A MOMENT CAPTURED

Tiffany Brown

Sunday, July 15, 2007 | 2:29 a.m.

Girlfriends and wives celebrate the moment each knows her player is among the 621 who will finish in the money in the main event of the 2007 World Series of Poker.

The women - from left, Nicole Schneider of Allentown, Pa.; Aimme Scholes of Manchester, England; Ricci Reardin of Toronto; Lucia Marano of Boston; and Liz Dattilo of Ottawa - have supported their men since the tournament began last week, sometimes watching through 15-hour days.

Their men were among the 6,358 entrants who risked $10,000 for a chance to take home a piece of the $59.7 million prize.

The moment of relief came at 5 p.m. Thursday. The women hugged, cried, took pictures and agreed being on their side of the railing was as stressful as sitting behind the chips.

"I look for signs that he can show me what's going on because we can't see the hands from back here so it's very stressful but exciting at the same time," Dattilo said. "A lot of us start to support each other I find, and it gives us a little bit of stress-release, someone to talk to back here."

The hardest part?

"When you hear the 'all in.' " she said of the moment a player risks all his chips on a hand.

Marano agreed, "Yeah, the 'all in' The cameras are all at that table and you don't know what's going on and you wait for the text message or phone call that they're OK."

The ladies have more days to go, if they are lucky.

Play continues today, and Monday is an off day. The final table begins at noon Tuesday at the Rio. The winner will take home $8.25 million, but each of the final 621 players is assured at least $20,320.

Reardin's strategy: "I try not to look. He lets me know he's doing good. I let him do his thing. I'm his No. 1 fan."