PokerWorks

The website has been a staple in the poker industry for more than a decade, and after rumors of financial difficulties, the announcement finally came on October 1, 2009. PokerPages will officially shut down all of its services on October 31.

When PokerPages emerged in the 1990’s, it was one of the chief websites available to poker players that provided a bit of everything. It grew to include blogs from poker journalists and players, news of the industry, tournament results and live reporting from major events, and a comprehensive player database rivaled only by the Hendon Mob. But one of its most famous and popular services was Poker School Online, which offered poker lessons and strategy long before the days of training-specific websites. The starts of many of today’s professional players can be traced back to lessons and tips from Poker School Online.

But as with much of the poker industry, the fallout from the UIGEA and the financial recession in the United States left PokerPages with less advertising to support its business. And with the launch of numerous other sites that offered more detailed tournament reporting, blogs from more popular poker players, and greater advances in the use of technology to disseminate up-to-the-minute poker information, PokerPages had difficulties finding the resources or management to compete.

The signs started to become apparent after the 2009 World Series of Poker when many of its tournament reporters were relieved of their jobs, and the news and updates on the site became more infrequent. Then the main page of the site offered the following statement from PokerPages Management on October 1:

“It is with sadness and regret that we must announce that PokerPages and all of its related services will be closed on October 31, 2009. For many years PokerPages has enjoyed providing the best source of poker related content, arguably the internet’s largest and most complete live poker tournament results and lilstings 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!”

The industry will miss PokerPages.