[*TT*]

November 3, 2007 -- A high-stakes poker player was shot and critically wounded during a botched robbery of an illegal card game in the Flatiron District last night.

The 47-year-old man was blasted once in the abdomen by a shotgun after one of the bandits got skittish, dropped his sawed-off then accidentally fired off a round as he was picking it up, witnesses and police sources said.

The man was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital where he was clinging to life last night, officials said.

The trio of thugs stormed into the high-stakes game, at an office on the seventh floor of 251 5th Ave. just after 11 p.m. and attempted to steal the pot, sources said.

The three men - who were dressed in all black - then fled from the building, sources said.

The robbers, who called themselves, "One," "Two" and "Three," fled with a couple of thousand dollars said an eyewitness.

"It looked like they had done this before, they told us to dump our cash on the table," one player told The Post.

The game was held in an illegal poker room that was set up at the beginning of the week as a haven for card sharks looking for some quick action.

None of the other players were injured during the robbery.