Poker Room - One of the Pioneers Folds
During the mid-2000’s, it seemed as if the rising industry of online poker would never slow down. Great stories such as Chris Moneymaker going from a no-name accountant to a WSOP champion catapulted the game to epic proportions and convinced everyone that they too could make millions off of poker. WSOP winners such as Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jerry Yang, and Jamie Gold only furthered the notion that anyone could make it in poker.
Seeing as how poker was experiencing such a boom during this time, many smaller online rooms started to open up in an attempt to capitalize off of the riches that poker offered. Of course you could never classify Poker Room as one of these places since they were truly a pioneer in the game having opened in 1999 and were one of the biggest rooms around at one point. Plus, with a name like Poker Room, success was quick for this Swedish site as Americans rushed to join the online poker craze.
Things really picked up after the Moneymaker effect and more people than ever were playing at Poker Room. But, just like a lot of the other rooms, Poker Room was hit extremely hard in 2006 when the UIGEA was signed into effect and they lost a large amount of customers. Poker Room would never fully recover from this, but they were still able to remain competitive in the late 2000’s.
Apparently, they were not competitive enough though since the room was shut down yesterday with the typical message displayed about how players can withdraw their money at any time. With the closing of Poker Room, there will be one less room that can trace its beginnings back to the 20th century.