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.
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.
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.
Ron Casanzio, room owner Andrea Duvall and Lukas Fracasso-Verner
Lukas Fracasso-Verner cruised through a field of fifty five other players to earn his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour title at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, New York on April 2nd and 3rd.
The story of the season has been the dominating play of Bucky Souvanthong, but Fracasso-Verner made an early statement on Saturday at this event, as he sent Souvanthong to the one loss side with a convincing 9-2 beating. Fracasso-Verner then went on to end his Saturday with an even more convincing 9-1 win over Marko Clarke.
Aside from Souvanthong, the second most dominating player on tour this season has been Ron Casanzio. Fracasso-Verner drew Casanzio in their first match on Sunday and didn’t miss a beat with a 9-6 win to remain undefeated. All that stood between Fracasso-Verner and the hot-seat was Nate Marshall, and that match didn’t last long, with Fracasso-Verner scoring a 9-4 win.
On the one loss side, Souvanthong and Casanzio ran into each other on Sunday and it was Casanzio coming away with the win this time, by a 7-5 scoreline. A 7-4 win over Aaron Greenwood was followed up with a 7-0 drubbing of Marshall to earn Casanzio another shot at Fracasso-Verner in the finals.
The double elimination final only went one set with Fracasso-Verner scoring a come-from-behind hill-hill win over Casanzio for what will undoubtedly be the first of many Joss NE 9-Ball Tour titles for the up and coming champion.
Sunday’s second chance tournament was guaranteed a first time winner before the finals even got underway with local favorites Peter Servello and Brandon Fletcher both turning their first Joss Tour appearance into a match against each other in the finals. Servello had already beaten Fletcher once in the final four 3-2, and he won again with a 3-1 score in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will be back in action this weekend with another $1500 added main event and $500 added second chance tournament at Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
Bucky Souvanthong, Diamond Billiards owner Fran Imburgia and Ron Casanzio
In the first three Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stops of the young season, Bucky Souvanthong has played in the finals of all three, and won one. He kept that record intact over the weekend at stop four at Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester, NY.
Souvanthong had Saturday wins over Joe Wysocki, Marco Kam and Rohit Aggarwal to qualify as one of the finale four undefeated players. He came back on Sunday to face Dan Sharlow on one side of the winner’s bracket, while Ron Casanzio took on Nick Coppola on the other. Souvanthong and Casanzio both scored 9-3 wins to earn themselves each a spot in the hot-seat match. Casanzio then went on to take the hot-seat, sending Souvanthong to the one loss side, by the score of 9-7.
Souvanthong found Nate Marshall waiting on the left side of the board. Marshall had dropped a hill-hill decision to Sharlow in the first round on Saturday, but then went on to win seven straight on the one loss side. Any hopes of extending that streak to eight was quickly extinguished by Souvanthong in a 7-2 semi-final match.
The Souvanthong / Casanzio final match was not only a rematch of the hot-seat match, but also a rematch of the finals from stop one at East Ridge Billiards back on October 3rd. In that event, Casanzio double dipped Souvanthong and Bucky would get his revenge this time, by double dipping Casanzio 9-8 and 7-2 for his second tour stop win of the season.
In Sunday’s second chance tournament, it was George Lashoff coming back from the one loss side to double dip the hot-seat occupant in the finals. That hot-seat winner was Joe Wysocki, who had sent Lashoff to the one loss side in the quarter finals. Wysocki went on to defeat Marco Kam for the hot-seat 3-2, while Lashoff had wins over Fran Imburgia, Mike Renshaw and Kam on the left side. Lashoff won the first set of the finals 3-0 and the second set by a score of 3-2. The win was Lashoff’s first win (and first cash) on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at American Pool and Billiards in Portland, Maine this weekend for another $1500/$500 added event.
