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!
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.
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)
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!!
Saturday, August 28th proved to be a huge day for Magic City in day 1 of the Pro Division of the 2nd Annual USNJAC at Magic City Jai-Alai in Miami, Florida. Reigning singles champion of the 1st USNJAC (Dec 2020), Dania’s Jairo, was eliminated by Magic City’s Julen by a score of 3-7. To topthat off, the icing on the cake came when Dania’s Arrieta from the 2020 USNJAC winning doubles team of Goitia-Arrieta was eliminated by Magic City’s Spinner by a score of 3-7 in their singles match. These were huge upsets in the eyes of Dania fans. Magic City Jai-Alai fans couldn’t be prouder of their on-court accomplishments Saturday. It’s a win-win regardless of the final outcome on Sunday’s final events.
Dania’s Erik, eligible for the 2nd annual event as he became a U.S. citizen in the last year, did not disappoint for Dania. Erik bested Frank in his opening round by a score of 7-4 and then proceeded to win against Dania foe Zulaika in the next round by a score of 7-3. Erik has been Dania’s top player in recent years and considered one of the best front-court players in the world. Dania fans expect him to be the singles USNJAC tourney favorite.
James Langhans, playing under the name Douglas I, and father of Magic City stars Douglas and Benny, earned his way into the Pro Division Singles tourney by making the finals in the Master’s Division which was played on Friday, the first tourney day of the three-day USNJAC. Douglas I did not disappoint the Langhans family by winning his first two matches in the Pro Division, besting Dania’s Urbieta by a score of 7-3 in Round 1 followed by a Round 2 win of 7-3 against Magic City’s Bueno (Chris Bueno), son of Dania Player Manager Benny Bueno. Douglas I has some solid talent and superb form and looks great on the court with his serious set of specialty shots. His next match is against Erik on Sunday morning and should be a good one. It’s no wonder sons Douglas (Matt) and Benny have developed their skill sets so quickly with a coach like former pro player James! Dania’s Goita narrowly squeaked by Magic City 18-yo phenom Benny, younger brother of Douglas, by a score of 7-6 in a tightly contested 2nd Round match or it would have been a “Langhans Trifecta” making it to the final 8 for the Sunday showdown.
Connecticut player Goya (Matt, owner of the short-court practice fronton facility in CT) did not disappoint in the Masters Division and was the other player making the finals. Goya advanced to the Pro Division by making the final two but was ousted in Round 1 against Goitia by a score of 2-7. Tourney fans were in awe of Goya’s talent for his age. He’s a former professional Jai-Alai player from 40-years ago and certainly did not disappoint fans from the northeast. Goya plays in the Master’s Division Singles final Sunday morning against Douglas I and is also in the Master’s Division Doubles final match of Beach-Goya vs Mickey Mo-Suits. Jai-Alai fans won’t want to miss these Master Division finals!
The final 8 in the Pro Division singles tourney finals to be held on Sunday, 8/29 are: brothers Julen vs Goitia, Douglas I vs Erik, Spinner vs Douglas, and Ladutxe vs Carballo. Magic City players are in three of the four matches and represent half of the players in the final showdown of these eight players. There were (7) Pro Division Singles matches on Saturday where Magic City players faced off against the seasoned Dania players. The Magic City players out-played their far more experienced Dania opponents in those singles matches by a combined point score of 39-37, even with one of those matches including an early games Magic City player. These (7) 7-point matches of Magic City players vs Dania revealed another interesting statistic. All Magic City players scored at least 4-points in the 7-point matches while the seasoned Dania players scored just 3-points in three of the seven 7-point matches against Magic City. Sounds like another win for Magic City. SayHiLi.com is sure Scott Savin, Stu Neiman and Juan Arrasate could not be any prouder of the Magic City players and how far they’ve come in such a short time. Congratulations Magic City for making an event like this possible!
The Pro Division Doubles tourney has been pared-down to (8) remaining teams. Only the first round was played on Saturday with finals on Sunday. The 1st Annual USNJAC doubles winners Goitia-Arrieta were the last doubles match of the day and faced off against the winner of a round-robin match of the losing round 1 teams. They were victorious against the team of El Nino-Gallo by a score of 7-3 to advance to the final eight teams. The doubles match of Frank-Johnny vs Anderluck-Bradley was perhaps the most exciting match Saturday with a comeback victory by Anderluck-Bradley. They were down by 5-1 and then 6-3 and survived 4-game point attempts by Frank-Johnny to claim a hard-fought victory of 7-6 and make the final eight teams. Congratulations Anderluck-Bradley for sticking it out and earning that hard-fought victory.
The final 8-teams for Pro Division Doubles with the Sunday pairings are as follows: Goitia-Arrieta vs Ubilla-Zulaika, Benny-Douglas vs Anderluck-Bradley, Carballo-Spinner vs Brodie-Kubala, and Erik-Ladutxe vs Jairo-Urbieta. The Dania fan favorite team of Erik-Ladutxe won against Mickey Mo-Suits by a score of 7-2 in Round 1. Mickey Mo-Suits team earned their shot in the Pro Division by making it to the final two teams in the Masters Division on Friday.
Magic City wonder boy, Douglas, played in 3-matches on Saturday (two singles and one doubles) and did not disappoint his huge fan base. Douglas was sitting out for the last week of pari-mutuel play at Magic City, having rolled his ankle in mid-August. His tourney debut was astonishing yesterday as he won 21-points and lost only 1-point for the day, besting all other tourney players by a country mile in that category.
USNJAC -Day 3 Review
It was a historic day in the making at the 2nd Annual USNJAC Tournament at Magic City Jai-Alai in Miami, Florida today. The Langhans brothers, Douglas and 18-yo younger brother, Benny, turned the USNJAC into a family affair by Douglas winning the Singles Pro Championship and Douglas-Benny team winning the Doubles Pro Championship. They defeated much more experienced top Dania professionals in doing so and the Tiger’s Board Magic City short-court naysayers/haters are now placed on permanent “IGNORE” for their ramblings…..enough said!
Benny-Douglas beat Dania’s best team of Erik-Ladutxe by a score of 9-7 in the Doubles finale. They were behind by as much as 3-points at one time, with a score of 3-6, and then went on to win 6 of the next 7 points to clinch the victory by a score of 9-7. Young brother, Benny, who turned pro at age 17 had a solid performance catching in the back-court while Douglas covered the front-court. This was no doubt a match favored by the highly experienced Dania duo of Erik-Ladutxe, however, the persistence of the Langhans brothers paid off by staying the course. Congratulations Douglas-Benny and father/trainer/former pro James Langhans and family!!
Dania’s Goitia, also a part-time ref at Magic City in the Dania off-season, managed to pull the upset of the day by solidly beating Erik in the semi-final round of the Singles Pro Championship by a score of 7-4. Goitia threw an unbelievable chula to go ahead of the huge favorite Erik by a score of 6-4 before polishing off Erik. Douglas had beaten Spinner by a score of 7-1 and then Carballo by 7-1 to get to the finale with Goitia where the Magic City wonder boy Douglas prevailed in the match against Goitia, winning by a score of 9-4.
Douglas took home $7,500 for 1st place prize in the Singles Pro Championship while Goitia received $2,500 for 2nd place honors. The Langhans brothers split the $10,000 1st place prize for the Doubles Pro Championship and Dania’s Erik-Ladutxe split a respectable $5,000 for their 2nd place finish.
SayHiLi congratulates the Magic City professionals for their incredible victories! Scott, Lindsay, Stu, Andrew, JR and crew are to be commended for putting on a sensational event this year! Be sure to watch the event match replays on The Jai-Alai Channel for some great exciting short-court Jai-Alai action. Check out all the tournament scores right here on SayHiLi.com, including the Master’s Division finale scores for more info. This author has to take a much-needed break from tracking and reporting on the 3-days of short-court action at Magic City.
We are sure that Jeff Conway’s PelotaPress.com site will provide a write-up on the Master’s Division of the USNJAC, and we don’t want to duplicate effort, but complete USNJAC scores can be seen on the SayHiLi blog article about the USNJAC .
Magic City Jai-Alai games resume on Saturday, September 11th with 8-pari-mutuel games at 1:30-pm followed by six exciting H2H doubles matches at 4-pm! Residents of Iowa and Illinois can now do sports betting wagers on Magic City Jai-Alai H2H games at BetRivers.com, the USNJAC tournament sponsor for this 2nd annual USNJAC event. Sports wagering on Magic City Jai-Alai pari-mutuel games can also be done on PrizePicks.com.
Jai-Alai sports betting history in the USA makes its debut today at 5-pm EST with (4) Magic City H2H singles matches on the sports betting menu on BetRivers.com for Iowa residents. BetRivers has sports betting in the states of IA, IL, IN, CO, MI, PA, WV, VA, NJ so other states are expected to be opened up soon in addition to Iowa once their individual state approval process is completed. Approvals can take place pretty quickly for sports betting of new sports, so stay tuned.
This history breaking announcement came during the pari-mutuel performance at Magic City Jai-Alai on Monday, August 16, 2021 after the 7th game had finished. Watch the Jai-Alai Channel on YouTube to hear the full announcement as all past performances can be seen after the live games. This is exciting news for Magic City as they have explored various ways to introduce Jai-Alai into the sports betting market and have a strong desire to keep the sport of Jai-Alai alive in the USA. Jai-Alai was first introduced to the USA nearly 100-years ago in the city of Miami, Florida.
Congratulations Magic City Jai-Alai on this historical announcement!
The super exciting fast-paced short-court Jai-Alai action concluded for week 15 of the regular season on Tuesday, August 10th with good-guy Ben, nailing his 4th Golden Cesta Award of his career joining the ranks of 4th most GC awards with Anderluck and Carballo. Ben won 4 of his 12 singles games and was 50.0% ITM in his 12 games and had the highest % Wins of the week with 33.3%. Congratulations Ben on your great Jai-Alai play! Douglas took honors for highest ITM of the week with a respectable 66.7%. The doubles teams of Anderluck-Bradley and Kubala-Benny were win leaders for the week with 2-wins each despite Anderluck-Bradley missing action the first half of the week. Currently, Cool Fitness-Spinner lead the 3rd doubles tourney of the year with 7-wins while Diaz-Douglas and Kubala-Benny are tied for 2nd with 5-wins each. Anderluck-Bradley are next best with 3-wins each. Teams Cool-Fitness and Diaz Douglas are both tied for 2nd in ITM with 56.6% each. The highly touted and respected H2H doubles team of Jeden-Julen are still struggling in pari-mutuel games while tied for 5th in wins with 2-wins (8.3% wins and 29.2% ITM).
The Singles Championship remains super-heated with 4-players tied for first with 38-wins (WOW! You don’t get this at Dania!). Those players are Ben, Benny, Douglas and Julen followed up by El Barba with 37 along with RonRon (currently out with injury) and Anderluck with 33 wins. The next best total singles wins is a group of 3-players led by Tennessee with 26, Spinner 25 and Kubala 24. This group of three is then followed by others with 16-wins and less.
Week 16 of the regular season kicks-off on Saturday, August 14th, with a 1:30-pm performance where live fans are allowed in the fronton. Seating starts at 1:00 pm. Don’t forget the exciting H2H doubles games which follow at 5-pm where live fans are also allowed. Live fans for Saturday’s H2H doubles can also get in on one FREE shot at an incredible cash prize of $4,000 on Saturday with the 6-Picks Promotion.There was another $1,000 added to the previous $3,000 carryover making this jackpot $4,000 since nobody again selected all six H2H doubles games correctly on Saturday August 7th. One contestant yet again had the first 5-matches correct and missed on the final match. Generally, the person(s) picking ALL 6-winners of the (6) H2H doubles matches split $1,000. There are 64-different combinations of picking all 6-matches and each participant gets only ONE chance, so this is not impossible by any means. This 6-Picks Jackpot continues to grow by $1,000 weekly until a contestant correctly picks the winner of all 6-matches (multiple winners of all matches split the Jackpot). So far there have been lucky winners the first two Saturdays, July 10th and July 17th. Those winners each took home a cool $1,000 cash. Be sure to understand all the rules for this promotion if you are participating in this on-site contest at Magic City Jai-Alai and get your entry in before the deadline. We do know you must be present at the conclusion to collect if you are a 6-Picks winner. Please note that this contest ends on August 21st and will be replaced with a new contest allowing fans at home to participate and entails all three H2H game days. The new contest is called 18-Picks! The 18-Picks also replaces the weekly fantasy league. The 18-picks contest makes it’s debut after the 2nd Annual USNJAC tourney when Magic City Jai-Alai H2H and pari-mutuel games resume on Saturday, September 11.
Don’t forget to get those Magic City Fantasy Jai-Alai League selections locked-in for week 16 before the start of Saturday’s game 1! Contestants need to be mindful of the recent entries change on Saturday’s live performance where the late-game players now play an extra feature game in addition to game 6 & 8. These late-game players get to fascinate the fans by competing in middle game 4 on Saturdays only. The Jai-5 is at an huge $4,696.40 carryover going into Saturday’s performance so don’t miss out on your chance at a big pot which could top $7,000 to a single 5 of 5 winner on Saturday.
The week 16 entries are expected to be scratch-free for the start of the week. RonRon continues to be out with knee/back pain and should be back after the break in action after the conclusion of the USNJAC tourney (Tourney is Aug 27-29th, don’t miss this).
Fast-paced short-court Jai-Alai action concluded for week 14 of the regular season on Tuesday, August 3rd with Benny, the youngest professional on the roster and brother of top player Douglas, nabbing his first Golden Cesta Award since starting on February 6th this year. Benny won 6 of his 12 singles games and was 83.3% ITM in his 12 games, besting Julen’s 2nd place of 53.3% ITM quite decisively. Congratulations Benny on this great achievement! The doubles team of Diaz-Douglas took top honors for the week with 8-3-2-0 for 37.5% wins and 62.5% ITM. Currently, Cool Fitness-Spinner lead the 3rd doubles tourney of the year with 6-wins while Diaz-Douglas have 4 and Kubala-Benny have 3-wins.
The Singles Championship remains quite the battle with 8-players of the Magic City 20-player roster still within 8-wins of each other. El Barba & Julen have 37, Douglas 36, Benny 35, Ben 34, Anderluck & RonRon 33, and Ikeda 29. The next best on wins is Tennessee with 25, Kubala 24 and Spinner with 23. This group of three is then followed by others with 16-wins and less.
Week 15 of the regular season kicks-off on Saturday, August 7th, with a 1:30-pm performance where live fans are allowed in the fronton. Seating starts at 1:00 pm. Don’t forget the exciting H2H doubles games which follow at 5-pm where live fans are also allowed. Live fans for Saturday’s H2H doubles can also get in on one FREE shot at $3,000 on Saturday; the new 6-Picks Promotion.There was $1,000 added to the previous $2,000 carryover making this jackpot $3,000 since nobody again selected all six H2H doubles games correctly on Saturday July 31st. One contestant had the first 5-matches correct and missed on the last match. Generally, the person(s) picking ALL 6-winners of the (6) H2H doubles matches split $1,000. There are 64-different combinations of picking all 6-matches and each participant gets only ONE chance, so this is not impossible by any means. This 6-Picks Jackpot continues to grow by $1,000 weekly until a contestant correctly picks the winner of all 6-matches (multiple winners of all matches split the Jackpot). So far there have been lucky winners the first two Saturdays, July 10th and July 17th. Those winners each took home a cool $1,000 cash. Be sure to understand all the rules for this promotion if you are participating in this on-site contest at Magic City Jai-Alai and get your entry in before the deadline. We do know you must be present at the conclusion to collect if you are a 6-Picks winner.
Don’t forget to get those Magic City Fantasy Jai-Alai League selections locked-in before the start of Saturday’s game 1! Contestants need to be mindful of the entries change on Saturday’s live performance where the late-game players now play an extra feature game in addition to game 6 & 8. These late-game players get to wow the crowd by competing in middle game 4 on Saturdays only.
The week 15 entries are expected to be scratch-free for the start of the week. RonRon continues to be out with knee/back pain and is expected to be out for 3-4 weeks. El Barba and Ikeda are back in action for week 15 and are listed in the entries for Saturday & Sunday.
Amazing short-court Jai-Alai was again on the menu for week 13 which concluded Tuesday, July 27th! Douglas secured his 28th Golden Cesta Award by winning 4 of his 9-singles games and had an impressive 88.9% ITM with his 8 of 9 games ITM and surged to 2nd place in the Singles Championship, just 2-wins shy of leader El Barba who has 37-singles wins. The new doubles tournament started, the 3rd of 2021, and 2nd doubles tourney winners Cool Fitness-Spinner got of to a huge lead again by winning 5 of their 7 doubles games for an impressive 71.4% wins! There are three other teams tied for 2nd with 1-win each.
The Singles Championship remains to be quite a battle with 8-players of the Magic City 20-player roster within 8-wins of each other. El Barba has 37, Douglas 35, Julen 34, Ben & RonRon 33, Anderluck 32, and Benny & Ikeda finish out the top 8 with 29-wins. The next best on wins is Spinner with 23, Tennessee 22, and Kubala 21. This group of three is then followed by others with 15-wins and less.
Week 14 of the regular season kicks-off on Saturday, July 31st, with a 1:30-pm performance where live fans are allowed in the fronton. Seating starts at 1:00 pm. Don’t forget the exciting H2H doubles games which follow at 5-pm where live fans are also allowed. Live fans for Saturday’s H2H doubles can also get in on one FREE shot at $2,000 on Saturday; the new 6-Picks Promotion.There is a carryover making this jackpot $2,000 since nobody selected all six H2H doubles games correctly on Saturday July 24th. Generally, the person(s) picking ALL 6-winners of the (6) H2H doubles matches split $1,000. There are 64-different combinations of picking all 6-matches and each participant gets only ONE chance, so this is not impossible by any means. If nobody has all 6-winners, the $1,000 carries over to the next Saturday where $2,000 is up for grabs for the winner(s) of ALL 6-matches. This “jackpot” continues to grow by $1,000 weekly until a contestant correctly picks the winner of all 6-matches. So far there have been lucky winners the first two Saturdays, July 10th and July 17th. Those winners each took home a cool $1,000 cash. Be sure to understand all the rules for this promotion if you are participating in this on-site contest and get your entry in before the deadline. You must be present at the conclusion to collect if you are a winner.
Don’t forget to get those Magic City Fantasy Jai-Alai League selections locked-in before the start of Saturday’s game 1! Contestants need to be mindful of the entries change on Saturday’s live performance where the late-game players now play an extra feature game in addition to game 6 & 8. The late-gamers will also be competing in game 4 (Saturday only).
There had not been any scratches at Magic City Jai-Alai since June 5th, however, Tuesday July 27th RonRon scratched on games 6-on due to knee and potential back issues. This was an amazing stretch for a Jai-Alai venue to have no scratches which is far different from the Dania Jai-Alai venue which unfortunately has a history of regular unexpected player scratches, which makes handicapping more difficult and and can make advance wagering a riskier gamble. Please take note that RonRon is not listed in the entries for Saturday & Sunday. Anderluck did injure his bicep during the first H2H doubles match on Tuesday evening and scratched for his second match. We are assuming this was not a serious injury as he is listed in the entries for Saturday & Sunday.
Tuesday, July 20th concluded another week of the fast-action short-court Jai-Alai with Magic City early-mid game professional Jai-Alai player El Barba securing his 6th Golden Cesta Award and surging to the lead in the singles championship. El Barba won 6-singles games for the week, an impressive 50% wins, and is in 3rd place for most GC Awards at Magic City, only headed by Douglas and RonRon. Congratulations El Barba on your victorious week!
The 2021 regular season Singles Championship has continued to be a contentious battle with lead changes happening regularly. Eight players of the 20-player roster have from 27 to 35 singles wins. El Barba now leads this group with 35 wins, Ben 33, Anderluck & RonRon have 32, Douglas & Julen 31, Ikeda 28, and Benny 27. Douglas continues to lead in singles win percentage with 28.7% with RonRon not far behind with 24.1%. RonRon leads overall best % ITM with 55.6.
The second 2021 Doubles Tournament of the year concluded on Tuesday, July 20th. Cool Fitness-Spinner dominated the tourney with 25-wins (25.5% wins) and will split the first place price of $10,000. Kubala-Benny scored 2nd place prize money of $5,000 with 19-wins, edging out 3rd place finishers Carballo-Tennessee with their 17-victories. Fourth place team was El Barba-Ikeda with 12-wins. Those were the only teams with double digit win stats. The 3rd 2021 Doubles Tournament starts on Saturday July 24th with game 5. There are 9-teams in this tournament. Anderluck-Vuelo and CRB-Bradley will not be playing in this one. Anderluck is paired with Bradley this time while CRB and Vuelo will be tournament subs. The remaining teams from the 2nd Doubles Tournament will continue as-is.
Week 13 kicks-off on Saturday, July 24th, with a 1:30-pm performance where live fans are allowed in the fronton. Seating starts at 1:00 pm. Don’t forget the exciting H2H doubles games which follow at 5-pm where live fans are also allowed. Live fans for Saturday’s H2H doubles can also get in on one FREE shot at $1,000 on Saturday; the new 6-Picks Promotion. The person(s) picking ALL 6-winners of the (6) H2H doubles matches split $1,000. There are 64-different combinations of picking all 6-matches, however, each participant gets only ONE chance. If nobody has all 6-winners, the $1,000 carries over to the next Saturday where $2,000 is up for grabs for the winner(s) of ALL 6-matches. This “jackpot” continues to grow by $1,000 weekly until a contestant correctly picks the winner of all 6-matches. So far there have been lucky winners both weeks who picked all 6 winners of the H2H games on Saturday, July 10th and July 17th. Those winners each took home a cool $1,000. The 6-Picks Promotion starts at $1,000 again for Saturday, July 24th. Be sure to understand all the rules for this promotion if you are participating.
Don’t forget to get those Magic City Fantasy Jai-Alai League selections locked-in before the start of Saturday’s game 1! Contestants need to be mindful of the entries change on Saturday’s live performance where the late-game players now play an extra feature game in addition to game 6 & 8. The late-gamers will also be competing in game 4 (Saturday only).
Tuesday, July 13th concluded another week of the fast-action short-court Jai-Alai with top Magic City professional Jai-Alai player RonRon securing his 16th Golden Cesta Award, winning the tie-breaker against Ben & CRB who also had 3-wins each but had lower singles game win percents for the week than RonRon. Congratulations RonRon on your achievement and we are sure your family is very proud of you!
The 2021 regular season Singles Championship has continued to be a contentious battle with lead changes happening regularly. Half of the 20-player roster has from 20 to 32 singles wins. Ben now leads this group with 32 wins, Julen & RonRon have 31, Anderluck & El Barba have 29, Douglas has moved up to the top six with 28, Benny & Ikeda have 26, Spinner has 22, and Tennessee has 20. Douglas still commands the lead in singles win percentage with 28.0%. Spinner and RonRon are in a virtual tie with overall best % ITM with 55.7 and 55.2, respectively while Douglas is the only other player with ITM over 50% with a 51.0%.
The second 2021 Doubles Tournament of the year is still being dominated by the same 3-teams. Cool Fitness-Spinner lead the 10-teams with 23-wins and will win split the first place price of $10,000. Kubala-Benny picked up a win and are second with 18-wins while Carballo-Tennessee were winless this week and remain in 3rd place with 16-wins. There are only 8-games left in this doubles tournament which concludes on game 7 of Tuesday’s performance on July 20th. The 2nd place prize money of $5,000 could come down to the final game if Carballo-Tennessee kick it into gear and make up some ground this week.
Week 12 kicks-off on Saturday, July 17th, with a 1:30-pm performance where live fans are allowed in the fronton. Seating starts at 1:00 pm. Don’t forget the exciting H2H doubles games which follow at 5-pm where live fans are also allowed. Live fans for Saturday’s H2H doubles can also get in on one FREE shot at $1,000 on Saturday; the new 6-Picks Promotion. The person(s) picking ALL 6-winners of the (6) H2H doubles matches split $1,000. There are 64-different combinations of picking all 6-matches, however, each participant gets only ONE chance. If nobody has all 6-winners, the $1,000 carries over to the next Saturday where $2,000 is up for grabs for the winner(s) of ALL 6-matches. This “jackpot” continues to grow by $1,000 weekly until a contestant correctly picks the winner of all 6-matches. There was one lucky winner who picked all 6 winners of the H2H games on Saturday, July 10th. That winner took home a cool $1,000. The 6-Picks Promotion starts at $1,000 again for Saturday, July 17th. Be sure to understand all the rules for this promotion if you are participating. Also, don’t forget, be sure to get those Magic City Fantasy Jai-Alai League selections locked-in before the start of Saturday’s game 1!
