Archive for category: Straymar Blogs

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 2^nd 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

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

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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Player	# of GC Award Wins
Douglas	35
RonRon	17
Carballo	10
El Barba	6
Anderluck	6
Ben	6
Bueno	6
Jeden	5
Ikeda	5
Juice	3
Diaz	2
Bradley	2
Benny	2
CRB	2
Goixerri	2
Vuelo	1
Tennessee	1
Kubala	1
Asier	1
Julen	1
Robin	1
Manu	1
Aratz	1
Cool Fitness	0
Spinner	0
Inaki	0
Nicolas	0

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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Year	Week	Player	# of Wins	% ITM	% Wins	Tiebreaker Info, etc
2018	11	Anderluck	12	70.7	27.9
2018	12	Bradley	12	55.3	31.6
2018	13	Carballo	11	50.0	34.4
2018	14	Ben	8	56.8	21.6	Ben – wins tied with Asier and went to % ITM tiebreaker
2018	15	Juice	11	50.0	30.6
2018	16	Juice	10	61.1	27.8
2018	17	Asier	10	48.8	23.3
2018	18	Ben	9	48.8	20.0
2018	19	Carballo	10	47.8	21.7
2018	20	Bradley	9	45.9	24.3
2018	21	Juice	7	55.2	24.1
2018	22	Diaz	5	50.0	25.0
2019	1	Jeden	10	70.4	37.0	Jeden – wins tied with Kubala and went to % ITM tiebreaker
2019	2	Kubala	11	71.0	35.5
2019	3	Carballo	18	85.2	66.7
2019	4	Douglas	11	75.0	30.6	Douglas wins 1st week of his professional career
2019	5	Douglas	13	72.2	36.1
2019	6	Carballo	13	55.6	36.1
2019	7	Douglas	18	77.8	50.0
2019	8	Douglas	19	75.0	52.8
2019	9	Douglas	9	57.1	32.1
2019	10	Douglas	10	48.3	34.5
2019	11	Douglas	10	67.9	35.7
2019	12	Douglas	13	50.0	46.4
2019	13	Douglas	13	69.0	44.8
2019	14	Douglas	13	62.1	44.8
2019	15	Douglas	9	83.3	50.0
2019	16	Douglas	10	66.7	55.6
2019	17	RonRon	7	66.7	38.9
2019	18	Douglas	6	61.1	33.3	Douglas – wins tied with Ikeda and went to % ITM tiebreaker
2019	19	RonRon	7	61.1	38.9
2019	20	Douglas	7	50.0	38.9	Douglas – wins tied with Anderluck and went to % ITM tiebreaker
2019	21	Anderluck	7	59.1	31.8
2020	1	Ikeda	10	68.2	47.6
2020	2	Diaz	5	43.5	21.7
2020	3	Bueno	6	45.5	27.3
2020	4	Ikeda	5	61.1	27.8
2020	5	Anderluck	5	41.7	20.8
2020	6	El Barba	4	38.9	22.2
2020	7	Tennessee	7	50.0	31.8
2020	8	RonRon	5	66.7	27.8
2020	9	Carballo	5	91.7	41.7
2020	10	Bueno	6	47.8	26.1
2020	11	RonRon	13	75.0	46.5
2020	12	RonRon	15	75.0	53.6
2020	13	Douglas	14	64.3	50.0
2020	14	Douglas	18	82.1	64.3
2020	15	Douglas	13	60.7	46.4
2020	16	RonRon	10	58.3	41.7
2020	17	Douglas	12	65.4	46.2
2020	18	Ben	13	44.9	26.5
2020	19	Douglas	11	78.6	39.3
2020	20	RonRon	12	72.2	66.7
2020	21	Douglas	11	84.2	57.9
2020	22	Douglas	10	66.7	41.7	Douglas – wins tied with El Barba and went to % ITM tiebreaker
2020	23	RonRon	9	79.2	37.5
2020	24	El Barba	6	58.3	25.0
2020	25	El Barba	9	58.3	37.5
2020	26	El Barba	7	58.3	29.2
2020	27	Douglas	9	77.8	50.0
2020	28	Bueno	8	34.5	27.6
2020	29	Jeden	9	59.1	40.9
2020	30	Douglas	6	75.0	50.0
2021	1	Vuelo	3	66.7	33.3	Vuelo – wins as tied on % Wins but had higher % ITM
2021	2	Douglas	4	55.6	44.4
2021	3	Ikeda	3	75.0	75.0
2021	4	CRB	3	50.0	37.5	CRB – wins as had highest Win %
2021	5	RonRon	4	66.7	44.4
2021	6	RonRon	4	44.4	44.4
2021	7	RonRon	4	66.7	44.4
2021	8	RonRon	5	66.7	55.6
2021	9	RonRon	3	66.7	33.3	RonRon won on 2nd tiebreaker of % ITM over Ikeda
2021	10	RonRon	7	88.9	77.8
2021	11	Anderluck	5	53.6	17.9	Week 1 Regular Season
2021	12	RonRon	7	66.7	58.3
2021	13	Ben	8	33.3	22.2
2021	14	Douglas	4	70.0	40.0	won on tiebreaker against 3-others, missed 1-perf
2021	15	Ikeda	7	50.0	38.9
2021	16	Anderluck	6	46.2	23.1
2021	17	Kubala	5	50.0	22.7
2021	18	El Barba	7	66.7	38.9
2021	19	Douglas	2	75.0	50.0	short week – only 2-performances
2021	20	Douglas	4	62.5	50.0
2021	21	RonRon	3	50.0	37.5
2021	22	El Barba	6	58.3	50.0
2021	23	Douglas	4	88.9	44.4
2021	24	Benny	6	83.3	50.0
2021	25	Ben	4	50.0	33.3
2021	26	Bueno	4	57.1	28.6
2021	27	Carballo	3	71.4	42.9	short week – only 3-performances
2021	28	Douglas	2	57.1	28.6	won tie-breaker
2021	29	Julen	4	70.0	40.0	Julen’s 1st GC
2021	30	Douglas	3	66.7	50.0	Douglas nosed out Cool Fitness on ITM tiebreaker by winning final game of week
2021	31	Jeden	4	83.3	66.7
2021	32	Douglas	3	100.0	50.0
2021	33	Anderluck	3	66.7	50.0	only played 2 of 3 perf
2021	34	Ben	4	85.7	57.1
2021	35	Jeden	3	66.7	50.0
2021	36	Douglas	3	83.3	50.0	won on ITM tiebreaker
2021	37	Benny	4	77.8	44.4
2021	38	Douglas	3	66.7	50.0
2022	1-2	Douglas	5	70.0	50.0	wks 1-2 combined as wk 1 a short week
2022	3	Bueno	4	66.7	44.4
2022	4	Bueno	3	37.5	37.5
2022	5	Jeden Robin	2	50.0	33.3	3-way tie (%wins & highest %ITM) had Goixerri in the running but he’s out as Jeden & Robin had higher place %
2022	6	CRB	2	66.7	33.3
2022	7	Ikeda	3	50.0	50.0
2022	8	Carballo	3	37.5	37.5
2022	9	Goixerri	3	50.0	50.0
2022	10	Carballo	4	62.5	50.0
2022	11	Manu	3	50.0	50.0
2022	12	Carballo	4	71.4	57.1
2022	13	Douglas	4	83.3	66.7
2022	14	RonRon	5	83.3	83.3
2022	15	Goixerri	2	83.3	33.3
2022	16	Aratz	3	66.7	50.0
2022	17	Carballo	3	50.0	50.0
2022	18
2022	19
2022	20
2022	21
2022	22
2022	23
2022	24
2022	25
2022	26
2022	27
2022	28
2022	29
2022	30