NYC Players....talk about publicity....

[MercTec]

From this morning's Daily News:

Macaulay Culkin and Hank Azaria have both appeared on Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown," but apparently they prefer a lower-profile venue.

Very low-profile.

Lowdown hears that Culkin, 24, and Azaria, 40, showed up together the other night at a secret poker game on the upper West Side and tried their luck at the $20 ante table.

"They were there for at least an hour and a half. I didn't see them win at all," observed a Lowdown spy who attends regularly.

Apparently the ritzy gambling lounge, which sits above an Off-Track Betting shop in the W. 70s and accommodates about 100 players, is well-known to local wealthy business types.

But that doesn't necessarily make it legal: Because the owners take a percentage of every table's "rake," it likely constitutes a felony.

"The law says that if there is a house, someone making a profit, that is not the same as four or five people getting together and playing a friendly game," explained Manhattan district attorney spokeswoman Barbara Thompson. "Promoting gambling in the first degree is when you engage in bookmaking and receive bets totaling $5,000 or more. That's an E felony, which is up to four years in prison."

Azaria's PR rep confirmed he attended the game, but declined further comment. A publicist for Culkin didn't reach the actor by deadline.