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Magic City Pari-Mutuel Games – 6th Season Debut on Monday, Feb 13th

By Straymar

Magic City Fronton in Miami debuts its 6th Season of pari-mutuel games (called pelota games) on Monday, February 13th at 1:30-pm.  According to Stu Neiman, there will be no changes to the Pelota format for 2023.  Thus, there will continue to be 8-games with the Spec 7 format (games to 7-points) and no changes to wagers being offered.

The 2023 pari-mutuel season does come with roster changes; (2) players have left the roster and there are (3) roster additions.  Players Diaz and RonRon have left the roster.  Diaz, who had a late-year injury in 2022, moved with his long-time girlfriend to Colorado while RonRon and his family moved back to California.  Note that Diaz has since recovered from his back injury.  Diaz exited Magic City in winning-style when he won his last game played at the Magic City Fronton on September 19th where he and partner Douglas won a hotly-contested match against the favored Flores-Manu team in 3-sets with scores of 6-5, 1-6, 6-5. RonRon leaves a legacy of having the 3rd best Win % for Pelota singles games in 2023.  RonRon was also a member of the Rebote Renegades who won the Battle Court II Championship finals in November of 2022.  Adios Diaz & RonRon and we wish you the best in your future endeavors!

The three new Pelota roster additions are Jairo, Manny and Iriondo.  Jairo and cesta-maker, Manny, are not new to the Magic City Fronton as they have previously competed in Battle Court matches and will continue to compete in Battle Court.  Iriondo on the other hand is new to Jai-Alai and made his pro career debut just last week as a Charger at the first night of 2023 Battle Court matches.  Iriondo made US Jai-Alai history by being the first Jai-Alai player ever to make their professional debut in front of a national TV audience on ESPN3.  Iriondo is a US citizen born in New Haven, CT who had been living in Spain.  His father played professional Jai-Alai as a back-court player at both Milford and Miami under the name Retrolaza.

Robin who was injured last season will be out through May of this year (last played on 10/4/2022).  Robin has been undergoing some intensive rehab on his left knee in place of surgery.  Bradley who had been out due to injury last year restarted Battle Court matches in late 2022 and will be competing only in Battle Court matches for the first part of 2023.  Also, late breaking news is Inaki’s wrist fracture, side-lining him while he recovers.

Don’t miss out on the hot Pelota and Battle Court action in 2023. Be sure to open and/or fund that BetRivers sports betting account for Battle Court and explore the pari-mutuel wagering account options offered by watchandwager.com and mywinners.com.  If your state doesn’t allow Jai-Alai pari-mutuel wagers at this time, it’s NOT game-over.  Be sure to partner with a good friend or family member who resides in a state where Jai-Alai wagers are allowed.  Check with customer service to see if they allow wagers from your state as the lists change periodically.  Here are the contact numbers:

Watch & Wager:  (888) 204-9150, on-line wagers only

MyWinners:  (800) 468-2260, on-line and/or phone wager options, Note:  Connecticut residents’ only option is MyWinners.

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Iriondo Looks to Replace Father’s Legacy as Magic City Opens Friday

Iriondo #45

 Retrolaza #54 History at Milford, Father of New Magic City Player Iriondo #45

Retolaza was born in 1964 and debuted professionally in 1984 at Durango Spain. He was Rookie of the Year at Miami Jai Alai (1986) and played there until the players’ strike in 1988, when he returned to Spain for the next 8 years, competing in tournaments partnering with the likes of Bolivar, Alberdi, Cachin, Remen and other top talent.  He returned to the US in 1995 where he was a top backcourter at Milford until his retirement in 2000.  Info provided by Mark Kaminsky, historian of the National Jai-Alai Association.

Here is some season record history for Retrolaza (#54) from Milford programs.  The info is mostly mid-season stats.  Milford had year-round games from 1996 to 2001 since Bridgeport closed in 1995.

Note that 1997 GP for other players ranged from 127-260 so this program info was early in the meet.  The 1998 stats provided show GP of 105 for Retrolaza while other players had GP ranging from 382-829 at the time, so assuming he started later in the meet or was dealing with an injury.  The 2000 stats show 455 GP while some players had up to 830 GP at that point; this was Retrolaza’s retirement year.

The Milford season record history for Retrolaza was provided from programs owned by Alecs Smith, another well-known Jai-Alai historian and Jai-Alai artist.  Alecs designed an Orlando Jai-Alai program cover for their Citrus Tournament one year and also created the logo for the SayHiLi site.  He is also a pretty darn good amateur player according to several reliable sources.

Retrolaza’s son, Iriondo (#45), takes to the short-court for his Magic City professional career debut representing the Chula Chargers against the Rebote Renegades on Friday night Battle Court this week at 7-pm.  Iriondo is partnered with Zulaika in the 2nd match of the night versus the Renegade’s team of Goixerri-Ben.  The 4th match of the night features Iriondo vs Ben in a singles match. 

SayHiLi wishes Iriondo the best in his professional debut.  Iriondo will also be playing in the Magic City Pelota games which start on Monday, February 13th at 1:30-pm EST.

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Latest Dania Jai-alai and Betting Stats

Pool & Price Info thru 1/15/2023

Final qualifying statistics for the Dania Beach Invitational are shown in the charts below. Qualifying period was from December 1 through December 31 for the 2022-2023 Invitational. Points were awarded for Wins (5-pts), Place (3-pts) and Show (1-pt). The top (8) FC players and top (8) BC players qualified for the Doubles Partido Tournament in January 2023. The #1 point FC player is teamed with the #1 point BC player (Zulaika & Manci)……all the way down to 8th FC player paired with the 8th BC player (Etcheberry & Portet). See the brackets for the Doubles Partido Tournament on the SayHiLi homepage, which includes up-to-date match scores and the schedule for the remainder of the matches. Partido matches are after game 9 on Thursday & Friday nights and YOU CAN WAGER ON THEM (Game 10 Win Bets)!! If you can’t attend the live matches or watch from a simulcast site, you may be able to wager on them through watchandwager.com or mywinners.com if your state is approved for Jai-Alai wagering. Contact customer support for these on-line wagering services for latest info on state Jai-Alai wagering approvals.

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Handicapping the Dania Partido Tournament

Benny Bueno Selections for 1st Round of Partido Tournament and Straymar Selections

Benny Bueno gave his picks for the first round of the Dania Partido Tournament which starts Thursday night, January 5 at the Dania fronton after the 9th pari-mutuel singles game.  Anyone can hear the complete discussion on the tourney picks scoop by going to Dania’s YouTube Channel for the Sunday, January 1st games for the between games banter between Benny and announcer Dave LaMont.  Note that Benny claims he’s really bad at picking winners and has given up on making predictions, however, here’s the summary of Benny’s first round partido picks along with supporting info.

Match 1, Thursday January 5, #1 Zulaika-Manci vs #8 Etcheberry-Portet

Benny’s Pick:  Zulaika-Manci

Why:  Zulaika is positive, optimistic and has kill-shots, when Jai-Alai takes the next step Zulaika will be part of the solution

Match 2: Friday January 6, #4 Iturbide-Oyhenard vs #5 Aaron-Laborde

Benny’s Pick:  Iturbide-Oyhenard

Why:  Iturbide is very positive, good on the court and aggressive, Benny doesn’t see Aaron as an aggressive kill-shot guy, players from Aaron’s hometown are “volley players”

Match 3:  Thursday January 12, #3 Laduche-Atain II vs #6 Benetrix-Urbieta

Benny’s Pick:  Laduche-Atain II

Why:  Laduche is the hottest of the 4-players and Attain II is a perfect partido partner, Benny says that Benetrix is a bit outmatched by Laduche

Match 4:  Friday January 13, #2 Bixente-Bailo vs #7 Urrutia-Mandiola

Benny’s Pick:  Bixente-Bailo

Why:  Bailo gives it everything he has, also notes that Bixente is a quiet guy off and on the court (guessing this means he won’t let his emotions get the best of him)

SayHiLi Team Assessments

Here are the team records by post position for the (8) partido tourney teams from the start of the meet (Dec 1) through January 1.

Now, here’s the money chart, showing the Post-Position Adjusted (PPA) Weighted Factor for each of the double’s teams.  This special Straymar Player/Team assessment tool evaluated the limited team statistical data for how teams should have done based on the posts they had compared to how they performed from those posts and also has a weighting for WPS finishes which is similar to the 5-3-1 tourney points, but not exactly, however it’s an optimized weighting based on experience.  You need a special security clearance for any more details on how Straymar’s exact PPA method is calculated, and those are harder to get than a government security clearance these days….ha-ha.

So, based on the above actual team data Team PPA Factors (last column), here are Straymar’s predictions:

Match 1:  Seed 1 vs 8, Zulaika-Manci the clear advantage 24.2 to 11.6

Match 2:  Seed 4 vs 5, Iturbide-Oyenhard the clear advantage 23.1 to 15.4

Match 3:  Seed 3 vs 6, Laduche-Atain II the clear advantage 13.8 to 3.4

Match 4:  Seed 2 vs 7, Bixente-Bailo the clear advantage 25.9 to 13.7

Note these selections are the top-seeded selections in each partido match as were Benny Bueno’s picks for these four first-round partido matches.  Note however, with only 1-month of team data available, there are some issues here with limited data ranging from only 6-13 team pairings for pari-mutuel doubles games.  Low data samples can result in flawed team assessments, and one would wonder about the Benetrix-Urbieta team rating of 3.4, which appears to be suspect.

There is another Straymar team evaluation technique which is based on the use of more available data.  This involves the Individual Doubles PPA Weighted Method for the Front Court and Back Court player and averages their individual assessments/factors to get an Estimated Team Factor (ETF) or rating.  Straymar performs this ETF (2) different ways; for ALL performances of doubles data to-date and for ONLY recent data (the last 12-performances of doubles data, the equivalent of 2-weeks of Dania performances).

Using only the last 12-performances of data for the team estimated assessment makes the Benetrix-Urbieta team a slight favorite over Laduche-Atain II so this could be a very interesting matchup and toss-up scenario for the wagering fans.  This is mostly due to the much improved play by Benetrix in the last 12-performances compared to his season average performance in doubles games.  Some additional notes of interest on Benetrix are two-fold.  Benny mentioned in his between-game sessions on Dania’s YouTube Channel that Benetrix wanted really badly to play at Dania but the slots were filled, thus he was highly motivated.  Johan was originally scheduled to play and backed-out from playing the Dania Invitational as he wanted to compete in a tourney in Guernica.  Only minutes later after Benny hung up on the cancellation call from Johan, Benetrix called Benny to ask once more about possible openings and thus secured his position on the roster (it was like Benetrix was at Johan’s side when he called Benny to cancel from the Invitational).  Also, the improved play by Benetrix in the second half of the meet is probably heavily related to breaking his cesta very early in the meet.  Benny has given more details on the Benetrix cesta story several times during the YouTube banter with the announcers.  Be sure you don’t miss out on the entertaining YouTube scoop from Benny twice a week (Fridays and Sundays) before the games start and in-between many of the games!

So, in conclusion, the FINAL SELECTIONS by Straymar are the top-seeded teams for Matches 1, 2 and 4 (based on 3-different methods), however Straymar is taking the Benetrix-Urbieta team in Match 3 on Thursday, January 12 based on recent last 12-performances.

Be sure to support both short-court and long-court Jai-Alai options in the USA to help keep this great sport alive and have a Happy New Year!  Be sure to catch Magic City’s Battle Court Draft which is slated for Monday, January 9th (check jaialaiworld.com and social media for the draft start time, likely to be 7-pm like the last draft event).

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Dania Jai-Alai Bet Pools and Prices on the Rise

Week 2 of the Dania 2022/2023 Dec-Jan Meet/Invitational Tourney ended on Sunday, Dec.11 and here is a summary of some data from the popular trifecta and superfecta pari-mutuel wagering options for the first 99-games at Dania.

  • Average $1.00 Trifecta Payoff:  $218.80
  • Average Trifecta Pool (before takeout):  $2947
  • Average $0.10 Superfecta Payoff:  $109.55
  • Average Superfecta Pool (before takeout):  $1371

For comparison purposes, here are Magic City averages on above for all of 2022 (904-games).  Note that Magic City does not have a superfecta on their Pelota (aka pari-mutuel) wagering menu.

  • Average $1.00 Trifecta Payoff:  $228.40
  • Average Trifecta Pool (before takeout):   $1992

Now, some good news on the Dania front for fans of the sport, the wagering appears to be on the rise as evidenced by some nice betting pools from the weekend of the 2nd week.  Also shown are largest payoffs for both trifecta and superfecta for the meet-to-date.

  • Largest Trifecta Pools:  $4048 and $4222, both on Fri Eve 12/9 games 4,5
  • Largest Superfecta Pool:  $1963 on Fri Eve 12/9 game 7
  • Largest $1.00 Trifecta Payoff:  $1067.20 for a 2-8-7 on Sat Eve 12/10 game 8
  • Largest $0.10 Superfecta Payoff:  $455.25 for 2-6-8-7 on Fri Eve 12/9 game 4

YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED IF WE WANT TO SEE MORE JAI-ALAI in the USA!!  If you can’t go to the games and watch them live AND wager on these games or visit the OTB or other venue that has Jai-Alai on their simulcast menu, be sure to open up that account with watchandwager.com or mywinners.com.  IF you can’t bet on Jai-Alai in your state, then TEAM-UP with a friend or family member who resides in a “Jai-Friendly” state to get a wagering account opened-up to do your part to “Help Keep the Jai-Alive” in the USA.  

Also, and most importantly, PLEASE be sure to support BOTH Magic City short-court products and the Dania long-court product.  Magic City has two short-court products (there is Pelota “aka pari-mutuel” and the Battle Court sports betting matches through BetRivers.com) and Dania offers the long-court pari-mutuel product, but who knows, if Dania gets enough support from wagering fans, sports betting matches could become a reality in the future?  This is no time to be picky and choosy on which version of Jai-Alai to support in the USA!  Picky and choosy is only for moms who want Jiff for their kids, lol.  This is a time to be thankful for the TWO Jai-Alai Frontons in the USA and to act quickly if we want to keep the World’s Fastest and Most Fascinating Sport around for years to come!!

Help Keep the Jai-Alive and Happy Holidays!

Steve M, SayHiLi.com

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Dania Jai-Alai DD, P3, Super Stats: Week 1 (12/1/2022 – 12/4/2022)

By Jabracadabra

With Dania Beach Jai Alai starting up for 2 months on Thursday, December 1, 2022, I am beginning to track data for the Daily Double, Pick 3 and Superfecta games. With limited data so far in the first 10 sessions, I still wanted to get some data out sooner rather than later. Check back next week for more data and insights as the data set expands.

NEW: Check the new SayHiLi webpage devoted to the latest updates for this info below

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Battle Court II 2022 Championship Finals

Jai-Alai Battle Court 2022 II Final Championship Matches were held on Friday night Nov. 18 where the Rebote Renegades defeated the top seeded Cesta Cyclones.  Congratulations Rebote Renegades!

Here are the final match scores for the 5-matches where the first squad to win 3-matches wins the 2022 Battle Court Finals:

1:  Goixerri-RonRon defeated Ikeda-Manny 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

2:  Correa-Aratz defeated Jeden-Manu 6-3, 6-4

3:  Williams-Manny defeated CRB-Ben 6-1, 6-3

4:  Ikeda defeated Correa 0-6, 6-0, 6-0

5:  Goixerri-Aratz defeated Carballo-Manu 6-3, 6-3

There was $100,000 on the line at the 2022 Battle Court Finals for players and charities and a great show was put on for all with national coverage on ESPN3!  WOW!!  Only at the Magic City Fronton where they are “keepin’ the Jai-Alive.”

The Rebote Renegades each won $4,000 per player for the squad. The winning Rebote Renegade squad members are Goixerri, Aratz, RonRon, Correa, Ben and CRB. The Cesta Cyclones each won $1,000 per player for 2nd place. The Cyclone squad members are Manu, Manny, Carballo, Ikeda, Jeden and Williams.

Three awards were presented to players before the BC competition began on Friday night. The recipients each received an Apple product. Here are the awards and recipients:

Coaches Award: Roque

Most Improved: Williams

Sportsmanship Award: RonRon

Battle Court Matches return in February 2023 with a Draft in January….STAY TUNED!!

Photos by Straymar off ESPN 3 Broadcast

Video compliments of Paul Kubala

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Magic City Jai-Alai 2023 Plans and Roster Expansion

By Straymar

Battle Court Jai-Alai matches and Pelota game performances (aka pari-mutuel wagering events) are set for 2023 and here is the scoop per Stu Neiman on 02-November:

  • Battle Court and Pelota from February through mid-December with a mid-season break
  • August will be a break from Battle Court & Pelota for some well-deserved time off for players and staff.  August will also be dedicated to the two tournaments:  the 4th annual USNJAC and the 2nd annual WSC (World Super Court).
  • Action will resume in September and has been extended to mid-December for 2023, which is about a month longer than Magic City schedules we’ve seen in the past.
  • There will be two Battle Court drafts, one in January and another for the fall Battle Court season.  January is an off month; however it will be a practice month for players.
  • When action resumes in February the Battle Court schedule will be the same as the current schedule;  Friday 7-pm EST and Mon/Tue 5-pm.  The Pelota games will be Sunday through Tuesday at 1:30-pm.

The roster will be expanded, and the Magic City Fronton management has been flirting with the idea of adding a 5th Battle Court squad.  No details have been released on the roster expansion and SayHiLi does not expect to hear about the final roster additions until January.  Magic City Battle Court matches are alive and well and even expanded to a much larger viewing audience with the ESPN3 live coverage which was added this fall.

Here are a few notes on the current roster:

  • Bradley has been back in action and playing in Battle Court matches.  He is not expected to play in the Pelota games the rest of this month.
  • Robin has been out with a knee injury and won’t be playing the rest of the year.  He last played on October 4 and will undergo knee surgery in December.  SayHiLi staff wishes him the best for that and a speedy recovery!
  • Diaz has been out with a back injury and will be out the rest of this month.  He has been co-announcing with Stu and Andrew during Battle Court matches and providing some interesting tid-bits and banter from the perspective of a Magic City short-court player.

The 2022 Magic City end dates are as follows:

  • Battle Court Championship is Friday, Nov. 18
  • Pelota games final performance is Wednesday, Nov. 23

Don’t forget the Jai-5 and Mighty Ocho jackpots will be forced-out November 23rd.  Currently the Jai-5 is $5,822.80 for the Monday, November 7th performance.  Should this jackpot make it through another 8-performances without a single winning ticket it will be a whopper for the closing day force-out.   Also, the Mighty Ocho, a $1.oo Pick 8 Jackpot wager will pay-out a minimum of $5,000 on the force-out day to those ticket holders with the most winners correctly selected.  The Mighty Ocho has been hit for 8 of 8 correct winners twice since this challenging wager began in May of 2020.

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Magic City Jai-Alai Brothers Win the Entire $25k of USNJAC Pro Tourney Prize Money

The 3rd Annual USNJAC ended on Sunday, August 21st, with (2) sets of Magic City Jai-Alai brothers making it a complete sweep of the entire $25,000 in Pro Tourney prize money.

Pro Singles Championship:

1st Place to Inaki defeating Aratz 9-3 to win $7,500, 2nd Place was $2,500

Pro Doubles Championship:

1st Place to brothers Goixerri-Aratz over brothers Inaki-Julen 9-6 to win $10,000, 2nd Place was $5,000

Here is the total Pro Tourney prize money breakdown for these 4-players, all on the Magic City Jai-Alai roster (Note:  Doubles Tourney prize money is split between players):

Inaki – $10,000

Aratz – $7,500

Goixerri – $5,000

Julen – $2,500

Last year Douglas won over Inaki (Dania’s Goitia at that time) in the Pro Singles Finals.  Inaki suffered an injury late in the match, breaking two bones in his hand.  After Dania closed in November 2021, Magic City extended an offer to Goitia to join the Magic City Jai-Alai roster and he was fully recovered and started playing at the start of the 10-week short-season on February 14th this year.  Inaki has been the hottest singles player in late game feature Pelota games 6 & 8 (pari-mutuel games) over the last 2-months with his leading 22.0%-win rate (50-11-6-10).  Inaki also had the highest % ITM for late game Pelota singles in the last 2-months, 54.0%, which was tied with Douglas for the highest.  He proved at the USNJAC Pro Tourney he is indeed one of the top US short-court players in the country, if not the best!

Dania’s top star Erik failed to advance to the Final Four in Pro Singles when he experienced the well-established “Curse of Julen,” losing 7-6.  Julen has a history of surprise upsets and key-point wins over top contenders at Magic City, including both Douglas and Goixerri.  Previously, Erik had won against RonRon 7-4 in Round 2 of the Pro Singles Tourney after given a bye in Round 1.

Other strong contenders: Douglas, Manu, Goixerri and Zulaika surprised many fans by none of them making the Pro Singles Finals.  Douglas, winner of last year’s Pro Singles Tourney had been playing exceptionally well lately, winning both games 6 & 8 of the Pelota games on August 14th, which was the last day of games before the USNJAC.  Douglas had a bye in Round 1 and then lost to Aratz in the next round 7-6.  Manu had beaten Kubala and then Jairo both by near shut-out scores of 7-1, making it to the Final Four where he got knocked-out by Inaki 7-3.  Likewise, Goixerri, a very strong front-court player and current leader of the Magic City Singles Championship, got a bye in Round 1 and then handily beat the young, back-court player Benny, 7-0, but then failed against the experienced veteran Manu, where Manu won handily by a score of 7-4.  Zulaika won his Round 1 match 7-3 against Master’s Singles finalist, Douglas I, the former pro player James Langhans who is father of brothers Matt & Ben Langhans (aka Magic City players Douglas & Benny).  Zulaika then met the Invincible Inaki in Round 2 who quickly sent him packing with a score of 7-1.

The Pro Doubles Championship Sunday turned out to be the (3) Magic City brother teams in the Final Four plus Dania’s best team of Erik-Ladutxe, the 2nd Place winners in last year’s USNJAC Pro Doubles.  Note that Ladutxe now plays at Magic City Jai-Alai in 2022 under the name Manu, thus the team of Erik-Manu this year.  The brothers’ teams were Douglas-Benny (last year’s Pro-Doubles winners), Inaki-Julen and Goixerri-Aratz.  Inaki-Julen out-scored Douglas-Benny 7-4 to reach the Finals and Goixerri-Aratz defeated Erik-Manu 7-3 for the other Finals spot.  Fans were treated to an incredible match ultimately won by Goixerri-Aratz by a score of 9-6.

Congratulations to the Magic City brother winners and a big thanks to Magic City Fronton and sponsors Betrivers & Cigar City Brewing Jai-Alai IPA for this great event which unites the best Jai-Alai players in the USA to display their mastery of the fascinating sport of Jai-Alai!  The announcing team of Stu and Andrew did a fantastic job covering the USNJAC and deserve major kudos along with Scott and Lindsay Savin and the rest of the support crew, including those responsible for the amazing video shots! The back glass wall allows for some close-up angles of Jai-Alai matches that have never been seen before! Be sure to watch the replays on watchjaialai.com if you missed the live Jai-Alai matches over the weekend (tip – click “Browse” on the website).

Magic City Pelota games return on Sunday, August 28th at 1:30-pm with Jai-Alai H2H Doubles matchups following at 5-pm.  Be sure to enter the weekly Fantasy Jai-Alai H2H contest and to be there for the live viewing of Pelota and H2H on Sunday the 28th at the Magic City Fronton if you can make it!  Also, be sure to note the schedule change for Pelota and H2H games starting in September!  No more Sunday Jai-Alai as it’s tough to compete with the NFL.  There are 2022 calendar links on the Magic City website and on SayHiLi.

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3rd Annual USNJAC Tourney at Magic City Fronton Starts Friday, August 19!

The 3rd Annual USNJAC Tourney begins on Friday with the Master’s Division on Day 1 (10-am EST start) with finals on Sunday.  The Pro Division won’t start until Saturday (11-am EST start) and concludes on Sunday (noon start on Sunday).

Magic City’s brother team of Douglas-Benny will be defending their 2021 Pro Doubles Championship title.  Last year they conquered the favored Erik-Ladutxe team 9-7 in the finals, taking home 1st place prize money.  This year should be even better with Ladutxe, known as Manu on the Magic City roster, having grown more accustomed to the Magic City short court since joining the Magic City roster at the start of 2022 and the young Benny having gained more experience.

The “amazing scoop champ” Douglas will be defending his 2021 Pro Singles Championship title.  Last year Douglas defeated Goitia by a score of 9-4 in the Pro Singles finale.  Goitia, now playing on the Magic City roster as Inaki, was injured in last year’s finale against Douglas.  Inaki has been playing some of his best Jai-Alai at Magic City in recent weeks and Douglas won both late singles games in Pelota action on Sunday, August 14th, so both appear to be in top form for this weekend’s matches.  Goitia (Inaki) defeated Dania’s Erik last year in the semi-finals by a score of 7-4.  The competition should be even tougher for Erik this year should he accept the challenge.

A new serious contender for the USNJAC Pro Singles Championship title is Goixerri who joined the Magic City roster in early 2022.  Goixerri currently leads the Magic City 2022 Singles Championship with 35-singles wins, an impressive 23.8% wins overall, and has been a super-star in late singles games, however, in the last month he’s been in a slump, winning only two of 26-singles games.  Goixerri could easily be a huge threat in this tournament with some decent prize money at stake!  Currently, Carballo is 2nd in the Magic City Pelota Singles Championship with 34-wins and Douglas is 3rd with 29-wins).

SayHiLi will be covering and reporting on the Pro Division results this year, however, will not be covering the Masters Division (amateur).  We expect Jeff “Laca” Conway will be covering that angle with his site, PelotaPress.com, which is the leading site with info and support of US amateur Jai-Alai.

Contestants and match-ups for the 3rd Annual USNJAC could be released by as soon as Wednesday evening, based on last year, and will be posted on SayHiLi ASAP.  This will be the first year where live attendance is allowed.  Doors open for fans a half-hour before the start time.

Watch the event on watchjaialai.com this year if you cannot attend (not on YouTube JAC like last two years).

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