Planet Poker just threw in the towel

[Insp. Clue!So?]

Just received this email from what was, once, the Party Poker of it's time:

"After 9 years in business, Planet Poker has made the difficult decision to cease real money operations. Management regrets this decision but the impact of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in the U.S. leaves no reasonable alternative.

During the past several months, Planet Poker explored every reasonable option to continue real money operations. This included working with other cardrooms and ecommerce processors to find solutions to the issues existing in the industry today. Unfortunately, no viable solution surfaced.

As always, your funds are safe and secure at Planet Poker. We are pleased to announce that we have made arrangements to allow players to transfer remaining funds from Planet Poker to another cardroom. Please sign into Planet Poker and select the "Transfer Now" button to start the transfer process. Alternatively, you may elect to cashout remaining funds via the Cashier page.

Real money tables and tournaments will continue at Planet Poker through to 31 March 2007, but effective immediately you can no longer make a deposit.

Please click here for complete information regarding this announcement.

Thank you for your support during the past 9 years. We recommend that you transfer your funds to another cardroom so you can continue to play for real money.

Planet Poker will continue to offer you the best "Play for fun" poker on the internet and hope to see you frequently at our tables. We hope to return to real money operations when the legal climate is clearer.

We wish you the best of luck and hope your online poker playing continues to be enjoyable.

Planet Poker Management"