The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off the second half of it’s 2022/2023 season with a field of 51 players competing at the Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXIV at Sharpshooters Billiards and Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY on February 18th – 19th.
The field included four of the top five players on the tour’s points list, with only 4th place Nate Marshall missing. Even with that firepower in the event, it was Canada’s Nick Charette who advanced through the field undefeated to score his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour title.
Charette made it clear that he meant business this weekend with his first three match wins (Brian Namulik, Aro Majumder and Ed Culhane) coming with a combined score of 27-3. He was tested in his next two, but still scored comfortable wins over Jordan Turner and #3 on the points list, Bucky Souvanthong.
Charette really made a statement on Sunday with a 9-0 whitewash over Dan Sharlow for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, Ron Casanzio was showing everyone why he is the #1 player on the points list this season. After dropping a hill-hill match against Geoff Montgomery on Saturday, Casanzio strung together nine straight wins on the left side of the board to earn his shot at Charette in the finals.
While on paper, most would have considered Casanzio a big favorite, simply based on his experience in Joss Tour finals, Charette was not to be denied as the cruised to a 9-6 win in the first and only set of the finals.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Rohit Aggarwal hold off a charge from Joe Wysocki to win the second set of the finals 3-1 for first place. Wysocki lost to Mike Renshaw in the final four on the winners side, but won four straight, including a 3-2 decision against Aggarwal in the first set of the finals. It wasn’t enough though, with Aggarwal following up his hot-seat win over Renshaw with a second set in against Wysocki and first place.
Day one is complete at the Joss NE 9-Ball’s Turning Stone Classic XXXVI, and day one didn’t have much as far as major upsets. What it did have though, was a day of top 9-ball talent.
One match that saw a fan favorite sent to the one loss side was the 9-5 loss that Brandon Shuff suffered at the hands of Vitaliy Patsura, from the Ukraine. Shuff is back at it early on Friday with his one-loss side match against Randy Laborite. Patsura will face Ray McNamara in the noon round of play.
Oi and Tkach will face off on the main streaming table at noon EST, which is being streamed for free on Upstate Al’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/UpStateAL. Fans can follow all of the action online with our online brackets and real time scoring pages.
Jonas Souto, Lukas Fracasso-Verner and Jared Demalia
Lukas Fracasso-Verner’s victory at the 34th Annual Ocean State 9-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour at Snooker’s in Providence, RI this past weekend (Nov. 12-13), put him over the top, making 2022 his best earnings year since his recorded earnings began seven years ago. Though he didn’t have to face the event’s defending champion and winner of the previous stop (#8) on the Joss Tour, Bucky Souvanthong, he did have to contend with Spain’s Jonas Souto, who was defeated by Souvanthong in a winners’ side quarterfinal and came back to challenge Fracasso-Verner in the finals. Souto was looking for his first reported (to us) win, anywhere, even though entering the tournament, he’d already earned (primarily in Europe) over three times the amount that Fracasso-Verner has earned in 2022. The $5,000-added event ($500 to a Second Chance Tournament) drew a full field of 128 entrants to Snooker’s.
Fracasso-Verner’s seven-match trip to the winners’ circle got him by Ashley Benoit, Derek Cunningham, Ray McNamara (double hill), Barry Hetherington and Mhet Vergara, before coming up against Bob Forchilli in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Jared Demalia, in the meantime, defeated Mike Zhu, Mike Crema, Chad Bazinet, Moritz Neuhausen and Matt Jarrell to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal versus defending champ, Souvanthong, who had just sent the eventual runner-up, Souto, to the loss side 7-4.
Fracasso-Verner gave up just one rack to Forchilli in advancing to the hot seat match. Demalia gave up four to Souvanthong and joined him. In the first of two straight double hill matches that he faced to claim the title, Fracasso-Verner first claimed the hot seat over Demalia.
On the loss side, Souvanthong ran into Germany’s Neuhausen, who, earlier in the month, had finished 9th in both the American 14:1 Straight Pool Championships and the following week’s International Open, before packing his bags and heading north to New England. Neuhausen had followed his loss to Demalia with victories over four opponents by an aggregate score of 20-4; Beau Powers (5-2), Frank Hernandez (1), Mhet Vergara (1) and Suad Kantarevic (1).
Jonas Souto had followed his loss to Souvanthong with victories over Jaydev Zaveri (1) and Tom Zippler (2) to pick up Forchilli. He downed Forchilli 5-1 to draw Neuhausen, who’d battled Souvanthong to double hill before spoiling the potential Souto/Souvanthong rematch. .
There was a bit of an exclamation point to the two matches that eventually put Souto into the finals against Fracasso-Verner. He arrived at the final match having not given up a single rack to either of his previous two opponents, shutting out Neuhausen in the quarterfinals and Jared Demalia in the semifinals.
He battled to double hill in the finals but Fracasso-Verner dropped the last 9-ball and claimed the event title, his second of the Joss NE Tour’s 2022 season.
Tour director Mike Zuglan thanked Regina and Steve Goulding, along with their Snooker’s staff for their hospitality, ongoing support of the tour and the live stream that was provided for this event. He also noted the continuing support of title sponsor Joss Cues, Turning Stone Resort Casino, Simonis Cloth, Poolonthenet.com, AZBilliards, Aramith, Billiards Press, and World Class Cue Care.
The 34th Annual Ocean State 9-Ball Championships were the last 2022 event of the ‘22/’23 season. The next stop on the tour, scheduled for the weekend of January 5-8, 2023 will be Turning Stone Classic XXXVI, as always, hosted by the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY. The field for this event is full, but Mike Zuglan is taking names on the waiting list, for players interested in competing in this Matchroom Pool Nineball Ranking event. Zuglan can be reached at 518-356-7163.
Nate Marshall, Diamond Billiards Owner Fran Imburgia and Bucky Souvanthong
Bucky Souvanthong returned to the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s winners circle with an undefeated run through a field of thirty five players at Diamond Billiards in Rochester, New York on November 5th – 6th.
Souvanthong’s path on Saturday included wins Frank Wolak, Nabil Lazouzi and Sean Zeng. Souvanthong had three matches again on Sunday, with two of them against Nate Marshall. The first match against Marshall was a 9-6 win for the hot-seat, and after Marshall eliminated Ron Casanzio in the semi-final match 7-4, the second match against Marshall was a 9-5 win in the final match.
In the second chance tournament on Sunday, Rohit Aggarwal won two out of three matches against Tito Ortiz, once in the hot-seat match and two more times in the finals where they split two 3-1 matches.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Snookers in Providence, RI for the 34th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship.
Congratulations to Stop # 8 winners, Bucky Souvanthong ($1,000 main event), Rohit Aggarwal ($300 second chance) & $1,900 Joss Cue raffle winner Krystal Sauer
Stop # 9 of my Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s 26th season will be at the beautiful Snookers Sports Billiards Bar & Grill in Providence RI on November 12 & 13 for the very prestigious, $4,500/$500 Added, 34th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship. This will once again be the first of three events this season at Snookers and our most generous hosts Regina & Steve Goulding deserve a multitude of thanks for all they do for pool in the Northeast! In case you didn’t already know, Snookers was TWICE voted “The Best Billiard Parlor In The USA”. Snookers also is one of the best restaurants in the Providence area, always with an air of fun in the atmosphere. These people really know their business! There will be a free live stream at www.snookersri.com
As always, for the Ocean State 9-Ball Championships, beautiful trophies will be awarded to the top 2 finishers and the winner’s name will be placed on a banner and hung forever at Snookers. Whether you come to play, or just watch, you will have the opportunity to win a gorgeous, custom, engraved, Joss Cue valued at $1,900, by participating in the Snookers cue raffle. Anyone can participate and you Do Not have to be present to win! The drawing will be just prior to the final match on Sunday Nov. 6. So come on down and play and win, watch some great pool action for free, have some great food and drink, and take a chance at winning a $1,900 Joss Cue. A great time will be had by all!!
This event will be $4,500 Added to the main event with an entry fee of $125 (plus any applicable tour fees) for All players. There will also be a $500 second chance event ($20 entry fee) on Sunday for those non pro level players eliminated from the main event on Saturday. Please remember that our main event format is races to 9 on the winners side and races to 7 on the one loss side.
If you are coming to play, please arrive on Saturday Nov. 12, BEFORE 11:00 AM, and in proper dress please. Yes, jeans and sneakers are permitted in our billiard parlor events. But please, NO T-SHIRTS, NO TANKS, NO SHORTS OR SWEATS. Complete tour info including our schedule, results, current point standings and other pertinent tour info can be found on our site www.joss9balltour.com
If you are in need of a motel, Snookers has arranged a special rate of $149+tax at the Providence Marriott Downtown (just across the street). Please mention this event to get this rate. 401-272-2400
WoodSpring Suites is also nearby. call for rates at 401-519-9691
Our next event after Snookers will be our $25,000 Added Turning Stone Classic XXXVI 9-Ball Open on January 5-8, 2023 which is full at 128 paid players. If you would like to be added to our waiting list, please contact me at 518-356-7163. This promises to be yet another great event with some of the games best players competing for the title. Spectator admission is always free at Turning Stone which is arguably one of the best arenas in the world for an event such as ours. Don’t miss it! FYI, the tentative date for our next Turning Stone event is . I will let you all know when it is official but will not take any entries until the January 2023 event and not before.
Please remember to spread the word to frequent your local billiard parlors and utilize the world class products of our most generous sponsors. They are the backbone of our sport and deserve our support now more than ever!!
Four events into last season on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour, Bucky Souvanthong had played in all four final matches and won half of the stops. This season is a different story though, as the tour crowned a fourth different champion at Sharpshooters Billiards & Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY on October 8th – 9th.
Souvanthong did go through Saturday without a loss, joining Ron Casanzio, Qais Kolee and Nate Marshall on the winners side on Sunday morning. Souvanthong sent Casanzio to the left side of the board 9-6 on Sunday morning, while Kolee did the same to Marshall 9-4. The hot-seat match went to Souvanthong 9-6 and it looked like he might notch his first tour stop of the season.
Nate Marshall was waiting for Kolee on the one loss side after wins over Barry Hetherington (who had been riding a four match winning streak) and Casanzio, but Kolee made quick work of him 7-2 to book the rematch with Souvanthong in the finals.
The final match was not just a rematch from the hot-seat match, but it was also a rematch from the final match of the Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXII at Sharpshooters back in February of 2020, when Kolee beat Souvanthong in the first set of the finals 9-4 for his first Joss Tour win. The first set of the finals this time was also a 9-4 scoreline with Kolee winning again. That left one race to seven to determine the winner, and it was Kolee with a hill-hill win for his second tour stop win and first of the new 2022/2023 season.
Sundays second chance event saw Tom Acciavatti get off to a slow start with a 3-0 loss to Aaron Greenwood in the first round, but Acciavatti quickly got things under control and rattled off eight straight wins, including back to back wins over Mark Creamer in the finals, for the tournament win.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY this weekend for another $1500/$500 added event.
The hot-seat match is an interesting contest, when you consider that Immonen won the first ever Turning Stone Classic 22 years ago, while Shaw won the last Turning Stone Classic back in January. Shaw will be trying to extend his record to eight Turning Stone Classic career titles, while Immonen is looking for his third.
Mills dropped a match to Shaw on the winner’s side Sunday morning, but outlasted Jesse Engel on the one loss side to keep his tournament hopes alive. Souvanthong lost a one sided 9-1 match to Immonen on Saturday, but has won three matches so far on the left side of the board.
Fans who can’t make it to Turning Stone can watch selected matches online as part of Upstate Al’s Free streaming coverage, and can watch online brackets and live scoring courtesy of AzBilliards and Digital Pool.
Saturday play at the Turning Stone Classic XXXV is underway and the field has been cut in half from 128 players down to just 64 remaining players. Saturday play will cut that field down to just eight players.
Fans who can’t make it to Turning Stone can watch selected matches online as part of Upstate Al’s Free streaming coverage, and can watch online brackets and live scoring courtesy of AzBilliards and Digital Pool.
Fan’s who can’t make it to Turning Stone can watch selected matches online as part of Upstate Al’s Free streaming coverage, and can watch online brackets and live scoring courtesy of AzBilliards and Digital Pool.
