$25,000 Added Joss Tour’s Billiard Extravaganza won by Souquet

Ralf Souquet Wins Joss Tour $25,000 Added Turning Stone Classic XII

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s Turning Stone Classic XII started off with a full field of 128 players. Including noteable players from around the world such as Ralf Souquet, Mika “The Iceman” Immonen, Dennis Hatch, Shawn “Big Bubba” Putnam, Johnny Archer, Steve Moore, Karen Corr, Corey Deuel, Allison Fisher and Louis Ulrich just to name a few. It has been an action packed event as spectators watched some terrific matches among some of the greatest players in the sport of billiards as the face off for their chance at the $25,000 Added event prize fund.

Ralf Souquet sent anyone that stepped up to face him to the left side of the chart as he played to win his share of the $25,000 added prize fund. He begin his trek to the finals by defeating Pierre Sauve 9-0 in round one and proceeded to follow suit sending the following to the one loss side of the chart Ernesto Dominguez 9-3; Matt Krah 9-4; Jeremy Sossei 9-6 Louis Ulrich 9-6; Shane Van Boeining 9-4; Mika”The Iceman” Immonen 9-1. Souquet went undefeated to the finals where he matched up against Joss Tour Regular Dennis Hatch in the Finals. Souquet defeated Hatch 13-7 in the finals which was single elmination race to 13.

Hatch worked his way thru some tough competition to make his way to the finals he defeated Sean Martin 9-0; Jamie Mangini 9-3; Karen Corr 9-8; Pete Tascarella Sr. 9-5; before being sent to the one loss side by Shane Van Boening 9-7. Once on the one loss side Hatch defeated Steve Moore 9-3; Daryl Peach 9-2; Mario Morra 9-4; Shawn “Big Bubba” Putnam 9-8. Sending him to the semi finals where he would face Mika “The Iceman” Immonen. Hatch defeated Immonen 9-7.

Place

1st Ralf Souquet
2nd Dennis Hatch
3rd Mika Immonen
4th Shawn Putnam
5th Shane Van Boening
6th Mario Morra
7th Daryl Peach
8th Charlie Bryant
9th Louis Ulrich
10th Steve Moore
11th Thorten Hohmann
12th Oscar Dominguez
13th Allison Fisher
14th Matt Tetreault
15th Dave Fernandez
16th Johnny Archer

Souquet Blasts Through Field at Turning Stone

Ralf Souquet never tasted defeat at the Turning Stone resort in Verona NY as he showed why he is the number one ranked player in the world and the AZB Player of the Year. His flawless shotmaking and supernatural safety play left opponents no air to breathe and even the acknowledged greats of the game completely floundered when they faced him.

As an example of his power just take a look at what happened when he played Mika Immonen. Immonen is rightly acknowledged as one of the finest pool players the game has ever seen and he has been on a hot streak for well over a year. He is a former World 9-Ball Champion (2001) and he has gotten better since he won that title. At this event he destroyed two other World Champions without ever straining his cue. He demolished the current World Ten Ball Champion, Darren Appleton, 9-1. Then he took on another former World 9-Ball Champion, Thorsten Hohmann. Thorsten never stood a chance. Immonen simply never gave him any opportunities and dominated the match to win 9-3.

But when Immonen went up against Souquet it was as if a flower were challenging a howitzer. Immonnen barely rose from his chair the entire match as Ralf strung together 9-ball after 9-ball. Souquet melted the Iceman 9-1 and never looked like he was even concerned about the outcome. He made it look easy. He did that all week. Shane Van Beening fell to him 9-4, and when he faced off against the local favorite, Dennis Hatch, in the finals he was going up against the man who had been breaking the best of anyone on the particular table on which they played. Hatch did better than most, but in the end he asked Ralf to "put me out of my misery". Ralf complied by running the last rack and winning the championship with the 13-7 win over Hatch.

A very special AZB tip of the hat goes to Simonis Cloth. Simonis North America sponsored the AZBTV live stream of this event. Thanks also to The Turning Stone Resort for their excellent hospitality and to Mike Zuglan for producing this Joss Tour event.