Panama City is getting another dose of WSOP Circuit poker this November, and the headline number is an easy one for tournament players to understand: a $1,700 Main Event with $500,000 guaranteed.
The stop runs November 5-15 at the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino, with 12 gold-ring events and a schedule built to pull players from across Latin America and beyond.
This will be the Circuit’s third visit to Panama after stops in November 2025 and May 2026. That quick return says plenty about the WSOP’s appetite for growing its international schedule, particularly in markets where a $1,700 Main Event can attract a genuinely regional field rather than relying on one domestic player pool.
Four Main Event Flights Give Players Room to Fire
The $500,000 guaranteed Main Event is the centrepiece, but it is not a simple one-flight-and-done affair. Day 1A begins November 7, followed by Day 1B on November 8, Day 1C on November 12 and Day 1D on November 13. That gives travelling players several ways into the tournament and leaves enough space to play side events between bullets if the first attempt ends with an unwanted walk to the rail.
The broader schedule starts with a $500 Mini Main Event and a $300 Gladiador Turbo on November 5. Later events include a $600 Mystery Bounty, a $2,500 High Roller Bounty, $400 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship and a $3,000 High Roller, so this is not a festival where everything outside the Main Event feels like filler.
Poker Type readers following the Circuit have already seen how aggressively the brand is expanding in 2026. The recent WSOP Super Circuit Canada festival finished with C$24.5 million awarded, while the Council Bluffs Circuit stop is another example of the packed calendar players now have to navigate.
Every Ring Comes With a $5K Bahamas Bonus
There is also more on the line than the ring and whatever cash comes with it. Under the 2026 Circuit setup, each gold-ring winner receives a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package covering tournament entry and hotel accommodation in the Bahamas. For a player grinding a $400 or $500 event in Panama, that bonus can be worth considerably more than a routine side-event min-cash and gives every ring tournament a little extra bite.
WSOP Paradise itself runs in December at Baha Mar, so a Panama victory effectively offers a bridge from one international stop to the next. Poker Type recently covered the addition of a $250,000 WSOP Paradise Pro-Am, part of a festival that has become a major year-end target rather than simply an exotic postscript to the Las Vegas summer.
Panama Is Becoming a Regular Circuit Stop
The speed with which Panama has returned to the schedule is notable. The Circuit debuted there in November 2025, returned in May and is now booked again for November, this time moving to the Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino. The official WSOP calendar confirms the November 5-15 dates and venue, while the newly released schedule fills in the 12-ring programme around the Main Event.
There is some useful history for players wondering what sort of field Panama can produce. The November 2025 Main Event attracted 547 entries at the same $1,700 price point. Colombian Jorge Guzman won that tournament for $143,600 after a final table that also included seasoned Circuit grinder Ari Engel, showing that the stop can draw both regional regulars and established international names.
The 2026 Circuit has also standardised the $1,700 Main Event at many stops, which makes Panama easy to compare with the rest of the tour. A $500,000 guarantee is modest next to the enormous Super Circuit numbers seen in Canada, but that is not really the point here. Panama offers a more traditional Circuit proposition: a manageable buy-in, plenty of side events, 12 rings and a Main Event big enough to matter without requiring a nosebleed bankroll.
Free Hotel Offer Adds Real Value for Travelling Players
One unusual part of the Panama package is accommodation. Organisers are offering an 11-night hotel stay to players who commit to playing Main Event Day 1A or Day 1B, subject to the event’s booking arrangements. For an international grinder, knocking a large chunk off the travel bill can change the maths of a trip almost as much as shaving a few hundred dollars from the buy-in.
Online qualification is also being pushed through GGPoker, with a satellite ladder feeding into $215 weekly finals. The lowest paid step starts at $5, while a Saturday Freebuy provides another route into the qualification tree. That gives recreational players a shot at reaching a $1,700 live event without having to stump up the full entry in one go.
What to Watch in November
The most interesting number will ultimately be the Main Event field. A $500,000 guarantee at a $1,700 buy-in should be reachable if Panama continues to pull players from Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, while the four starting flights make late travel considerably easier.
For ring hunters, though, the real appeal is volume. Twelve titles in 11 days, a Paradise package attached to every victory and a varied schedule give players more than one reason to make the trip. Panama may still be a young stop on the WSOP Circuit map, but three visits in roughly a year suggests it is quickly becoming part of the furniture.
