Archive for category: Straymar Blogs

The 3^rd Annual USNJAC ended on Sunday, August 21^st, 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:

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

Pro Doubles Championship:

1^st Place to brothers Goixerri-Aratz over brothers Inaki-Julen 9-6 to win $10,000, 2^nd 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 14^th 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 14^th, 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 2^nd 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 28^th 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 28^th 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.

Friday night, August 5th, marked the first Battle Court draft selection event for the Battle Court II 2022 season which starts on Friday night, September 23^rd where the Cesta Cyclones face-off against the Chula Chargers.  The draft event took place on the Magic City Jai-Alai court at 6:45 pm with each of the 4-squad owners making the final decision on which player to draft to complete their 6-player squads.  Each squad had previously locked-in 3-players from the BC I 2022 season and the remaining 3-players for each squad were selected via the draft process.

Here are the initial 3-players for the squads prior to the draft selection process:

Here is the draft selection order for the 3-remaining players for each squad and the players who were drafted by each squad.

Below is the final grid showing the Round 1-6 players for each of the Battle Court squads:

The selection process started shortly after the event started at 6:45-pm and lasted until the 12^th draft pick which was announced around 7:30-pm EST. 

Singles games for Battle Court H2H matches will involve Round 1-players playing against each other, Round 2 players playing against each other…..down to Round 6 players playing against each other.  Doubles team pairings for each of the 4-Battle Court squads were made by the squads after the live coverage of the event ended, so those aren’t yet available for this article.

The event was broadcast on watchjaialai.com where H2H games can be viewed live on the internet or watched at a later time.  Andrew Blechman announced the event for the on-line viewers while Magic City COO, Scott Savin, announced the draft selections to those in attendance.  There will also be some ESPN3 coverage of Battle Court II H2H matches on Friday nights coming this fall. Here are a few other photos from this first draft event!  Congratulations Magic City fronton on a great and professional event!

Andrew Blechman

Video and food photo compliments of Paul Kubula

The Golden Cesta Award is an honorary award for the Jai-alai player with the most singles game wins for a week. The award was conceived by Pauly, a well-known Jai-alai announcer and promoter at Magic City Jai-alai who also had a big following when working at Dania Jai-alai. Pauly is the originator of the reference to Machu Picchu when a player’s shot hits high out-of-bounds, such as the overhead netting and the phrase “The Pad is Bad.” Golden Cesta Award winners are shown beginning with week 11 of the inaugural 2018 season at Magic City.

Douglas won the Golden Cesta Award for 14 of the 18 weeks he played during the 2019 meet and even won 10-consecutive weeks from Week #7 through #16. Douglas also holds the record with 19 singles game wins in a week during Week #8 in 2019. Carballo’s 18 singles wins in Week #3 of 2019 was for 27 games played which calculates to an astonishing 66.7% wins. RonRon broke previous records during the 2021 10-week short meet with 7 singles wins in 9 games during Week #10 for a new record of 77.8% wins!

Note: Tie-breaker rules change starting 2021: when there is a tie for most wins, the Golden Cesta Award goes to the tied player with the highest singles win % for that week. Prior to 2021, when there was a tie for most wins, the Golden Cesta Award went to the tied player with the highest % ITM for the week.

Last Modified: June 14, 2022, 4:35 pm

Number of Golden Cesta Award Wins

The number of Golden Cesta Award Wins at Magic City Jai-Alai since week 11 of 2018. This is an honorary weekly award for the highest number of wins for the week.

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Golden Cesta Award Winners

Golden Cesta Award winners at Magic City Jai-Alai since September 12 of 2018. The Golden Cesta Award goes to the winner of the most singles games each week. SayHiLi did not include the early part of 2018 in the database as it was the first season of this development Jai-Alai program and players were still on the low end of learning curve on their Jai-Alai training and abilities (2018 Week 1 began July 1).

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By Jabracadabra/Straymar

Week 4 started with 7 doubles matches. The team of Inaki-Roque subbed for Jeden-Nicolas and outlasted Joseph-Manu in a 30 point, 3 set match 2-6, 6-5, 5-6. In game 6, Bueno-Benny beat Inaki-Roque 6-1, 6-4. CRB-Douglas beat Carballo-Kubala in straight sets 6-5, 6-2. Carballo-Kubala played Jairo-Ben in game 5 in a relatively low scoring 3 set match, winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. In another low scoring 3 set match, Diaz-Goixerri beat Flores-Aratz 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Correa-Manny later earned a victory over Flores-Aratz 6-1, 6-1. Robin-Julen won in 2 sets over Ikeda-Bradley 6-2, 6-4.

In Group I singles on Monday, Inaki took a victory over Benny 6-1, 6-1. Manny outlasted Douglas for a win in 3 sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-5. Manu was victorious over Carballo who subbed for Nicolas 6-4, 6-1. Jairo beat Aratz in 3 sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-5. Goixerri beat Douglas 6-4, 6-3. And finishing Monday’s play, Julen beat Manny 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

In Group II singles on Tuesday, RonRon gave up 9 total points by beating Bradley 6-0, 6-3, then beating Correa 6-5, 6-1 in game 5. Correa picked up a win over Bueno 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Ikeda earned wins against Ben 6-4, 6-1 and Carballo 6-4, 2-6, 6-5. Carballo beat Kubala 6-3, 6-5.

Diaz-Goixerri, Inaki, Manu and RonRon each had a 6 point run to win sets in their matches.

Goixerri is leading Group I Singles with a record of 5-0, while Ikeda leads Group II with a 6-0 record. For Doubles, Correa-Manny and Jeden-Nicolas are at the top at 3-0 followed by Robin-Julen with a 2-0 record.

Play begins at 5pm EST with Doubles on Sundays, Singles Group I on Mondays and Singles Group II on Tuesdays. Sunday, May 15, will feature 7 doubles matches.

Sunday’s matches are open to the public plus there is a new promotion “H2Hx10” for those in attendance. All you have to do is pick the winner of each match and the number of sets (either 2 or 3). If you get both right, you win $10. This is open for all matches throughout the evening. Each match is individual, so if you pick incorrectly, you still have a chance in the remaining matches.

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. Remember, you can visit the fronton on Sundays to see the great action in person and a chance to win some money in the new “H2Hx10” promotion. Be sure to catch the post-game show with Stu and Andrew for a recap of the action.

And don’t forget to watch “The King of Twitch” (aka El Barba) and Paulie at https://www.twitch.tv/watchjaialai for interactive livestreaming during the Jai Alai H2H sports betting games at Magic City. Tune in to hear El Barba and Paulie entertain viewers with their insight and answer questions from the live chat. It is entertaining for sure.

The tables below show the standings in a couple of different formats.

April 13, 2022 by Straymar

Despite not having played competitively on US soil since Dania closed in November last year, the team of Erik-Manu had a strong showing at Magic City in the 2^nd World Super Court qualifying event at Magic City Casino & Jai-Alai in Miami today.  The team of Erik-Manu (also known as the top doubles team of Erik-Ladutxe from Dania) won all 3-matches in straight-set victories over their opponents to capture the top 2^nd qualifier prize of $2,000 along with one of the 8-spots in the $50k World Super Court finals at Magic City on October 13^th where the first place team wins $25,000 and second pays $12,000!

Erik-Manu handily outscored the Filipino team of Robin-RonRon 6-0, 6-0 in the first round match and won 6-5, 6-2 against Jairo-Nicolas in the second round.  The first set against Jairo-Nicolas was won by Erik-Ladutxe after Jairo lost his footing when they were tied at 5-5.  That first set was a 21-minute set which is one of the longest sets in H2H style Jai-Alai matches where there’s 3-sets to a match, with sets to 6-points (first team to 6-points wins the set), and the first team to win 2-sets wins the match.

The Magic City Jai-Alai brother’s team of Inaki-Julen (also known as Goitia-Julen, Goitia the name Inaki played under at Dania) faced off against Erik-Manu in the final match of the 2^nd WSC Qualifier after they had beaten Bueno-Nicolas and Carballo-Arta.  This was another great match for viewers and did not come easy for Erik-Manu who won the first two sets 6-3 and 6-5, almost going to a 3^rd set.  Inaki-Julen also advance to the WSC Finals at Magic City on October 13^th and won the 2^nd place prize of $1,000 for their incredible effort today.

The 3^rd match in today’s first round was an outstanding match of abilities between Dania’s Zulaika-Arrieta and Magic City player Carballo paired with Arta and is a must see match for fans around the world of all types of Jai-Alai.  The Magic City team of Carballo-Anderluck was initially slated to play, but was changed early in the week to Carballo-Arta when Anderluck scratched for the 2^nd WSC event.  The 6’3” Arta had played at Dania in both front court and back court positions in early games and in the last month has done judging for Magic City Jai-Alai.  The Carballo-Arta team had little practice together and lost a hotly contest first set 6-5 against Zuliaka-Arrieta, both late game Dania players, however, Carballo-Arta won the next two sets 6-3, 6-5, winning the match to proceed further in today’s qualifier.  They lost their next match in 2-sets, 4-6 and 1-6, to the Magic City brother’s team of Inaki-Julen.  Teams that won their first round sets today are eligible to compete again in future qualifiers if there are open spots.

The Erik-Manu team has vast experience playing together and is considered one of the best, if not the best, Jai-Alai doubles teams in the world.  Their late game doubles team record playing in pari-mutuel games at Dania from September of 2018 through November of 2021 is impressive when one considers there are 8-teams in each pari-mutuel game played.  The late game team record is 151-53-29-20 for an incredible 35.1% wins while an average team would have 12.5% wins, thus Erik-Manu were 2.8-times better than the average late-game team at Dania.

Today’s two qualifying teams will join the two brother’s teams of Goixerri-Aratz and Douglas-Benny who qualified at the 1^st WSC Qualifier event at Magic City on February 16^th.   The 3^rd Qualifier is at Magic City on June 8^th at 3-pm EST and the 4^th Qualifier is expected to be at a location in Spain in September, exact date/time TBD, at a court similar in size to the Magic City fronton short-court (120’ long x 40’ wide).

Here is a detailed scoring of all the matches for this 2^nd WSC Qualifier event, compliments of SayHiLi.com’s Battle Court / H2H Jai-Alai Sports Writer Jabracadabra (aka Joel A.):