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.

Here is the complete order of finish for our Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour's, "Turning Stone Classic XXXV 9-Ball Open", which was held September 1-4, 2022. The event was $25,000 added with a total prize fund of $41,400. There was a full field of 128 players. All players were paid in cash immediately upon their elimination from the event!

1st $8,000 Jayson Shaw
2nd $5,000 Donny Mills
3rd $3,600 Mika Immonen
4th $2,600 Bucky Souvanthong
5/6th $2,000 each - Jesse Engel, Jimmy Rivera
7/8th $1,600 each - Earl Strickland, Aaron Greenwood
9/12th $1,200 each - Yesid Garibello, Dan Hewitt (Can), Alex Bausch, Jeremy Sossei
13/16th $850 each - Dave Dreidel, Jonathan Smith, Mike Yednak, Jesse Docalavich
17/24th $550 each - Frank Hernandez, Holden Chin, Shane Van Boening, Kevin West, Len Gianfrate, Sean Zeng, Mhet Vergara, Dave Shlemperis
25/32nd $300 each - James Conn, Kevin Clark, Garrett Vaughan, Trystan Speedwell, Redgie Cutler, Dan Normandin (Can), Michael Boulliane (Can), Patrick Helie (Can)

33/48th - Dave Fernandez, Demetrius Jelatis, Randy Labonte, Caroline Pao, Sylvain Deslauriers (Can), Mike Donnelly, John Moody, Tom Cayer (Can), Jaydev Zaveri,
Earl Herring, Doug Youmans, Qays Kolee, Kyle Akaloo (S.A), Josh Thiele, Ron Casanzio, Darren Clement (Can)

49/64th - Nelson Weimer, John Francisco, Jim Mcmanus, Greg Antonakos, Alvin Thomas, Brian Tierney, Jay Goyer (Can), Joe Smith, Jack Smith, Frank Wolak, Pat Fleming,
Jim Kearney, Jordan Turner, Matt Tetreault, Jim Udischas, Marco Kam

65/96th - Alan Gordon, Dave Mills, Shawn Jackson, Fred Gokey, Teddy Cook, Kyle Smith, Tito Ortiz, Grayson Vaughan, Lida Mullendore, Dawn Fox, Willie Oney,
Alain Gelinas (Can), Matt Krah, Ray McNamara, Tony Ignomirello, Jason Reese, Mike Toohig, Jerome Rockwell, Rob Hart, Hunter Lombardo, Chris Braiman
Nick Antonakos, Brian Vu, Bill Depaolo, Marc Dionne, Jim Prather, Brent Boemmels, Mike Shoemaker, Chris Pyle, Dan Sharlow, Bob Forchilli, Rick Bentley

97/128th - Paul Pensgen, Greg Bombard, Tony Antone, Andrea Duvall, Scott Carter, Joe Darigis, Joe Sinicropi, Jed Jecen, Ed Epperson, Ed Culhane, Gene Hunt,
Eric Cloutier (Can), Jamie Garrett, Chris Pringle, Sara Lancey, Steven W Smith, William Bombard, Nick Wenzel, Jay Chiu, Matt Thrasher, George Lashoff,
Don Reigel, Patrick Bergeron (Can), Larry Phlegar, Bruce Gordon, Ray Carey, Sean Santoro, Brad Guthrie (Can), Clyde Matta, Nick Coppola,
George Poltorak, Bob Cunningham

1st $500 Kyle Akaloo
2nd $300 Jim Kearney
3/4th $200 each George Lashoff, Tito Ortiz
5/8th $100 each Joe Darigis, Nick Coppola, Brad Guthrie, Gene Hunt

$1,900 Joss Cue raffle winner, Tim Morris
$1,900 Joss Cue raffle winner, Matt Sears

It was Jeremy Sossei’s third, and second straight, win in four attempts on the 2021-22 Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour this past weekend (May 14-15). It was Warren Kiamco’s first appearance on the tour this year, and with it being a long way from the man’s ‘first rodeo,’ he got as close to winning it as possible; facing Sossei three times, battling to double hill twice, but winning only the first set of the true double elimination final. The $1,500-added event drew 42 entrants to Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY.

Going into Stop #14, Bucky Souvanthong and Ron Casanzio were the tour’s top two points leaders (#1 & #2), way out in front of the field, based on the number of times they’ve competed in the 2021-22 season and on their finish positions each time they did so. They didn’t compete in Stop #14, which left a door open for Sossei, who obligingly walked in, won his second straight stop on the tour and promptly moved himself into third place in the tour-point standings. Kiamco was probably a ‘wild card’ that Sossei had not expected in the deck.

Sossei ran into some immediate trouble when he opened his run in a double hill battle against Ron Piontkowski. Once over that hurdle, he downed Chuck Allie 9-5 and shut out Chris Lazaravitch, before facing Mhet Vergara in a match that came within a game of double hill. He survived that to draw John Francisco in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Kiamco drew a bye in his opening round and went on to send Troy Deocharran (4), Alex Osipov (2) and Ray Lee (2) to the loss side, picking up Mike Renshaw in the other winners’ side semifinal.

Kiamco got into the hot seat match with a shutout over Renshaw, while Sossei sent Francisco to the loss side 9-4. In his first of three versus Kiamco and the first of two straight double hill matches, Sossei claimed the hot seat.

On the loss side, Francisco drew a rematch against Yesid Garibello, whom he’d sent to the loss side in a third-round, double hill fight. Garibello moved over to engage in a four-match winning streak that had recently eliminated Lazaravitch 7-2 and Caroline Pao, double hill. Renshaw drew Mhet Vergara, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Sossei with wins over Jay Plonski and Mike Salerno, both 7-4.

Garibello wreaked his vengeance on Francisco 7-5, while Vergara was eliminating Renshaw by the same score, and, as it turned out, by the same score that Vergara eliminated Garibello in the subsequent quarterfinals.

Vergara was one step away from a rematch against Sossei, who’d sent him to the loss side, five matches ago. Unfortunately, for him, it was Warren Kiamco who was in his way in the semifinals that followed. Kiamco was the one who earned the rematch, downing Vergara 7-4.

For the second time, Sossei and Kiamco locked themselves up in a double hill fight, in the opening set of the true double elimination final. This time, though, it was Kiamco who won. The ‘wild card’ was on the table and very much in play. Sossei, though, had his own hand to play and did so in the second set, defeating Kiamco 7-3 to claim title to the 14th stop on the 2021-22 Joss NE 9-Ball Tour.

A $500-added Second Chance tournament drew eight entrants and was won by Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill’s owner, Holden Chin. Chin shut out Sly Vachiro in the hot seat match and in the true double-elimination final, faced Mike Callaghan, who’d lost his opening match to Vachiro, won two straight double hill matches to begin his four-match trip back to the finals and then shut out Vachiro in their semifinal rematch. He then took the opening set of the true double elimination final, before Chin came back to shut him out in the second set.

The next stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of June 4-5, will be a $1,500-added event, hosted by Snookers Sports Billiards, Bar & Grill in Providence, RI. The season finale of the 2021-22 season – Turning Stone Classic XXXV 9-Ball Open – is scheduled for September 1-4 at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY.

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.

The biggest story this season on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour has been the dominant player of tour points leader Bucky Souvanthong. While he was not in attendance at the 12th New England Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame Open on March 5th – 6th at Snookers in Providence Rhode Island, even Souvanthong might have had a hard time keeping up with eventual event winner Jayson Shaw.

Shaw, the owner of the nearby pool room US1 Billiards, made the two hour trek to Providence and turned in an undefeated run through the field of 81 players. Shaw explained that taking care of his room had kept him from devoting the time to the game that he wanted to over the past couple of years, but with the assistance of his wife Ara, he now had the room under control and was ready to get back to his past form. He must have been pretty close to that past form, as he had wins over Scott Tavernier, Mhet Vergara, Frank Wolak and Kevin West on Saturday. Tavernier and West both got four racks against Shaw, and that was the most he allowed all day.

Shaw’s Sunday started off with two more dominant wins, a 9-2 match against Greg “Smart Money” Winbush and then another 9-2 win over Phil Davis for the hot-seat. Just prior to the loss against Shaw, Davis sent last year’s Ocean State 9-Ball Champion Raphael DaBreo to the one loss side and DaBreo got his revenge in the semi-final match, eliminating Davis 7-3.

The final match only took one set, with Shaw scoring a 9-7 win for first place and his first Joss Tour win since January’s Turning Stone Classic.

Shaw, who says he likes nothing better than getting together with some fellow Europeans for a team event at the end of each year, earned $1550 for first place and hopes this won’t be his last big win of the year. Shaw isn’t limiting his options to just 9-ball events either. Lately, he says he has picked up the game of straight pool and actually had his lifetime best run just a few weeks ago. If what the fans saw in Providence is any indication, we will definitely be seeing Shaw’s name in the winners circle again soon.

Sunday’s second chance event saw Robert Lee take the hot-seat with a 3-1 win over Jamie Gauthier, but it was RJ Carmona coming from the one loss side scored 3-1 and 3-0 wins over Lee in the finals for first place.

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour returned from its mid-season “Turning Stone” break over the weekend of February 5th – 6th and things looked pretty similar at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY as they did before the break. Once again, it was tour points leader Bucky Souvanthong turning in an undefeated performance to add another tour stop win to his impressive resume.

Souvanthong has a perfect record in the five Joss Tour Stops he has played in this season, competing in the finals of all five. This week, it was Jamie Garrett stepping up from the field of 41 players to try to stop Souvanthong. Garrett had Saturday wins over Jed Jecen, Dave Copperwheat, and Tyler Arnold. He came back on Sunday and won a tough 9-7 match with Damon Sobers to get to the hot-seat match.

Souvanthong had wins over Bob Merkert, Maury Cotter, Sam Marranca, and Jason Reese on Saturday, and then kicked off Sunday with a 9-3 win over Len Gianfrate. The hot-seat match was a well disputed one, with Souvanthong coming out on top 9-7.

Garrett wasn’t going to go down without a fight on this weekend, as he eliminated Gianfrate 7-6 to earn another shot at Souvanthong in the finals.

While Bucky was the story going into the finals, Garrett has had a great season on the tour himself. With two fourth-place finishes on tour already, combined with a seventh-place finish back in October, Garrett knew he already had his best career finish in the bag. That would have to be enough for him this time, as Souvanthong won the first set of the finals 9-4 for his third tour win this season.

Sunday’s Second Chance tournament saw Aaron Greenwood with an undefeated win of his own. Greenwood had a hill-hill scare against Mike Armstrong in his first match of the day but followed that win up with another four match wins by a combined score of 12-2. The hot-seat match was a 3-0 win over Glen Van Court and the finals were a 3-1 win over Bill Goodman for first place.

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will take this weekend off, but will be back in action on February 19th – 20th for the Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXIII at Sharpshooters Billiards & Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY.

To say that Bucky Souvanthong has dominated the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour this year would be an understatement. Souvanthong has two tour stop wins for the season, and two second place finishes. He has competed in the four out of five tour stops on the 2021/2022 season so far, and competed in the finals of all four. Over the weekend of November 20th – 21st, Souvanthong added to his list of Joss Tour titles as he earned his name in the rafters of Snooker’s Sports Billiards, Bar & Grill in Providence, RI at the 33rd Ocean State 9-Ball Championship.

Souvanthong kicked off his run through the field of 91 players with a first round bye and then a 9-5 win over Todd Ottilige. A 9-3 win over Dominick Souza was then followed up with a 9-8 match with Ray McNamara for Souvanthong to earn his place in Sunday’s matches.

With a field this large, it was eight players that came back on the winners side on Sunday. Souvanthong started the day with a 9-5 win over Frankie Hernandez, Kerry McAuliffe won a one sided match over Trystan Speedwell 9-3, Bob Madenjian and Samoth Sam both won hill-hill matches over Alex Bausch and Paul Dryden respectively.

The final four on the winners side saw Madenjian over Sam and Souvanthong over McAuliffe by the same 9-4 score. The hot-seat match was another 9-4 affair, with Souvanthong over Madenjian.

On the left side of the board, Bausch put together three straight match wins as he eliminated McNamara, Derrick Burnham and McAuliffe. In his next match, Bausch ran into Hernandez, who had a three match winning streak of his own. One of these players had to go home, and it was Bausch as Hernandez won the match 7-3. Hernandez then stretched his winning streak to five with a win over Madenjian in the semi-final match.

The five match winning streak of Hernandez’s was of no use in the finals, as Souvanthong ran away with a 9-3 victory in the first set. It was Souvanthong’s third win on the Joss tour in just two months.

The second chance tournament on Sunday was a contrast from the main event as Francisco Cabral dropped an early match to Ben Savoie and then built a seven match winning streak that included back to back wins over Pete Genovese in the finals to win the event.

The next stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour is the Turning Stone Classic XXXIV at the Turning Stone Casino on January 6th – 9th, 2022.

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour was back in action over the Halloween weekend. This time, Mike Zuglan had the tour at American Pool & Billiards in Portland Maine, with a field of 32 players, including the 2018 and 2019 winner at this room, Kyle Pepin. Pepin was shooting for a three-peat and looked to be well on his way to that achievement. Tour regular Joe Darigis had other plans though.

Darigis and Pepin both made it through Saturday’s matches unscathed. Darigis had Saturday wins over Derrick Burnham, Bob Dennis and Nick Brucato, while Pepin beat Mike Giurleo, Jim Hayden and Cody Porter to qualify for Sunday play. Joining them on the winner’s side on Sunday were Ben Savoie and Dave Hall.

Hall made quick work of Darigis on Sunday morning 9-3, while Pepin kept his streak going and defeated Savoie 9-5. Pepin then went on to take the hot-seat in a 9-7 battle with Hall.

Darigis took the trip to the one loss side and found Giurleo waiting. Giurleo had just eliminated Joe’s Dad, Bob Darigis, and was looking for a clean sweep for this event. Darigis avenged his Dad’s loss though, with a 7-5 scoreline. Darigis then sent Ben Savoie to the seats with another 7-5 win and then defeated Hall in the semi-final match 7-2.

Darigis came into the finals against Pepin with the unenviable task of trying to defeat Pepin twice. Pepin’s last Joss Tour match loss at American Pool & Billiards was in the finals back in 2018, and he came back to win that match in the second set. The first set of the finals, this time, went to Darigis hill-hill. The second set was just a little less stressful as Darigis completed the double dip with a 7-5 win.

Sunday’s second chance tournament did see a repeat, as Jim Hayden defended his win from the 2019 second chance tournament with an undefeated win. Hayden had wins over Gary Bryant, Larry Haskell, Steve Sutton and then Nick Brucato to take the hot-seat. The win over Brucato was a hill-hill match and Hayden repeated that scoreline with another hill-hill win over Brucato in the finals.

Last week’s stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour (see report here) saw Francisco “Frankie” Diaz drop his first match of the event to Mike Donnelly. After that 9-6 loss, Diaz put away his cue and left, forfeiting his match on the one loss side. Apparently, one of the keys to winning a tour stop is winning that first match. That seemed to be the lesson this week when the tour visited Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY.

Diaz won his first match this week (9-2 over Jason Hall), and that win helped springboard him to success. Diaz finished up Saturday play with a 9-3 win over Aaron Greenwood and an impressive 9-2 win over Qais Kolee.

Diaz came back on Sunday and proved that Saturday play was no fluke, starting the day off with a 9-1 win over Tim Davis to get to the hot-seat match. It was that match that gave Diaz his biggest challenge of the event, going hill-hill before beating Dan Sharlow.

On the one loss side, last week’s winner Bucky Souvanthong was making up for an early Saturday loss to Mike Rash. Souvanthong won three straight matches on the left side (Jason Reese, Seth Delvillano and Kolee) to qualify for Sunday play.

Souvanthong started Sunday play with a tester, as he went hill-hill with Len Gianfrate before dispatching Hendrik Drost (7-2), Jamie Garrett (7-2) and then Sharlow (7-4) to qualify for his third straight appearance in the finals of a Joss Tour stop.

The finals went one set with Diaz scoring a 9-6 win to remain undefeated and capture his first title on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour.

Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Redgie Cutler on a tear. Cutler took the hot-seat with five match wins by a combined record of 15-3, beating Joe Wysocki 3-1 in the hot-seat match. One of Cutler’s wins on his way to the hot-seat was a 3-0 match over Aaron Greenwood, and it was Greenwood coming from the one loss side to challenge Cutler in the finals. Greenwood would take Cutler to hill-hill but would not be able to stop him, losing in the first set of the finals 3-2 for the Cutler win.

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be in action again this weekend with a $1500 added main event and $500 added second chance tournament at Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester, NY.

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off their 2021/2022 schedule with another $2000 added weekend at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester, NY where Ron Casanzio proved again why he is a danger to win any Joss Tour stop that he plays in.

After a first round bye, Casanzio found himself on the wrong side of a 9-7 match against Luis Recio. That left him facing a long uphill battle, and he took that battle on. Casanzio started his westward quest through the brackets with another close one, a hill-hill win over Rohit Aggarwal. From there, Casanzio went on a tear. He finished the day on Saturday with wins over Alex Alvarado, Hendrik Drost and Robert Czupryniak by a combined score of 21-7. That left him in the cash and due to come back on Sunday.

Casanzio picked things up on Sunday where he left off, with wins over Deo Alpojora, Chris Braiman and Aaron Greenwood to land him in the semi-final match.

Back on the winners side, Bucky Souvanthong was playing his usual top speed. Souvanthong came into Sunday as one of the final four undefeated players and ran over Chris Braiman (9-2) and Dave Driedel (9-3) to take the hot-seat.

Casanzio made quick work of Dreidel in the semi-finals 7-2, to earn his shot at Souvanthong in the double elimination final match.

The first set of the finals was a competitive 9-6 win for Casanzio, but Souvanthong looked to have things under control in the second set. Souvanthong was on the hill at 6-4 when a routine 9-ball missed the pocket to give Casanzio a second chance. That was all that Casanzio needed as he won three straight racks for the hill-hill win and another Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Stop win on his resume.

Sunday’s second chance event saw sixteen players competing for over $800 in prize money. Bruce Carroll went undefeated with wins over Rohit Aggarwal 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 N. Syracuse, NY.