Jeremy Sossei, Sharpshooters Manager Kayla and Bucky Souvanthong
Jeremy Sossei didn’t compete in the October 5th / 6th Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Stop, but he was back in action the last two weekends where he earned his seventh straight title and then finally lost in a final match.
The tour stop at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard on October 12th & 13th saw Sossei run through the field undefeated, beating Ron Casanzio for the hot-seat 9-7 and then Brad Guthrie in the finals. Sossei had defeated Guthrie in the final four on the winner’s side Sunday 9-4 and then did so again 9-2 in the finals.
The next stop, October 19th & 20th at Sharpshooters Billiards and Sports Pub, was looking like yet another Sossei victory as he went through Saturday matches against Bob Nerkert, Chris Braiman and Bruce Carroll undefeated. Sunday was more of the same, with Sossei defeating Danny Hewitt 9-5 and then Qais Kolee for the hot-seat 9-4.
Bucky Souvanthong had dropped a late Saturday match to Kolee, but ran through the one loss side with a Saturday night win over Ben Werblow and then Sunday wins over Ron Casanzio, Hewitt and Kolee to earn his place against Sossei in the finals.
Souvanthong is the only man to have won a Joss Tour Stop this season, aside from Sossei, and he won that stop on the one weekend that Sossei was not in attendance. He proved that he was more than capable of a tour stop win, with or without Sossei in the field, as he double dipped Sossei 9-3 and 7-5 in the finals for first place.
The October 13th second chance tournament saw Fred Gokey drop the hot-seat match to Nick Coppola and then come back to defeat Coppola twice in the finals for first place. The October 20th second chance tournament saw Bruce Carroll with an undefeated run that included 3-1 wins over Norm Vernon for the hot-seat and again in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action this weekend at Brickhouse Billiards in Syracuse, NY for another $1,500 added main event and $500 added second chance event.
Friday matches at the Turning Stone Classic IX held their fair share of suspense as top players started squaring off against each other all around the room.
Thorsten Hohmann has been dominating opponents so far in this event. He has wins over three opponents including John Morra by a combined score of 27-4. Ralf Souquet will hope to end that run on Saturday as he faces Hohmann.
From July 6th-9th, The Corner Bank in Toronto celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday with a $5,000 added 8-Ball event. The event was dedicated to the late Vince MacIntyre who we lost in 2013. There is no doubt that Vince would have played in this event if he was still with us, he was a warrior on the bar tables.
The talented field of 68 players included some of Canada’s best bar box players including Louis Fazekas, John Morra, Andy Aupin, Adam Monture and Al Porter. Fans in attendance witnessed some excellent pool. On route to the finals, John Morra defeated Rob Hall, Jonathon Lessard, Brad Guthrie before facing the current Canadian 8-Ball Champion Adam Monture. Adam and John traded games right down to the wire before Morra clinched the last rack. John continued his journey with wins over Erik Hjorleifson and Jason Klatt to earn the hot seat.
Jason Klatt had wins over Bruce Hickey, Ben Crawley, Jeet Khandi, Tyler Styer and Andy Aupin before losing to John Morra in the A-Side finals. In the b-side finals, Jason Klatt eliminated the young gun from Wisconsin, Tyler Styer. I’m sure we will be seeing more of this sharpshooter as he has recently been spending some time here in Canada.
Klatt now faced John Morra again in the finals. This was a “true double knock-out” event with Jason needing to win two sets for the title. Klatt wasted no time jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Morra could get a game on the board at 5-1. John missed the 8-Ball in the next rack put Jason in front 6-1. Jason held it together to win the first set 8-2 and the players quickly lagged again to start the last set of the tournament.
Jason Klatt came out of the gate strong once again. This set was played at a slower pace as both players could now see the finish line. Morra stayed within reach eventually tying the score at 5-5. A foul on the 8-Ball in the 11th rack put Jason ahead 6-5. Jason broke dry in the next rack and Morra carefully cleared the stripes to tie the score at 6-6. Now it was Morra’s turn to break dry, Klatt took his time and ran the table to reach the hill 7-6. Jason followed it up in style with a break-and-run to win the event.
Bucky Souvanthong held off a late charge from Ron Casanzio to win the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester NY over the October 5th – 6th weekend.
Souvanthong’s Saturday consisted of three wins, 9-4 over Dan Sharlow and then back to back 9-3 wins over Sean Zeng and Dave Mills.
Joining Souvanthong on the winner’s side on Sunday were Lyn Wechsler, Casanzio and Sourith Thammavong. Casanzio made quick work of Wechsler 9-1, while Souvanthong had a slightly closer 9-4 win over Thammavong. That left Souvanthong and Casanzio to battle for the hot-seat, which Souvanthong took 9-6.
Thammavong had two tough 7-5 wins on the left side of the board (Brad Guthrie and Sharlow), but wasn’t ready for Casanzio as Casanzio ended Thammavong’s day in third place 7-2.
The first set of the double elimination finals went to Casanzio 9-7 in another close match, but Souvanthong took control of the second set and cruised to a 7-2 win for first place.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Mark Creamer come back from a first round loss to Marco Kam and win seven straight matches to take first. Creamer got his revenge over Kam 3-2 on the one loss side, and that match would contain the last rack he would lose in this event. He defeated Nick Coppola 3-0 and then proceeded to double dip Steve Winter 3-0 twice to take first place.
The next stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be this weekend (October 12th – 13th) at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY. Tour director Mike Zuglan is busy taking entries for January’s Turning Stone Classic XXIII and players are urged to contact him to get their entries fees paid asap.
