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.

The big APPT Macau festival also came to a close this weekend. Interestingly enough, for all its growth and the coverage it got, comparatively, the APPT main event was smaller both in terms of field size and prize pool than The River tournament in Oklahoma.

From BluffMagazine.com:

APPT Macau Main Event Final Table Payouts

Dermot Blain – $541,089
Mike Kim – $384,999
Daoxing Chen – $239,327
Darkhan Botabayev – $166,497
Pontus Kers – $114,464
Jicheng Su – $74,923
Dbinder Singh – $52,033
Brandon Demes – $41,621
Stefan Hjorthall – $31,222

APPT Macau High Rollers Final Table Payouts

Vladimir Geshkenbein – $266,690
Johnny Chan – 154,400
Neil Arce – $84,218
Danny Huynh – $63,164
Grant Levy – $49,127
In Wook Choi – $35,091
Young Kim – $28,073
Nicholas Wong – $21,055

Next up … WPT Slovakia?

The moment the poker world has been waiting for nearly two weeks comes to a climax this afternoon with the final 27 players in the Main Event playing down to the November Nine. Here’s how the final three tables will look when play kicks off around 12 noon (database results courtesy of The Hendon Mob):

(Table 1)
Seat 1: Jesse Haabak – 2,750,000
Seat 2: Ian Tavelli – 4,385,000
Seat 3: James Calderaro – 6,475,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Tamayo – 3,300,000
Seat 5: Warren Zackey – 5,485,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman – 10,005,000
Seat 7: Leo Margets – 1,530,000
Seat 8: Tommy Vedes – 5,070,000
Seat 9: James Akenhead – 8,615,000

(Table 2)
Seat 1: Phil Ivey – 11,350,000
Seat 2: Jeff Shulman – 10,170,000
Seat 3: George Caragiorgas – 1,615,000
Seat 4: Nick Maimone – 1,545,000
Seat 5: Andrew Lichtenberger – 5,625,000
Seat 6: Marco Mattes – 5,285,000
Seat 7: Joseph Cada – 6,565,000
Seat 8: Darvin Moon – 20,160,000
Seat 9: Jordan Smith – 4,510,000

(Table 3)
Seat 1: Jamie Robbins – 9,795,000
Seat 2: Antonio Esfandiari – 4,470,000
Seat 3: Francois Balmigere – 1,440,000
Seat 4: Ludovic Lacay – 5,610,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter – 11,885,000
Seat 6: Ben Lamb – 9,410,000
Seat 7: Antoine Saout – 11,135,000
Seat 8: Kevin Schaffel – 11,245,000
Seat 9: Billy Kopp – 15,970,000

When play resumes, there will be 7:17 left in the 50,000/100,000/10,000 level, moving to 60,000/120,000/15,000. For Amy and The Shrink, there’s an extra 580,000 in chips spread out among the remaining field.

Here’s the chart of the players that made the money:

Updates resume starting at noon over at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will have other news during the day, so come back later, please.

Page 2 contains excerpts from Nolan Dalla’s tournament report:

More…

After the remaining 29 players in the Main Event returned from dinner break, it took nearly a full level to get down to 27 players. Darvin Moon will return Wednesday at noon the chip leader with over 20,000,000 in chips. Billy Kopp will be in 2nd with nearly 16,000,000 chips. Phil Ivey will be in 4th place with just over 11,000,000 in chips. The remaining notables: Jeff Shulman (10,170,000), James Akenhead (8,600,000), Ludovic Lacay (5,6100,000) and Antonio Esfandiari (4,400,000).

Chip counts and the table draw will be available later today, check out wsop.com or Pokerati for further news.

Day 6 of the Main Event resumes today at 12 noon today, with the plan to play down to 63 players, which may make today the longest day of the WSOP so far. Here’s a few tables to scroll through, consisting of Day 6 table draws, payouts so far, and the 2nd page consists of Nolan Dalla’s tournament report.

For those that don’t care to click ahead, follow the live updates over at www.wsop.com and I’m sure Pauly and Dan will be providing updates on their run to Dream Team Poker glory.

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The remaining 407 players return for Day 5 at noon today in the Main Event. The plan is to play 5 two-hour levels today. This is subject to change, depending on how many eliminations take place.

The charts below show the chip counts by table, and those who’ve made the money so far:

The other event going on today is the Dream Team Poker event also in the Amazon Room, starting at 2pm today.

Page 2 has the comprehensive Day 4 report from Nolan Dalla:

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The first three levels of the Main Event have seen over 900 players already hit the rail, leaving around 1,100 players returning from dinner break. The unofficial chip leaders are Brian Hanson and James Akenhead with 625,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack (currently around 170,000): Owen Crowe (555,000), Bertrand Grospellier (520,000), Sorel Mizzi (445,000), David Benyamine (402,000), Phil Hellmuth (390,000), Phil Ivey (360,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (345,000), Mike Sexton (297,000), Dennis Phillips (240,000), Tom Schneider (230,000), 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro (211,000) and Jason Alexander (190,000).

Notables who hit the rail:

Erik Seidel, Raymond Rahme, Jimmy Fricke, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Edler, Darus Suharto, Ville Wahlbeck, “Miami John” Cernuto, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe and Sam Farha.

More stuff from Pokerati later this evening as the money bubble may be reached tonight, depending on how fast the eliminations go after dinner.

2,044 players remain when the World Series of Poker resumes Friday afternoon for Day 3, so today will mostly consist of the Commish’s media briefing and media tournament down at the Rio. The chip leader when play resumes appears to be Amir Lehavot with 610,500 in chips. An unofficial list of players for Day 3 is now up here. Five levels of play are now scheduled for the duration of the WSOP, with the money expected to be reached for Day 4 Saturday afternoon.

Page 2 consists of Nolan Dalla’s Tournament Report from the conclusion of play with further details:

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Not to steal from Kevin’s more concise thunder … but I happened to miss Day 2a at the Rio, and for those who have more time, Nolan’s official report is loaded with filling details — along with plenty of fun (poker-geeky) factoids and historical perspective:

Official Report
Event #57
World Championship
World Series of Poker Main Event
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $10,000
Number of Entries: 6,494
Total Players Remaining: 607 (+ 2,922 for Day 2-B) = 3,530
Total Net Prize Pool: $61,043,600
Number of Places Paid: 648
First Place Prize: $8,546,435
July 3–November 10, 2009

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