now for every ladder game I will have to plan for all 11 possible combinations first before I commit my picks ;)

I recomend u just stay focused in
123
124
125
134
135
234
235
u wont find a perfect strategy for all picks
and u cant forget safe bonus, big bonus, choke point, etc...

Unreality, http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread?ThreadID=5289 is a good thread to look at for possible pick combinations. I believe it also has 4 pick 1v1 games, among others.

For JSA's Game 2 pick

Would it be terrible if he ends up with
1. Antarctica
3. Caucasus
5. West China
and enemy got South America, East China and then CA/West-Africa ?

Not necessarily Unreality. He would have a lot of good expansion room up north. JSA would be in bad shape early on but if he can turn it into a long game, he'll win. Not to mention, that is highly unlikely since most players won't leave Russia that wide open.