E-Mail This Article to a Friend Ante-Freeze This winter, poker is the hottest game around BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI

The Bravo television network may be bluffing when it compares its new Celebrity Poker Showdown to its breakout hit Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. But with appearances by actors like the Emmy-award-winning cast of The West Wing and Run of the House "star" Mo Gaffney (uh, who?), the show seems to have hit on something. Whether you’re at the top of your field or still toiling away in the trenches, the secret urge to trick and take money from your friends runs deep.

Of course, there’s no need to watch stars and B-list actors embarrass themselves to get in on the action. At Games People Play, you’ll find all the necessary accoutrements for a poker match — be it seven-card stud or Texas hold ’em. Getting started is easy, thanks to the shop’s Bicycle poker set ($15), which comes with two decks of cards, 200 plastic chips, and poker rules. Want to up the ante, gear-wise? Opt for the shop’s casino-quality poker chips ($20/100) or weightier dice chips ($52/100).

If you’re looking to make poker night a ritual among your friends, all bets are that you’ll want durable, attractive chip storage. Leavitt & Peirce sells an oak poker-chip case ($49.95) that holds 200 chips, a walnut chip case ($59.95) that holds 300 chips, and a 300-chip wood carousel ($79.95). Meanwhile, Restoration Hardware’s Oceania poker-chip set ($69) features a cherry-finished wood carousel, two decks of cards, and 200 classic clay chips.

As holding on to your chips requires an unwavering poker face, let your deck reveal your personality instead. Games People Play carries a large selection of art decks ($12.50) featuring Picasso, van Gogh, and more. Leavitt & Peirce sells decks featuring baseball legends ($5.95) and screen legends ($7.50), 2004 Politicards ($3.50), round baseball playing cards ($4.95), and a vintage cigar-art poker set ($29.95) that includes two decks, 100 poker chips, and two pairs of dice. For a fistful of kitsch, visit Archie McPhee for King’s Kards ($11.95), which feature 54 photos of Elvis impersonators, and Cartoon Poker Cards ($11.95), a set of uncut Asian playing cards decorated with bizarre cartoons of animals and children alongside tanks and bombs.

To keep your dealer honest, use the mechanical card shuffler ($32) sold at Games People Play, or Restoration Hardware’s re-issue of the 1960s Nester Johnson mechanical shuffler ($39). And as disputes will naturally arise among players, look to Hoyle’s Rules of Games (Signet, 2001; $3.50) and Bicycle Official Rules of Card Games (United States Playing Card Company, 1999; $7.95) — both available at Games People Play — to resolve them.

Of course, poker’s longstanding popularity probably has less to do with winning big than with gabbing and drinking with friends. With that in mind, set a playful mood with strings of vice lights ($14), which feature light-up plastic cards and dice, and a white plastic poker cocktail shaker ($9) decorated with cards, both from Buckaroo’s Mercantile. The Inman Square shop also carries a poker change purse ($5), which is perfect for holding the penny stakes necessitated by the recession.

Where to find it:

• Archie McPhee, www.archiemcphee.com.

• Buckaroo’s Mercantile, 1297 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, (617) 492-4792; www.buckmerc.com.

• Games People Play, 1100 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 492-0711.

• Leavitt & Peirce, 1316 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 547-0576.

• Restoration Hardware, 711 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 578-0088; Atrium Mall, 300 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, (617) 641-6770; www.restorationhardware.com.