Yes, Sortis Hotel & Casino...Jackie's poker room is what it's called inside in Panama city, Panama. I think it is the only live place. They have some tournaments at various times as well.
They have tons of different stakes. You can exchange USD in there. Just know that your winnings, not always could be subject to a 5% fee. It's the casino not the poker.
They have poker promoters that basically run it inside.
I was there in 2019, they had 20/40 plo, 1/2 nlh, 2/5 nlh...
I can give you the contact information (whats app) of 2 of the promoters, if you need more info.
They are the ones that can get you all the information, and clarify.
I was there in August. Maybe it was livelier in the past, probably because of Covid not much was happening, the conditions in the casino did not help though. Yes 5.5% cashout tax which kills everything basically. Yes, as poker player you can avoid that in some circumstances but not always. And 5% rake uncapped. Probably mainly because of that the games were good, obv no serious poker player would play much of that.
Sortis usually had one game of 2/5 PLO, starting at 3pm, it was never full. Ocean Sun had one or two games of 2/5 NL starting at 6 or 6:30, you got some free food for playing 5% uncapped lol. I shouldn't complain too much, I won a 4 figure amount but these conditions were really not enticing to play. Ocean Sun also had some private game going on, 5/5 PLO IIRC over the weekends where I was invited to, didn't play. They also had some pretty hookers, apparently they go for 150 per shot, 400 toda la noche, that info I got a little bit too late, I thought they were much more expensive lol.
Not sure what arburns mean with exchanging USD, USD is the currency in Panama, they have their Balboa local currency but they just use it for coin change
Oh I meant just giving the USD in the poker room for chips and gave it back without the 5.5% fee but I also wasn't there long. Sorry I misspoke, didn't mean I did a currency exchange for local currency. Yes USD is accepted.
150, is decent, wish I knew!....central/south America prices are low for the chicas....
I didn't know about the other place besides sortis. Good to know. I wasn't there long as it was a long layover. I had gone to Miraflores locks to see the Panama canal then casino then back to airport. Traffic is a disaster in that country so leave tons of time of trying to get around.
I had the promoters contacts going in from other poker friends met at Kings Rozvadov.
Thought about going there for a couple of days (on my way to Brazil), but now not so sure anymore. Few questions:
- what exactly do you mean with "promoters running the game"? is it an official casino game, do you need them to get in, or not, what exactly is their role?
- also, heard about the 5% tax out cash. is it mandatory? or not? you mentioned there is a way around it ...
They are kind of like the floor in a US casino, they probably get some cut for organising and advertising. You don't need any invite, you just show up and if there is any seat usually they will be more than happy to let you in. With the cashout this is if you go to the cage, sometimes the guys mentioned before will offer to buy your chips and you can avoid that but it seems to be hit and miss. At Ocean Sun one they could do it before and then suddenly one day they said sorry we can't do it anymore. They offered to keep your chips but it was my last day there so I couldn't do it. Bought in for 1k, had like 1940, cashed out for like 1830 IIRC, thanks Panama govt lol
Note, it is a 5% flat cashout tax, not simply on your winnings but on all chips that you cash out. Panama also has incredible blackjack rules, ES10, OBO, and three card doubling. The house edge is less than 0.2%.
Note, it is a 5% flat cashout tax, not simply on your winnings but on all chips that you cash out. Panama also has incredible blackjack rules, ES10, OBO, and three card doubling. The house edge is less than 0.2%.
Yes, that is what I am saying. Casino cashout taxes are increasingly common in Latin America. Mexico has them in many different cities, although there at least they only tax your profit. Colombia also has a cashout tax, but it is easily circumvented as it only kicks in at 1.5 million COP.
Here's what I found on my 3 visits since mid 2021, with the most recent visit ending today. Quick summary, there are tons of casinos so the games seem to move around a bit and can be hard to find as there is no Bravo. All the rooms charge crazy cruise ship rake capped at $35 or even uncapped. A few rooms charge to cash in chips as well:
Sortis Casino- Seems to be the most popular room but every time I've gone they are only running PLO. Last time there was a 5/5 game and a bigger game at another table (5/10?). Played fairly deep. I prefer Hold-Em so this wasn't my favorite room and on top of that the rake and chip cashing fees mentioned above are just too much for me to be comfortable with. Next time I play there I'll try and confirm it's still uncapped and the cash in fee is the same.
Royal Casino - I went there a few times and there seem to be a hand full of guys who try to get a game going when you ask about it but the game was never actually running before I arrived. One time we got up to 3 guys sitting at the table before giving up. One time a 1/3 Hold-Em game actually started up and played for a little over an hour before 3 players busted out and it broke. Like Sortis they also charged to cash my chips at the cage (luckily I cashed most of it at the poker table when the game broke).
Star Bay Casino at the Hilton - The first time I came to Panama I stayed at the Hilton and found this game. They had Hold-Em pretty consistently in this room but now it is hard to find a game and when it runs it's only ever one table and it typically alternates between Hold-Em and PLO. There were also double board bomb pots on dealer changes on occasion. Not exactly sure on the rake but it's probably 5% capped at $35.
Ocean Casino at the JW Marriot - Seems to be the spot for Hold-Em. It runs a consistent 2/5 game that gets up to 2 (sometimes even 3) tables in the evenings and breaks at 2 AM Sun - Wed, 4 AM Thu - Sat. 5% rake capped at $35. It has been my go-to thus far.
Majestic Casino at Multicentro Mall - I saw this listed on other websites so I went to check it out on a Thursday night and they had zero poker, they didn't even say the game broke or ran a different day, I got the impression it just rarely if ever runs there.
