Naoyuki Oi is earning a new set of fans here at Turning Stone, with his dominant play. Oi won his first two matches, over Ray Carey and Kristina Tkach, by a combined score of 18-0. Oi looked well on his way to keeping that record alive in this third match of the event, as he led John Morra 5-0 early in their match. Morra finally took advantage of an Oi miss and got back into the match, to eventually tie things at hill-hill before Oi pocketed the case ball for the 9-8 win. Oi will face the Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura at 2pm EST today.
Johnny Archer ended his Friday play with a convincing 9-6 win over Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski to remain undefeated. Archer’s first action on Saturday will be a match with fellow American Skyler Woodward.
The record for career Turning Stone Classic titles is now eight, and Jayson Shaw made number eight look easy.
Shaw cruised through the first three days of play with notable wins over Earl Strickland and Danny Hewitt on his way to Sunday play, still on the winners side. Shaw kicked off Sunday with a 9-3 win over regional player Jimmy Rivera, followed up with a 9-1 shellacking of Mika Immonen for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, Donny Mills avenged his earlier loss to Immonen and eliminated the Finnish World Champion in 3rd place with a 9-6 scoreline in the semi-finals.
The extended race to 13 final match between Shaw and Mills saw Mills take an early 1-0 lead, but it would not last long as Shaw won six straight racks to take a lead that he would not give up for the rest of the match. Mills fought back to a 6-4 scoreline, but Shaw then took control and won seven of the next eight racks for a 13-5 win and his eighth career Turning Stone Classic title.
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.
David Deschenes (TD), Danny Hewitt and Yan Ialande (TD)
Like everybody else, Canada’s Danny Hewitt’s been on a bit of a hiatus from the pool tables. Last ‘seen’ on the roster of Turning Stone XXXIII back in January, when he finished in the eight-way tie for 17th place, Hewitt returned to the tables on Sunday, September 20 at the debut stop on the 2020 Predator Quebec Pro Am Tour. Hewitt went undefeated through a field of 16 entrants at the $1,300-added event which was hosted by Billard-Lounge L’Abasie in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada. The field of 16 was populated by eight of the top-ranked Canadian players, combined with four players each from two qualifying tournaments held the day before at separate locations.
Hewitt opened his undefeated campaign with a 7-1 victory over Rene Brind’Amour and followed it with a 7-5 win over Vincent Beaurivage. This set Hewitt up in a winners’ side semifinal match against Martin Daigle. In the meantime, Sylvain Gringas got by Harold Rousseau 7-2 and Tommy Cayer, double hill, to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal match against Tom Théiault.
Hewitt sent Daigle to the loss side 7-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Gingras, who’d defeated Thériault 7-5. Hewitt and Gingras battled to double hill before Hewitt prevailed to wait in the hot seat for what turned out to be the return of Francis Crevier.
Crevier, who’d won his opening match 7-5 over Jonathan Gavreau, was sent to the loss side by Thériault in a winners’ side quarterfinal. On the loss side, he downed Brind’Amour and Cayer, both 7-4 to draw Daigle. Thériault picked up Alain Martel, who’d lost his opening match to Cayer and was in the midst of a three-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to come to an end. He’d recently eliminated Sebastien Laramée 7-3 and Beaurivage 7-5.
Thériault and Crevier earned their rematch. Thériault survived a double hill match versus Martel. Crevier came within a game of double hill against Daigle, but prevailed 7-5. Crevier had a successful rematch against Thériault, eliminating him 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Crevier completed his five-match, loss-side winning streak with a 7-4 victory over Gingras in the semifinals. Hewitt, though, apparently unaffected by his wait in the hot seat, completed his five-match, winners’ side streak with a 7-5 win over Crevier that earned him the debut event title.
Tour owners and directors David Blanchett, David Deschenes and Yan Ialande thanked the ownership and staff at Billard-Lounge L’Abasie for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Arcos II Billiard Balls and Poison Cues. Stop #2 on the 2020 Predator Quebec Pro Am Tour, scheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 26, will be hosted by Dooly’s in St. Hyacinthe, about 33 miles east of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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.
Earl Strickland proved that he has more than enough firepower to compete with the top players in the game, with his 9-5 win over Shane Van Boening on the streaming table Saturday night at the Turning Stone Classic XXXII in Verona, NY.
The crowd was anticipating a battle, but they might not have been ready for the intensity and focus that Strickland brought to the match. Strickland took an early 5-0 lead, and the players exchanged multiple table runs, capitalizing on any opportunity that the other player allowed them. Strickland’s last obstacle before the hot-seat match will be Thorsten Hohmann, who has been (as he usually does) quietly winning matches. Hohmann already has wins over Billy Thorpe and Shaun Wilkie in this event, and a win over Strickland would leave him facing either Jayson Shaw or Brandon Shuff for the hot-seat.
Meanwhile, on the one loss side, Thorpe will face Frankie Hernandez. Hernandez has been away from the big stage for a while, but his stroke appears to still be the same. He lost a third round match to Shaw hill-hill, but has already won five straight matches on the left side of the board, including wins over Donnie Mills, Qais Kolee and Loree Jon Hasson. The other match on the one loss side will see Van Boening face Rafael Dabreo. Van Boening came back from his loss to Strickland with a 9-4 win over Len Gianfrate, but Dabreo has been having a great tournament with wins over Danny Hewitt and Wilkie to his credit.
Brackets are online and we will be covering this event with real time scoring all weekend long. For those who can’t make it to Turning Stone, Upstate Al will be providing a free live stream of feature matches for the entire event.
Jeremy Sossei, Trick Shot Billiards Owner Tim Berlin and Danny Hewitt
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s Kevin Ketz Memorial on March 9th and 10th at Trick Shot Billiards in Clifton Park, NY came down to Canadian Danny Hewitt and Jeremy Sossei, two players very familiar with what it takes to get to the Joss Tour winners circle.
Both players went through Saturday play undefeated and were joined on the winners side on Sunday by Bucky Souvanthong and Dave Grau. Hewitt sent Grau to the left side of the board 9-1, while Sossei had a much tougher time with Souvanthong, beating him 9-8. This led to the showdown for the hot-seat, where Hewitt won 9-4.
After wins over Mark Creamer and Greg Antonakos on the one loss side, Souvanthong was ready for the rematch with Sossei. This match didn’t go much better for Souvanthong though, losing 7-5 to leave him in third place.
Sossei came out on fire in the first set of the finals against Hewitt, and raced to a dominating 9-0 win to force a second set. Hewitt turned the tables in the second set of the finals though and quickly took a 5-0 lead. Sossei fought back and was able to tie the score at hill-hill, but that was when Hewitt put the tournament away with the 7-6 win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Tom Acciavatti go undefeated with wins over Spencer Auigbelle for the hot-seat and again in the first set of the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour now takes the weekend of March 16th – 17th off, but will be back in action at Union Station Billiards in Portland Maine for a rare handicapped Joss Tour stop.
