Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Erik Mendizabal's amazing week at Dania Jai Alai

About 3 weeks ago Aritz Erkiaga had an amazing week at Miami Jai Alai. See that post for further explanation and a video example of Quinela Jai Alai and how it works.

To refresh your memory

August 29-September 5, 2016

Player----Games Played----Wins----Places (2nd place)----Shows (3rd Place). Selected winning percentages and "in the money" percentage

Aritz----39----16----5----5 .410 winning %, .667 "in the money" %

This was over double the number of wins of the second highest winners.

At the time, and especially after looking at other sets of weekly statistics at Miami kindly provided to me by Tiger's Jai Alai Chalk Talk Discussion Forum, I thought it was unique. After all, for the entirety of the recent Winter 2016 season at Miami, the most wins any weekly wins leader had was 14 (Eric Irastorza--last season's triple crown winner--twice). Within the first two months of the new season, Aritz smashed through that barrier. Aritz' week was thoroughly analyzed, day by day, because it was felt I wouldn't have to do that again for a long time. :)

A "long time" turned out to be a little less than three weeks. For the week ending September 24, 2016 (Sep. 19-24) at Dania Jai Alai, Erik Mendizabal put up the following numbers.

Erik----41----17----8----2 .415 winning %, .659 "in the money"%.

The second highest winner, Ibon, had 10 wins.

Rather than go through Erik's week day by day (which you can do yourself from this link), I thought it would be interesting to compare the statistical nuts and bolts of the two great weeks.

Wins and starts from post positions: A=Aritz, E=Erik

Post 1: A:  6 of 8: E:  6 of 11
Post 2: A:  3 of 5, E:  2 of 4
Post 3: A:  3 of 4, E:  3 of 5
Post 4: A:  0 of 2, E:  2 of 3
Post 5: A:  0 of 2, E:  1 of 5
Post 6: A:  2 of 6, E:  1 of 6
Post 7: A:  1 of 5, E:  2 of 4
Post 8: A:  1 of 7, E:  0 of 3

Singles Matches A: 4 of 6, E: 5 of 8

Early games: A: 3 of 10, E: 4 of 7

Aritz won with 10 different partners. Erik won with 9.

While no direct comparisons can be made because Aritz and Erik play on different rosters, the recipe for success seems very similar. Dominate from early post positions. Dominate when you don't have to worry about a partner. Dominate early games. In the last of these, Erik seems to have an advantage, but we must factor in the strength of each early game roster.

We can only compare them to their competition. It's hard to imagine two more dominating weeks. But then 3 weeks ago it was hard for me to imagine one.

Oh, and one more thing. You cannot watch Aritz play without pay per view. But Erik is another story. You can see him 8 performances, between 30 and 40 games a week at Dania. You can link to free (live only) performances at Dania Jai Alai from the Dania Weekly Leaders page (live streaming and schedule--times are US Eastern Time) on the right side of this blog (under recurring results), where you can also follow week by week roster statistics. Tiger's Chalk Talk Forum (see above) also links to the live streaming, and contains a wealth of statistical information, as well as a lively forum of Jai Alai fans who know much about the history, strategy, and tactics of the Quinela game.

Remonte--September 2016 Rankings

The September 2016 monthly rankings for the Oriamendi2010 roster were released at the beginning of October.

Oriamendi2010 Roster

Full September Rankings with ranking explanation

Historical monthly rankings back to July 2011

Leaders were

Group A: Uterga: 36.83
Group B: Martirena: 38.00

Maximum ranking is 40.

Last month's story was the fabulously successful return of Ezkurra from injury. This month's story is the return to form of Uterga. For the month he was 5-1 at the Galarreta, including 4 consecutive "Star" match victories. For the story of those victories see the "Galarreta 'Star' match results" under the recurring results pages on the right side of the blog. In those results I also began to make a monthly account of individual player match win and loss records. This will hopefully complement the Oriamendi2010 rankings and be of interest.

Remonte (Galarreta matches only) monthly tables (wins-losses) (d-Delantro--Front z-Zaguero--Back *-d+z)--record will be kept by position). Tables will be kept by winning percentage. Point differential will be the tie breaker.

September, 2016

Group A

Urriza(d)...................3-0.........110-83 (1-0 Tourneo Kuxtabank)
Endika*(d)................1-0...........40-10
Uterga(d).................5-1..........268-185
Matxin III (d)............1-3..........121-136
Ezkurra*(d)..............1-3..........122-159


Ezkurra*(z)................1-0..........40-28
Ion(z).........................4-3..........244-220..(0-1 TK)
Etxeberria III(z).........2-5..........232-264
Barrenetxea IV(z)......1-3..........111-123..(1-1 TK)
Endika*(z)..................0-2.............65-80

Group B

Goikoetxea V(d)........5-1..........181-154
Ansa II(d)..................4-2...........211-190
Otaegi(d)...................3-3...........195-180
Ezkurra II(d)..............4-5..........281-310
Barricart(d)................2-3..........128-141
Benat(d).....................2-4..........177-188
Segurola(d)................2-5..........229-246
Eburu(d)....................1-3..........104-135

Martirena(z)..............5-1..........195-133
Larranaga(z).............5-2..........242-241
Azpiroz(z).................4-2..........189-173
Zubiri(z)....................4-2..........217-208
Garces(z)..................2-2...........117-113
Labaka(z)..................3-3..........164-191
Otano(z)....................2-5..........189-198
Zaldua(z)..................2-5...........195-219
Aizpuru III.................0-1...........17-35

Mano--Final Summary of Summer Tournaments

Below you will find a summary of the winners of the major 2016 Mano summer tournaments in the South Basque Country. (Sources: Asegarce, 21iguales.com (roll mouse over "Campionatos), and  Euskadiko Pilota Federakundea (Federación Vasca de Pelota). Selected other tournaments are also included. Links to full match videos of final matches (when available) are provided for your convenience. ** next to the match means part or all of the competition was covered in this blog. Search by title of competition or title of the final, or click on the label "Mano" on the right side of the blog page to find relevant blog posts, which may contain other full match videos and articles. Source for all match video, unless otherwise specifically stated, is EITB.

Asegarce/ASPE

Highlights of the Summer Tournaments: Altuna--King of the Summer (Source: EITB)

**Tourneo San Fermin Lau eta Erdiko (Quatro y Medio--4 1/2)--Urrutikoetxea (Iruna (Pamplona)) (Match begins at 57:28 on the video)

**San Fermin--Oliazola II-Albisu (Iruna (Pamplona)) (Source: Fronton.tv). Scroll to 14/07/2016. It is on P. 2 of the videos at the moment. Pages will change, always scroll to the date, title of tournament, and players.

**Torneo Bizkaia de Parejas Dentro del Cinqo Y Medio--Altuna III-Barriola (Bilbo (Bilbao)) (Match begins at 1:08:14 on the video)

**Virgen Blanca--Altuna III-Zabaleta (Vitoria-Gasteiz) (Match begins at 55:43 on the video)

**Villa de Ezcaray--Berasaluze II-Rezusta (Source: 21igaules.com Youtube site). 15 selected points, including the winning point.

**Labastida Rioja Alavesa--Berasaluze II-Albisu (Match begins at 1:03:14 on the video)

**Villa de Zaurautz--Oliazola II-Untoria (Match begins at 1:03:17 on the video)

**Ciudad de Bilbao (Aste Nagusa)--Elezkano II-Zabaleta (Source: Fronton.tv) Scroll to 27/08/2016. It is still on P. 1 at this time. Soon it will drop to P. 2.  Pages will change, always scroll to the date, title of tournament, and players.

**Torneo San Sebastian--Altuna III-Zabaleta (Match begins at 46:58 on the video)

**Sanantolines de Lekeitio--Altuna III-Rezusta (Match begins at 1:00:06 on the video)

**Torneo Parejas San Mateo 2016 Lep. M--Ezkurdia-Rezusta (Match begins at 47:42 on the video)

**Torneo San Saturio-Ciudad de Soria Altuna III-Untoria (Match begins at 1:05:05 on the video) (added Oct 4, 2016)

EEPF:

Euskadiko Elite Txapelketako (Zumarraga) Elezkano-Erasun

**Basque Country City Championships (Herriarteko Txapelketa)  (Zarautz): Azpetia v Doneztebe (Cadete: Azpetia; Juvenil: Doneztebe; Senior: Doneztebe (Cadet match is 1st: 47 minutes; Juvenil 2nd: 33 minutes; Senior 3rd: 60 minutes)

Other tournaments:

LEP-ETB Torneoa (Iruna (Pamplona)) Bakaikoa-Erasun

Zornotzako Masters (Amorevieta) Lau eta Erdiko (Quatro y Medio--4 1/2) Zubizarreta (red), Larranaga (blue) (1st match: 0:00-38:44; 2nd match 43:15-1:38:30).

**Antiguoako Pilota Txapleketa finals (Donastia (San Sebastian) Labaka  (red), Zubizarreta-Salaverry (red), Santxo-Aldusin (red)  (Matches: 0:00-30:04; 32:01-1:22:14; 1:26:10-2:20:37)