A sign of how things change … back in 2005 the already legendary TJ Cloutier was still tearing it up. But in 2010, the WSOP bracelet he won in the 2005 $5k NLHE is now for sale on eBay. I guess he didn’t cash big enough via the sale of PokerPages to buy it back Bummer, dude. We feel ya. Not sure where the big fields are coming from in LA, AC, Australia, and France … everybody seems broke. But either way, you get the sense that those who are playing are doing so with far more seriousness than the fields were back in the day when TJ won this:

The seller is Plano Pawn Shop (“specializing in fine jewelry and firearms”), who has a 100 percent positive feedback rating after 314 eBay sales. Plano, of course, is the suburb next door to TJ’s home in Richardson … and on the way to the Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma, not to mention some of the bigger private games in the Dallas area.

UPDATE: His bracelet from the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV is also up for sale.

Via Bluff Magazine.

Unconfirmed … but that’s the word we’re spreading, based on possibly drinky information from a semi-reliable source, a presumably reliable source, and a plausibly reliable source.

The status of PokerPages has been up in the air ever since they announced they’d be closing up shop effective Oct. 31. That day passed and they still kept publishing — and even sent two reporters to cover the November Nine. But no original content has been put up on the site since Dec. 3. Everyone was expecting some sort of sale, and now that has apparently gone through.

PokerPages, of course, is one of the oldest poker information sites on the internet — having reported on tournaments since 2000 … and having built a massive tourney/player/results database in the process.

What PokerStars plans to do with a site they haven’t yet told many people they’ve bought (or intend to buy) remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the transition from NeverwinPoker to Donkdown seems complete — with the old NWP forums successfully transfered over to their new home. Donkdown is now a Bryan Micon and Todd Witteles (aka “Dan Druff”) joint, with no more Tony G or Dustin Woolf, who is now the lone face for his namesake site.

Speaking of forums … 2+2 honcho Mason Malmuth has sued Dutch Boyd (and a guy named Anthony Scocozza) over domain squatting issues.

Oh, and our once-superbeloved PokerBlog.com … yeah, they’re apparently gone. For at least the past week, visiting the site gives you this message:

Fatal error: Table ‘./pokerblog/cache’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: SELECT data, created, headers FROM cache WHERE cid = ‘variables’ in /home/pokerblogcom/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 66

R.I.P. Yeah, seems kinda appropriate. PokerBlog was/is a PartyPoker operation … but now they seem to be focussing blogging efforts on their more official company blog.

UPDATE: PokerBlog is back. Looks like we can expect some WPT coverage there.

NeverwinPoker.com, the filthiest, most offensive poker site on the internet — filled with racist, sexist, drug-addled degeneracy and perverse nudity that provided a voice for a notably vile, socially maladjusted segment of the poker world — is no longer, or at least no longer what it used to be.

Tony G and the semi-corporate interests at PokerNews, who bought a controlling interest in the “gossip site” two years ago, have turned off the infamously uncensored forum. It simply wasn’t “converting” supposedly.

But don’t expect thousands of black-cock refugees to suddenly flood 2+2. Neverwin pioneer Bryan Micon is launching a new site for his toxic flock of angry outcasts at www.donkdown.com.

Meanwhile, PokerPages is somehow staying afloat — producing semi-regular new poker articles — despite declarations that they’d be fully out of business by the end of October.

Topics this week include the emergence of Darvin Moon and Phil Ivey in the press, tournament spotlights (Shulman def. Negreanu @WSOPE, Gustafson def. Eastgate @EPT-London, UB’s Aruba-fest), and the demise of PokerPages (feat. former PP EIC Amy Calistri) …

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Caldwell, Michalski, Wise, Nemeth, Calistri, Stapleton
10/8/09

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/upload/radio/23/audio/PokerBeat10082009.mp3]

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.