ZOSOZ, an online subscription based poker site, shut down this week after being open for less than three months.

Similar to the significantly more successful ClubWPT and PurePlay, ZOSOZ claimed their online subscription model was completely legal in the US, since players didn’t technically win cash from each other. This fact seemed to make the site very optimistic about their future on October 15th when they announced their presence on a widely distributed press release.

“ZOSOZ combines the best of online poker and social networking into one exciting site. ZOSOZ players have a great time participating in tournaments for huge prizes without being required to risk any hard-earned cash.” -Tim Belisle, co-founder and president at ZOSOZ, LLC.

So then what exactly happened to ZOSOZ? At this point the answer to that question is unclear. In a short statement on the ZOSOZ homepage (zosoz.com), very little is offered by way of explanation, with the site instead deciding to focus on what happens now.

For the complete transcription of the ZOSOZ letter, please see below:

Dear ZOSOZ player,

We regret to inform you that due to circumstances beyond our control, ZOSOZ will cease operations at 11:59PM EST on December 14, 2008.

• All subscription membership fees have been refunded in full.

• NO CASH OUT REQUIRED - All Sweepstakes winners will be paid via cashier's check.

• Only winners of $600 or more must be validated to receive full payment (http://www.zosoz.com/account-validation.php).

• All documents supplied to us are stored on our secured servers. This information will be used to send 1099 forms to both the IRS and to you. This will occur in January of 2009. Once we have processed your 1099 form, we will then delete the files from our system.

• It will take up to six weeks to process winnings.

We would like to thank you for your participation in ZOSOZ over the past two months and apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.

– ZOSOZ

US Players interested in subscription based poker, still have many significantly more reliable options for their consideration, like ClubWPT, now the official online poker site for the World Poker Tour. Click here to find out more.

Story by Mark Anderson