez that frequenting illegal city poker clubs is dangerous, but are powerless to stop him, team and baseball sources told the Daily News.

Major League Baseball sources said Rodriguez wasn't ordered to stay out of the clubs - but added baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was "keeping an eye" on A-Rod and would step in "if necessary."

"There's nothing he's doing that violates the morals clause," one baseball lawyer said. "Mostly it's just stupid. Why put himself in a position like that? Why doesn't he go play in an apartment somewhere?"

Sources familiar with Rodriguez's conversation with Yankee officials last month said the talk wasn't confrontational.

"No one admonished him," a source said. "But he was made aware that this could put him in an unflattering light or look bad in the media."