Poker faces: meet the queer producers behind the Bravo hit Celebrity Poker Showdown.

As the team behind Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, out producers Bryan Scott and Marcia Mule do their best to keep things fair and balanced, right down to the T&A. "See our classic Vegas cocktail waitresses," Scott says, pointing across the show's Palms Casino-based set to a Fembot-esque blond in a silver bikini top and hot pants. "Well, yesterday we had Kathy Najimy and Mimi Rogers playing, so I just called a casino manager and said--"

Mule: "'Get me a shirtless, muscle-bound, tattooed man!'"

Scott: "And within 10 minutes this hot guy walked in. The ladies were high-riving. It was a great moment."

Mule: "Well, we wanted to give equal eye cruddy to the ladies."

Sometimes it pays to have a couple of gays running the show, even if, by their own admission, they're not big poker buffs. "Bravo came to us and said, 'We're thinking about doing this show--how would you do it?'" recalls the Los Angeles-born Scott, who has partnered for seven years with Mule in their Picture This Television shingle, producing the New York Emmy-nominated 10th-anniversary edition of the gay newsmagazine In the Life and developing several projects for MTV's long-in-the-works gay channel. "We came up with our take on it, and [Bravo] went, 'Great, it's your.'"

The show was an instant ratings bit. Season 2, with former Kid in the Hall Dave Foley replacing Kevin Pollak as host, premiered May 27. "Usually when you see celebrities, they're in talk-show mode, promoting their latest project," says Buffalo, N.Y., native Mule when asked to pinpoint the show's appeal. "This show lets you see celebrities being themselves, being competitive, having a drink or two, faking each other out. People enjoy seeing that."

While Celebrity Poker Showdown doesn't have the obvious queer appeal of, say, a show called Celebrity Window Treatment Showdown, the Picture This team have gotten plenty of kudos from gay and lesbian fans. "I like to think that one in 10 poker players is gay," muses Scott, before launching into his fantasy of having an all-gay icon episode in season 3. "It'd be Chef, Bette Midler, Madonna, Barbra Streisand ... who was the fifth?"

Mule: "Diana Ross."

Scott: "Talk about great poker faces."

In a business where schmoozing skills are key, Mule and Scott are both happy to report that being out professionally has been, if anything, a plus. "I think that the gay-man-and-his-lesbian-buddy thing works for us," says Mule with a laugh. "Because we're open about who we are and open with our ideas, people respond to us."

"Although we have received some discrimination," adds Scott gravely. "Poker-playing dogs are furious because we haven't had any on the show. There's a bitch joke in there somewhere."