Not everything lasts forever. There used to be a poultry store on the corner of main street where I grew up. They eventually retired. Then it turned into a seafood place. That closed shortly after it opened. Now it's a place where you buy cigarettes and lottery tickets. Things change in the world of business.

It happens with poker rooms too. I stopped by the website of Beer Church Poker today, and noticed the closed sign in their virtual window. That made me think about other rooms that have come and gone. Here are some rooms that used to take players.

Big Bet Poker - was the first room I saw close their doors. At the time, I think Party was still small, Planet Poker was big, and I had never heard of Poker Stars. I used to play there on my lunch break, when there were usually two limit holdem tables to choose from.

To their credit, they announced the close in advance, and I never saw a single message on the internet forums from a player who had an issue getting his money out of his account there. Although, to be honest, there was probably little more than a hundred or so players with funded accounts.

In checking back now, it seems like they've reopened their doors in a very low-key manner. There are no promotions of any sort being offered, and the room may be open for fun play exclusively. I'm not sure.

Here's one that must have never flown, even though they are listed on prima poker's webpage. Big Dollar Poker. I guess the poker part didn't take off so well, and Big Dollar decided to just shelve it and send everyone to their casino instead.

Beer Church Poker - this is the one that sent me on this surfing-rooms-of-the-past spree. They've pulled the plug on any activity on their site, so Beer Church Poker (one of the more unique names in the online poker world) has closed their doors for certain.

Jetset Poker closed their doors a while ago. They used to have some pretty unique software, but I guess all of their players came form the United States so they decided to close up shop and move on to other things.

Oh, and who can forget Pamela Anderson's Poker Site? It just redirects to Doyle's Room these days, bur for at least two weeks there, it was quite the eyeful.

I am positive that this is not a comprehensive list of poker rooms that used to be, but it is a good thing to be aware that nothing lasts forever. That goes for poker rooms as well.

I'm also sure that we'll see more and more rooms moving into the realm of the retired as days go by.

This page last updated January 17th, 2007.