Congratulations to the Hendon Mob, who were picked by Pokerati readers as the clear favorite when it comes to looking up a player’s stats.

The Mob got nearly half the votes. CardPlayer got roughly half the remaining half. And an interesting 3rd-place finisher: PokerPages … which as we recently learned is going out of business.

Word on the electronic street is that at least two entities that didn’t make a strong showing in Pokerati’s unscientific poll are beginning the process of trying to buy PP’s player database at a fire-sale price.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out our new poll — sidebar, toppish-right — wondering: How many November Niner names do you know?

What has been a well-respected staple and in the poker media for years is now among the outlets that have bitten the dust. PokerPages announced today that it will officially close up shop on October 31, 2009.

The Closing of PokerPages.com
by PokerPages Managment

It is with sadness and regret that we must announce that Poker Pages and all of its related services will be closed on October 31, 2009.

For many years Poker Pages has enjoyed providing the best source of poker related content, arguably the Internet’s largest and most complete live poker tournament results and listings database, as well as a place to play poker for free. These services will certainly be missed, but we realize that the most appreciated benefit of our products and services has been the community created by our user base. We thank you for the many great years you allowed us to provide you with the best poker content on the Internet and wish you all the best in your future poker endeavors. It has been a pleasure and a privilege serving you over the years!
-Poker Pages Management

Rumblings over the past year that the site was in financial trouble, combined with complaints from readers that the content was in desperate need of some organization and updates, made this announcement somewhat predictable. However, it is still sad for many of us who got our starts in the poker media by working at PokerPages. (My first WSOP reporting in 2007 was done for PokerPages, and it was where I dipped my toes in the waters of the blogosphere.) And it is certainly a sign of the tough financial times for the poker industry, as a site with such history and assets could not survive.

Here’s to the good years at PokerPages, and best wishes to those now out of work due to the shutdown.

We’ve got a new highly unscientific poll up. I’m curious … where do you like to go for information on players — whether it’s to see how a well-known entity has done over the course of a career or to see just WhoTF some new-name is?

Cast your vote over yonder in the sidebar on your right.

Totally subjective criteria. And though there have long been accusatory murmurs about who steals data from whom, I’m looking at the thoroughness and accuracy of their records, ease of use, and any creative touches that make theirs different. Though I suspect others exist* sites I’ve visited for player stats and (live or online) tourney results include:

Bluff
CardPlayer
Hendon Mob
PokerListings
PokerPages

Trying to decide on one as my go-to source.

* and some I knowingly omitted, like WSOP.com and WPT.com, because they include only their own tourneys, and what use is that to me beyond summing up totals?

NOTE: I also removed PocketFives from the list (they had no votes) … because they, similarly, only have profiles for their own members … though if you are looking for data and results from serious online screen names, they seem to have the best info, well-presented.

UPDATE: Just discovered (in the process of doing this post) PokerListings’ online-player database — complete with their cool MarketPulse thingy — and theirs may be better than P5′s.