Your Pro & Amateur Jai-Alai News Source

Archive for category: Straymar Blogs

Magic City Update After 6 Weeks

Magic City Jai-Alai Schedule

By Straymar and “Jabracadabra”

The Cyclones moved into first place after going 9-1 in week 6 which included a sweep over the Warriors on Sunday. The sweep was their second in as many weeks. The “Cones” hammered out a 14 game winning streak and have gone 21-4 (0.840) since being in last place in week 3. To add to the excitement, the Cyclones team owner Chris Cote was in attendance to motivate and cheer on his team.

Carballo (4-0), Manny (3-1) and Manu (2-2) of the Cyclones each earned 2 singles wins in the week. Carballo and Diaz (Warriors) are each 4-0 while Kubala (Renegades) improved to 3-0 in singles play. Joseph & Manu (5-1) picked up 2 doubles wins, and Ikeda & Manny (3-3) went 1-1.

In addition to Kubala’s win, the Renegades picked up a singles win by Ben (1-2) and a doubles win by Goixerri & Aratz. Goixerri & Aratz improved to 5-0 while Bueno & Nicolas (Warriors) remain at 4-0.

The Chargers got wins from Roque (2-2) and CRB & Douglas (1-2).

Standings Through Week 6 (3 Weeks Remaining)

TeamPointsW-LPct
Cyclones33.528-170.622
Renegades26.021-230.477
Warriors25.021-190.525
Chargers17.514-250.359

You can watch the action at 5pm on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays at watchjaialai.com, laligasportstv.com, FTF Sports Network or download the free Jai Alai Channel app. You can also visit the fronton on Sundays to see the great action in person. Be sure to catch the post-game show with Stu and Andrew for the recap of the action.

And remember, those fans in attendance at Sunday’s Battle Court H2H matches at 5pm will have the opportunity to WIN $1,000. It’s FREE to play and if you select the winners of the three singles matches and both doubles matches, you could WIN $1,000. If there are multiple winners, the prize money will be split among the winners.  If there are no winners, the $1,000 will roll over to the following Sunday’s prize purse and $2,000 will be up for grabs.

Be sure to watch pelota game player El Barba and Paulie at https://www.twitch.tv/watchjaialai for interactive livestreaming during the H2H sports betting games at Magic City. Tune in to hear the entertainment as El Barba gives “Barba Bursts” for great plays and has some newly added sound bites. El Barba and Paulie also answer questions in the chat. It is entertaining for sure. With Chris Cote’s ownership of the “Cones”, the interactive chat has picked up and it is great seeing new Jai Alai fans learn about the game.

Week 6 Review

Another great week of exciting Magic City Jai-Alai concluded Tuesday, March 22nd with CRB capturing the Golden Cesta Award for the most singles wins for the week. His two wins in his six singles games along with a 66.7% ITM was enough to edge-out the victory against Carballo who also had 2-wins and tied with highest win percentage but fell short on the ITM tie-breaker with 50%. Congratulations to CRB for his solid play which paid-off in week 6!

Here are the singles stats for 2022 through March 22nd for all players. The %ITQ stat (in the Quiniela) has been added to the far right column to assess top two finishes for the players. Three players are tied with 10-wins in the 2022 Singles Championship which is won by the player with the most wins for the year; Bueno, Carballo and Goixerri. Carballo has an incredible 58.3% for top two finishes while Goixerri is 2nd with a respectable 47.1%

The action-packed doubles games (games 5 & 7) also referred to as “Dodging Death” at Magic City Jai-Alai continue to be led by Ikeda-Bradley with (6) team wins while Juice-Manu have closed-in with (5) team victories through Tuesday. Jeden-Goixerri are third with (4) wins and three other teams have (3) wins each. Here is a snapshot comparing all 12-teams in this first 2022 Doubles Tournament.

This next data snapshot combines singles and doubles games for all players and currently two players are leading with 14-wins; Carballo and Goixerri.

The Jai-5 Jackpot wager was not won during Week 6 and has $8,269.60 in the jackpot carryover for Sunday’s March 27th performance when exciting Pelota Games with pari-mutuel wagering returns for Week 7 at Magic City Casino & Jai-Alai in Miami. The largest Jai-5 in Magic City history was won by one lucky bettor for a whopping $27,348 last year! You must be the ONLY winner to score the entire jackpot on this popular wager.

/by

Douglas Wins 1st Golden Cesta Award for 2022 at Magic City Pelota Games

Douglas won his 34th Golden Cesta Award of his career by winning the most singles games for the first 5-performances at Magic City Jai-Alai in 2022.  Those wins came in the pelota games, formerly referred to as the pari-mutuel wagering games.  Douglas had won this award the final week of 2021 action by winning 50% of his singles games then and picked up where he left off by winning 50% of his ten singles games to start the 2022 meet, and this feat was accomplished against even tougher competition from some Dania players that joined the Magic City roster.  Douglas has more than double the amount of Golden Cesta Awards than any other player.  RonRon has second most awards with 16.

Ikeda got off to a great start by winning four of his 10-singles pelota games for 40% wins and an amazing 80% ITM (in the money).  Three other players were tied with 3-wins each; Carballo, Goixerri and Tennessee.  The best ITM for the week was Ikeda with 80% while Douglas and Goixerri were tied for second best ITM with 70% each.  Nine players of the 23-players starting the meet have yet to score their first win.

The first doubles tourney for 2022 has been dominated by the Ikeda-Bradley team who have surged to a huge early lead by winning five of their eight games with two second places (62.5% wins, 87.5% ITM).  The second place team of Anderluck-Benny has two wins while three other teams have one win each.  Six of the eleven starting teams are winless and one team has yet to record an ITM finish.  The 12th team of Vuelo-RonRon will join this first tourney when RonRon returns soon.

The Magic City pelota game roster is 26-players, however three of them are currently sidelined for medical reasons.  El Barba had a knee procedure during break and should be back soon and RonRon (back issues) should also be returning soon.  Spinner had a serious injury last year and is expected back this summer.

The pelota game betting handle remains well above the 2021 meet at this point.  Trifecta wagers are the most popular by far, as usual for Jai-Alai games, and the trifecta pool average in 2022 is running 53% higher than the last month of the 2021 season and 35% higher than the average trifecta pool for all of 2021.  Average trifecta prices for 2022 are also starting out big with the $1.00 trifecta averaging $280.50 over the first 40-games compared to $221.50 for all of 2021, thus a 27% increase.

Be sure to watch and support the Magic City pelota games every Sunday through Tuesday at 1:30-pm EST.  Sign up to wager with watchandwager.com to place wagers on pelota games or with mywinners.com for CT residents.  Some state restrictions on wagering apply.  Watch and wager live in the Jai-Alai fronton area only for Sunday’s games. 

/by

Magic City Pelota Entries & Programs are Available Now! Plus More Updates

Entries and programs for Magic City Jai-Alai pari-mutuel wagering games, now referred to as “Pelota” are available on the Magic City website and on links on the SayHiLi website for the Monday & Tuesday 1:30-pm performances next week.

Note that 4-players’ names have changed for the Battle Court H2H games to their last names, however, their previous Pelota season names will not change for Pelota games.  Anderluck, Cool Fitness, Juice and Tennessee will play under those names for Pelota but will be playing as Correa, Williams, Joseph and Roque for Battle Court H2H.  The BC H2H change for the four players is to accommodate the new sports betting fans with improved player recognition while still maintaining the original names for the Pelota fans who are used to their original playing names since 2018.  Stu perhaps can wordsmith this better, but this is what I’ve gleaned from the conversation Thursday afternoon.

As of Thursday, the start date for El Barba in Pelota games has been delayed and he is now expected to be safe for a March 1 start.  The delayed start for El Barba is why Bueno, Bradley, Ben and Anderluck each have been backfilled into spots in Monday and Tuesday’s early Pelota games 1 & 2. Currently the Pelota doubles games feature 11 doubles teams with an additional team of Vuelo-RonRon expected to take the floor by March 1 when RonRon returns from his back injury.  All 11 current Pelota doubles teams will make their debut in games 5 and/or 7 during Monday’s 2022 season opener.  Check the entries for the teams.

Also, be sure to mark your calendars for the World Super Court 1st qualifier event which features 8-doubles team on Wednesday next week.  The first match will start at 3-pm EST.

Now, here’s some info on Magic City Pelota and Battle Court H2H schedules including a quote from Stu Neiman.  Some fans don’t understand the days and times so here we go.  H2H games are the future of Jai-Alai.  Magic City asked the sports betting partner, BetRivers, what days and times Jai-Alai would have the best chance of succeeding and thus the 5-pm time slot on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday came to be.  Competing against NFL is a huge disadvantage, so the Sunday plan changes to Saturday later in the year when NFL starts up again.  Also, some fans are curious as to why the Pelota games are before H2H at 1:30-pm instead of after the 5-pm H2H games.  Here is the direct quote from Stu, “Pelota is a better warm-up for H2H.”

Be sure to tune-in on Monday at 1:30-pm for the kick-off of Pelota games with the new and exciting Battle Court H2H games at 5-pm where the team concept comes into play.  As previously stated, the popular weekly FREE handicapping contest returns on week 2 on February 20th.  Listen to Andrew during the broadcasts next week for details.

Also, be sure to check Pelotapress.com regularly for more info and blog stories involving Magic City and the world of amateur Jai-Alai.

Thank you, Magic City Jai-Alai!!  I’m looking forward to a fantastic year!!

/by

World Super Court 1st Qualifying Event is February 16th at Magic City Jai-Alai

By Straymar

The first of four qualifying events for the World Super Court Finals in October is being held at Magic City Jai-Alai on Wednesday, February 16th.  The four qualifying dates are 2/16, 4/13, 6/8 (these dates at Magic City), and one day in September for an overseas qualifier with a date TBD.  This year is the inaugural year of Magic City’s big money Jai-Alai doubles tournament open to Jai-Alai professionals of all nationalities called “World Super Court.”

Each of the four qualifying events will start with 4-matches of doubles teams, thus 8-doubles teams are involved.  The matches will be played using the H2H format.  All players must have recent professional Jai-Alai experience.  The top two teams from each qualifying day will be entered into the Thursday, October 13th finals where the eight teams will compete for the World Super Court prize money.  The day before the finals, Oct 12, is slated as a practice day for the finalists.

Here are the 8-teams for the first qualifying event on Wednesday next week and the first-round matches that will be played for this event:

  • Benny-Douglas vs Ikeda-Manny
  • Zulaika-Arrieta vs Jeden-Jairo
  • Inaki-Julen vs Foronda-Amigorena
  • Goixerri-Aratz vs Bueno-Kubala

According to Stu Neiman, the April 3rd qualifying round currently has 3-players of the 16 who are officially signed-up at this time; Erik, Robin and RonRon.

The qualifying events can be seen on watchjaialai.com which is the same channel for viewing Magic City Battle Court H2H games on Monday & Tuesday next week.

/by

Magic City’s New “Battle Court” H2H to Debut Following the Pari-Mutual Wagering Performances

By Straymar

The new and exciting take on H2H Jai-Alai at Magic City Casino & Jai-Alai, called Battle Court H2H, makes its debut on Monday, February 14th at 5-pm EST following the first PMW games of 2022 where the Cesta Cyclones take on the Chula Chargers.  Battle Court H2H is essentially a team concept for H2H that involves four Squads of 6-players per Squad that will compete against each other in singles and doubles H2H games.

On a Battle Court H2H day (following PMW games), a Squad will compete against another Squad with five events: 3-singles games and 2-doubles games.  A singles win is worth 1-point and a doubles win is worth 1.5 points.  Points are accumulated for the Battle Court season from Feb 14 through April 10 and the two Squads with the most points will square-off in the Battle Court Championship on April 12.  There is a bonus of $6,000 per player on the winning Squad.

The names of the four Squads are the Cesta Cyclones, Chula Chargers, Rebote Renegades and Wall Warriors.   There is one Captain per team, designated by (C) after the captain’s name.  The squads were able to formulate their own doubles teams.  No player could play on more than two teams and each player had to play on at least one team.  According to Stu Neiman, “The players are excited, it’s fun and the interest has been wonderful.  New synergies, sponsorships, exclusivity agreements and other sources of potential revenue are already opening up.  Which, in essence, means that the fixed odds, sports betting model is already working because it’s about far more than what is bet on each match.  BetRivers has even opened a line on which team will win the whole thing.” 

Scratches will be handled differently for Battle Court H2H.  A lower ranked player can fill in for a scratched player in singles or doubles, however, if a scratch occurs during a match, that match will be forfeited as in the past.  Rankings are 1-6 for singles (S1-S6) and 1-4 for doubles teams (D1-D4) within each Squad.  A singles S1 player competes against other S1 players in other Squads and likewise for the other singles ranks.  It’s different for doubles as D1 & D2 ranked teams can compete against each other and D3 & D4 ranked teams can compete against each other.  Here are the Squads with players, rankings, and captain designations:

Cesta Cyclones:  S1 – Manu, S2 – Manny (C), S3 – Carballo, S4 – Ikeda, S5 – Jeden, S6 – Joseph

D1 – Carballo/Manu, D2 – Ikeda/Manny, D3 – Jeden/Manny, D4 – Joseph/Manu

Chula Chargers:  S1 – Douglas, S2 – Jairo, S3 – Benny, S4 – Correa, S5 – CRB, S6 – Roque (C)

D1 – Douglas/Benny, D2 – Jairo/Benny, D3 – CRB/Douglas, D4 – Correa/Roque

Rebote Renegades:  S1 – Goixerri, S2 – Aratz, S3 – Robin, S4 – Kubala, S5 – Ben (C), S6 – Williams

D1 – Goixerri/Aratz, D2 – Goixerri/Kubala, D3 – Robin/Ben, D4 – Williams/Aratz

Wall Warriors:  S1 – Inaki (C), S2 – Nicolas, S3 – Julen, S4 – Bueno, S5 – Bradley, S6 – Diaz

D1 – Inaki/Nicolas, D2 – Inaki/Julen, D3 – Bueno/Nicolas, D4 – Diaz/Bradley

H2H Sports Betting is now expanded into seven states under BetRivers.com and is also approved in Nevada, however there is no partner yet (like BetRivers) to carry it.  The seven states now with Magic City H2H sports betting through BetRivers are Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

/by

Magic City Player and Betting Info Updates for 2022 Season

By Straymar

The 2022 Magic City Jai-Alai pari-mutuel wagering (PMW) season starts on February 14th with an expanded roster.  Manu (Ladutxe), Inaki (Goitia), Nicolas (Yeche), Goixerri, Aratz and Robin will be playing in the short-court Magic City Jai-Alai PMW games.  Jairo has also been added to the MC roster but won’t be playing PMW games as he will be judging PMW games.  Manny, aka Manuel, the top Calder player, will continue judging PMW games and both he and Jairo will be competing in the Battle Court H2H games this year.

The PMW games have no changes in number of games or bet types offered.  There will be 3-categories of singles games this year; early (games 1,2), middle (games 3,4) and late (games 6,8).  Vuelo is back and will be playing in early games.  RonRon will still be sidelined at the start due to his back but is expected to start playing in PMW games at the end of this month.  Spinner is still recovering from his injury but could be back in May/June.  Both Vuelo and RonRon will be judging Battle Court H2H games.  Norge Alvarez (played at Calder) will continue judging both PMW and H2H at Magic City.  He’s been judging since 2018.  Doubles games will continue being games 5 and 7.

The scouting report on Magic City Jai-Alai has been 100% great news.  Practices are high-energy and for the first time the Magic City players have picked-up where they left off the previous year.  Nicolas has been standing out and Manu has been adjusting well to the smaller court. Both Stu and Andrew have used the same word in describing the practices at Magic City so far; FANTASTIC!

There are (4) name changes on the roster for previous Magic City players (now using their last name); Juice is now Joseph, Anderluck is now Correa, Tennessee is Roque and Cool Fitness is Williams.  The one and only El Barba is still playing under the name El Barba.  He had knee surgery over the break and is expected to be playing in PMW games next week in the first two singles games.

The highly popular $1 Pick 5 Jackpot wager called the Jai-5 is expected to be more difficult to hit this year with the addition of new players making singles games more competitive.  A bettor can only win the Jai-5 jackpot if they have the only winning ticket correctly selecting all five winners of games 3-7.  The minimum jackpot is $2,000 if you are the only winning ticket.  Likewise, the Mighty Ocho, a $1 Pick 8 Jackpot wager for games 1-8 will also be more difficult to hit.  Last year the first ever Mighty Ocho was won by a lucky bettor, and they were paid the minimum $5,000 for that score.  The largest Jai-5 in Magic City history was a whopping $27,348 last April to one lucky winner.

Be sure to watch Magic City PMW games the day after the Super Bowl, one week from Monday!  Battle Court H2H makes its debut at 5-pm following the PMW performance Monday the 14th.  The popular H2H handicapping contest will continue and start on February 20th. Stay tuned for blog posts on Magic City Battle Court H2H and World Super Court qualifying rounds!

/by

Wanted: Jai-Alai Betting Tickets

I’m trying to complete a Jai-Alai betting ticket collection and need tickets from the following (5) US Jai-Alai frontons as I don’t have a single ticket from any of these:

Palm Beach, Newport, Orlando, Melbourne (aka Brevard), Kings Court

I have other Jai-Alai memorabilia for barter for your tickets (including programs, postcards, brochures, matchbook covers/matchbooks, bumper stickers, license plates, caps, pens, photos, advertisements and more) or can pay good ole cash if the prices are reasonable. I also have more of the same type of greyhound racing memorabilia if you wish to barter for those type of memorabilia items. I’m always looking for betting tickets from greyhound tracks along with horse tracks too (the older the better).

If you should have any older betting tickets (1936 through 1960’s) from any of the early Jai-Alai frontons, please contact me. I’m only looking for very good to excellent quality tickets where the print is all very clear to read (not a fan of tickets with faded or incomplete print). I’m not interested in admission tickets; only the pari-mutuel betting tickets. I’m always on the lookout for more tickets and ones of different tote styles and wager types too. I don’t have any tickets for a Jai-Alai Pick 6 bet and that would be a neat addition. There are some frontons where I only have several tickets (i.e., Hamilton) and would like to acquire more. I do have a pretty ample supply of Big Bend and Ocala betting tickets. I would like to acquire enough extra tickets to donate a complete set to Jeff “Laca” Conway’s Jai-Alai & Baseball Museum in Seminole FL so they can be enjoyed by visitors. Any help would be much appreciated!

Please contact me through the following website email address if you can help and include your name. I can’t respond immediately but will be monitoring for responses daily. I will only deal with continental USA and Canada for shipping/receiving items. Here is the contact email: sayhili@earthlink.net

Thanks again! Steve Martin (aka Straymar)

Keep US Jai-Alai alive by supporting Magic City Jai-Alai

/by

Latest Magic City News – Court Change & Expanded Customer Base

Recently I had a pre-holiday phone call with Stu Neiman and received some interesting news.  The Magic City Jai-Alai court has been stained black.  The intent of this is to make the pelota easier to track for H2H Jai-Alai fans, many new to the sport, thus enhancing the H2H viewing experience.  I did not think to ask if the OB line was also being stained a different color, but that’s on the list for the next call.

I asked Stu if there were any new additions to states approved for H2H and was pleasantly surprised with the news that Nevada is now approved.  Nevada should be huge exposure for Magic City short-court Jai-Alai with the numerous sports books throughout the Nevada casinos and with Vegas/Reno still being popular vacation destinations.   This now makes (4) states approved for H2H:  Iowa, Illinois, Arizona and now Nevada.  More states are expected to follow suit for sports betting approval for the exciting H2H games in 2022.

Also, during this off-season for the players and staff, Magic City management has been relentless in its continued push for expanded customer base for the pari-mutuel games.  There is super high interest in the Philippines to carry pari-mutuel wagering and according to Stu the fans are crazy for Jai-Alai there.  It will also be interesting to see how much the Magic City Jai-Alai pari-mutuel wagering pools spike with the closure of the Dania fronton as die-hard Jai-Alai fans will certainly want to watch and wager on some of the Dania players at Magic City.

Seven Dania players will be playing in Magic City Jai-Alai pari-mutuel games, H2H games or a combination of both types of games.  Those players are as follows (by their player names known to fans):  Goixerri, Ladutxe, Jairo, Yeche, Goitia, Aratz and Robin.  Goixerri did not play the final fall meet at Dania as he was recovering from injury but did compete in some overseas partidos.  Ladutxe has been the best back-court player at Dania in recent years.  Jairo had been the highly dominant Dania player in early game singles.  Yeche had some outstanding play in the final meet at Dania (both early and late games) and that was perhaps his best meet ever.  Goitia played towards the end of the final Dania meet as he was recovering from an injury during the 2nd Annual USNJAC tourney at Magic City.  Goitia plays extremely competitively on the Magic City short court.

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Magic City meet with the expanded roster which starts on February 14th with pari-mutuel performances on Sunday through Tuesday at 1:30-pm and H2H games which follow at 5-pm EST.  It’s been boring and difficult to fill the void with no US Jai-Alai during this downtime, but I understand the need for players and staff to have some well-deserved time off.  Also, the World Super Court doubles tournament which debuts in 2022 should be a big hit with a display of some amazing talent, big prize money and no restrictions of “US Citizens only” as there is for the USNJAC singles and doubles annual tournaments.

Thanks to Magic City Casino & Jai-Alai for helping to keep the sport of Jai-Alai alive in the USA and a special thanks to Stu for the updates!

/by

Magic City Jai-Alai 2022 Updates – Roster & World Super Court

On December 2nd, 2022 Stu Neiman confirmed the following additions at Magic City. “Manu Ladutxe, Jairo Baroja, Robin Flores, Nicolas Eyheragaray, Inaki Goitiandia, Aratz Mendizabal & Ekaitz Mendizabal will join the roster in 2022. Each will play either parimutuel games, H2H matches or both.”


“Based on the success and enthusiasm surrounding our annual U.S. National jai-Alai Championship we will host the inaugural “World Super Court” Doubles Championship at Magic City in October of 2022.” Details are still being finalized but this event will offer $50,000 in total prize money and will be open to all nationalities.

/by

Magic City Jai-Alai 2021 Wrap-Up and What’s New for 22!

Exciting short-court Jai-alai action at its best concluded on November 23rd at Magic City Jai-Alai in Miami with (8) games of exciting PMW (Pari-Mutuel Wagering) games and (4) nail-biting H2H Doubles sports betting matches which followed at 5-pm.  Be sure to watch the replays of H2H games on the new exclusive H2H website at watchjaialai.com

The PMW game replays are still on The Jai-Alai Channel on YouTube.

Here is the complete list of Non-Monetary and Cash Awards for the 2022 Magic City Jai-Alai Regular Season (May 1 thru Nov 23)

Non-Monetary Awards (Apple product awards):

  • Most Improved Singles Player – Ben
  • Most Improved Doubles Player – Cool Fitness
  • Coach’s Award – Tennessee

Cash Awards (Singles Championship & Doubles Tournament #3):

Singles Championship: 

  • First – Douglas with 64 wins (30.3%) $15,000
  • Second – Ben with 59 wins (16.0%) $10,000
  • Third – Julen with 58 wins (15.8%) $5,000
  • 4th and 5th were Benny (52 wins, 14.5%) and El Barba (50 wins, 15.0%)
  • 6th were Anderluck and Ikeda tied with 43-wins each
  • The remaining players were 37 wins or less

The complete Singles Championship stats can be found on SayHili.com under Wagering Info

2021 Doubles Tournament #3

  • First – Kubala-Benny with 26 wins (25.5%) $10,000
  • Second – Diaz-Douglas with 18 wins (20.7%) $5,000

The complete Doubles Tournament stats for all teams can be found on SayHili.com under Wagering Info

November 23rd Jackpot Force-Out Results

  • Jai-5 ($1 Pick 5 Jackpot Wager) – (2) winning tickets with 5/5 correct winners paid $1,000 each
  • Mighty Ocho ($1 Pick 8 Jackpot Wager) – (3) winning tickets with 6/8 correct winners paid $1,666.60 each

Regular Season Singles Stats (top 5 highest Win % and ITM %)

  • Win %:  Douglas 30.3, RonRon 23.6, Ben 16.0, Julen 15.8, Spinner 14.7
  • ITM %:  Douglas 59.7, RonRon 55.7, Spinner 48.7, Benny 47.2, Bueno 42.6

2022 Schedule (PMW and H2H games)

Here are the 2022 pari-mutuel wagering season and H2H sports betting match dates known at this time (last update 11/14):

  • February 14 through April 19: PMW (pari-mutuel wagering) on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday at 1:30-pm and H2H matches at 5-pm
  • May 1 through August 14: PMW on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday at 1:30-pm and H2H matches at 5-pm
  • break for the 2022 USNJAC Tournament
  • end of August through November: PMW on Saturday, Monday & Tuesday at 1:30-pm and H2H matches at 5-pm

Other Info and Roster Will Be Expanding

The players have December off and will have a team meeting on January 15with practice starting on January 17.  There will be some roster additions of Dania players (to be announced after the conclusion of the final Dania season, closing day Sunday 11/28).  All contracts have been executed.  Stay tuned for the roster additions.  I understand that roster additions are due to the expansion of H2H with more matches expected to be available for sports betting in 2022.

A few players will also be Jai-Alai Judges.  Note that if a player Judges in PMW games they won’t be playing in PMW games, and likewise for H2H games.  Some players will only play in PMW or H2H games; however the majority of the 2022 roster will participate in both PMW and H2H.

We’ve been “teased” by Stu that there could be changes to PMW doubles game tournaments with more teams?  Stay tuned for more info on this.

Amazing Singles Point During Game 4 of PMW on November 23rd Closing Day

You must see this incredible long point played between Ben and Ikeda.  Check out the replays on The Jai-Alai Channel if you missed this one!  This could be the longest singles point I’ve ever witnessed since watching Jai-Alai games in 1978.  Lots of great catches and shots by both players!

H2H Jai-Alai Match Sports Betting Now Legal in 3-States

Magic City Jai-Alai H2H sports betting is now legal in three states (Iowa, Illinois, Arizona) with more states expected to get approved soon.  I’m told that state approvals can happen pretty quickly and hopefully more will be ready for the February 2022 H2H games.  Currently the Jai-Alai H2H sports wagering is done through BetRivers.com.

Background Info on the Reduced SayHiLi Content Since September

Blog stories and info on SayHiLi were greatly reduced from September through the end of the meet.  I apologize for that and want to explain.  Starting in November 2020 I had several strokes, one a mini-stroke and another much more serious one in mid-April this year (actually on a Friday night after the conclusion of watching Dania games).  This led to lots of testing to try to find out what was causing the strokes.  In September I was diagnosed with a severely hardened aortic valve which needed replacing.  I had to undergo several procedures to help determine the best way forward and then on November 9th I had the TAVR procedure for that valve replacement.  I was released from the hospital the following day and have been recovering the last two weeks.

When I first awoke after “coming to” after surgery, the first thing I said was “I think I was just at a Jai-Alai match.”  Of course I then realized “Oh shit” the recovery room nurses probably think I’m crazy and have no idea what I was mumbling about and I felt the need to explain what “Jai-Alai” was.  When my wife was allowed into the hospital room I was moved to, she said I was “rambling on” about Jai-Alai to those nurses when she walked in.  Hopefully, God willing, I will be able to continue helping to support the SayHiLi website in an increased capacity going forward.  I’m grateful that Magic City short-court Jai-Alai survives and hope more Jai-Alai fans make the transition to watching these games and wagering on PMW games to help keep the PMW games alive.

The Magic City 2022 season will be the best season yet and the quality of play at Magic City Jai-Alai keeps on getting better.  To the current “nay-sayers of Magic City I would say, please watch and give it a chance.  This is all we have left now and your support is needed!  The Magic City short-court Jai-Alai games are the fastest and most exciting Jai-Alai games I’ve ever seen, trust me on this!!

Happy Holidays!!

Steve M.

/by
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED