Magic City Jai-Alai in Miami Florida concluded their 2020 short-court Jai-Alai season on Sunday, November 29th. The second and final doubles tournament was a nail-biter coming down the final doubles game #7 to see if Diaz-Carballo could tie the team of Asier-Douglas who had 17-wins. The team of Juice-RonRon upset the plans of Diaz-Carballo by winning the game from post 4.
The team of Asier-Douglas split $10,000 for their tourney win while Diaz-Carballo split $5,000 for their second place finish. The final standings for all 9-teams can be seen under “Wagering Info” under Magic City Doubles Tournaments on the SayHiLi.com website. Douglas has won all doubles tournaments since he started doubles tournament play at Magic City in 2019.
The top 3-finishers in the Magic City Singles Championship were awarded their checks on Sunday. Douglas won the singles championship again as in 2019 and took top prize of a cool $15,000 for his 179-singles wins. RonRon won 2nd place prize of $10,000 with his 151-singles wins and Bueno took home $5,000 for his 3rd place finish with 109-wins. El Barba was a close 4th place finish that came down to the final performance with 105 wins and is well deserving of an honorable mention here for his late-season run where he won the Golden Cesta Award weeks 24 through 26.
The 2020 Coaches Award was awarded to Magic City player Tennessee for the 3rd consecutive year. Tennessee is the “spirit-head” of the entire program. He is a vibrant bright personality and all-around “nice-guy” and even helped Limonte move recently.
The Most Improved Player Award went to Ben. Ben played an astonishing 898 games this season and was never sick, injured or scratched from any performance. Ben worked constantly on his game and was first one there and last to leave according to Stu Neiman.
Both the Jai-5 and the Mighty Ocho Jackpots were Forced-Out on Sunday. The Jai-5 already had a carryover jackpot of $2,983.60 going into Sunday and another $3,738 was wagered on it Sunday. After the 20% takeout rate on Sundays Jai-5 pool, the Force-Out was a total of $5,974 to be paid to the ticket holders with the most winners. Asier pulled somewhat of an upset in the leg 1 game 3 of the Jai-5, however, Asier had only been playing in one singles game lately and had won two of the three singles games in game 3 already this week. The remaining winners were Bradley in post 1 game 4, Diaz-Carballo in post 5 game 5, Douglas in post 8 game 6, and Juice-RonRon in post 4 game 7. There was one-team live for a 5 of 5 payout of $5,974 had the team of Diaz-Carballo won from post 6. The $5,974 force-out jackpot was paid out to (9) ticket holders with 4 of 5 winners correctly selected, with each ticket paying $663.70 for a $1 wager.
Asier, the son of Magic City Player Manager Arra, deserves an honorable mention for closing out the 2020 season by winning 3 of his 4 singles games for the week! His hard-throwing left side can be a bit too hot for some to handle when he gets going. Some of the older fans of the 1980’s Tampa roster have noticed Asier’s left side throws have similarities to those of the famous player, Laca.
The $1 Mighty Ocho wager only had $546.80 in the jackpot, but Magic City COO, Scott Savin, guaranteed a $3,000 payout to be split among ticket holders with the most winners correctly selected for the 8-game sequence. Bettors spent $2,920 into this Jackpot and after the 20% takeout had been removed from the $2,920 and the prior jackpot carryover of $546.80 was added, there was $2,882.80 to be paid back, so Magic City had to make-up only $117.20 to bring the Mighty Ocho Force-out up to the $3,000 guarantee. Going into the final leg of the Mighty Ocho, there were 4-posts covered for 6 of 8 payoffs (posts 1,3,5 for $3,000 each and post 8 with 2-tickets for $1,500 each). Douglas won game 5, result 5-1-3, and the $3,000 was paid out to a single winner with 6 of 8 winners correct. Games 1 and 2 of the Mighty Ocho were won by Diaz in post 1 and Ben in post 7, respectively.
Magic City short-court Jai-Alai action returns on February 6, 2021 to kick-off an additional 10-weeks of Jai-Alai next year before the regular season starts in May. Word from Stu is the performances will be on Saturday, Sunday and Mondays. Stay tuned for more info.
Don’t forget to tune in to the Jai-Alai Channel on Saturday and Sunday, December 5 & 6 for the US National Jai-Alai Championship at Magic City Jai-Alai. Tourney games start at 10 am each day. The US Nationals are only open to US citizens and like the Magic City 2020 Jai-Alai season, there is no live viewing of the event due to covid-19 precautions. Jai-Alai fans won’t want to miss this!
Congratulations Magic City Jai-Alai players, staff and management and all involved for providing this great entertainment opportunity, including the FREE Fantasy Jai-Alai League, during these trying times in 2020. Well Done!