Jayson Shaw Secures Third Consecutive Turning Stone Win

Tournament director Mike Zuglan with winner Jayson Shaw 

By: Markus Noé

Sunday August 23rd was the final day of the of the most recent edition of the Turning Stone Classic. For fans who have never been, it really is the ideal location to watch some great pool and rub shoulders with the best in the world all while enjoying the luxuries of the resort and casino. One of the neatest attractions to this event is not only its free admission, but if you stay on the resort its very likely you can bump in to and start a conversation with the likes of Dennis Hatch, Shane Van Boening, Jayson Shaw, Mike Dechaine and many more.

Deuel vs Dechaine

Matches began at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday and it was only the final 8 who were brought back to play out the rest of the tournament. Mike Dechaine vs Corey Deuel met up in the 7/8 bracket on the losers side to start off the day. On Saturday Dechaine who lost his first match of the tournament to Canadian Luc Salvas, was on fire winning all of his matches by a scoreline of 9-2. Based on the previous days results I kind of expected him to dominate this match as well. But Deuel is never an easy out in any tournament and this was a battle to the end with Dechaine winning 9-7.


The other match in this bracket was Brandon Shuff vs Tom D'Alfonso. This was an interesting match because it paired two of perhaps the most underrated players on the pro circuit. D'Alfonso had a win 9-5 against Darren Appleton in the previous round. Appleton who despite losing his first match and thought to have pulled out of the tournament due to medical reasons, battled back through the losers side to finish in the 9/12 position. Meanwhile Shuff had an impressive 9-5 win of his own against Johnny Archer to set up the match with D'Alfonso who beat Shuff 9-5.

In the Winners side final four there was Jayson Shaw vs Justin Hall and Shane Van Boening vs Roberto Gomez. By the looks of how the week went it appeared as though SVB and Shaw would meet up eventually in the winners side final and they did not disappoint. Both players won their matches, Shaw won 9-7 and SVB running 6 and out to win 9-3 over Gomez.

Gomez vs D'Alfonso 

D'Alfonso and Roberto Gomez met up in the 5/6 bracket as did Dechaine and Justin Hall. Dechaine and D'Alfonso both won their matches and met to decide who would finish 4th. In this match Dechaine continued his torrid pace winning convincingly earning himself a a spot in the losers side final.  

The winners side final between SVB and Shaw was a thrilling match for the fans. In the beginning SVB got off to a great start taking the early 2-0 lead and maintained this two gap lead until the middle of the set. Shaw eventually caught up and the lead exchanged hands a few times until Shaw eventually won 9-8 to book his third straight appearance in the Turning Stone final.

SVB vs Shaw 

Throughout the entire tournament all the spectators and myself included were asking ourselves if this would be the match that Dechaine would falter. To be honest after watching him beat Orcollo 9-2 in the last match on Saturday I really believed he was going to come all the way back to win the tournament. However in 9 ball anything can happen especially when you are playing a man who is the current three time U.S Open Champion, and who many believe is the best player in the world. Just like the Orcollo match Dechaine was once again too much as he went on to win 9-4 setting up an epic final match.

Shaw came out firing as only he can racking up a 4-0 lead in what felt like just a few minutes in this extended race to 13. This match had some drama as Shaw declined every one of Dechaine's racks and the two began to exchange a few words which caused a few chuckles in the crowd. This seemed to be the spark that "Fireball" needed as he took the next 5 racks to take the lead. The lead changed again with Shaw going up 11-7 and 12-10 before an error from Dechaine gave him the chance he needed to secure yet another Turning Stone title. You can see the final rack in the video below.

In the end Shaw made history becoming the first ever 3-peat champion. Tournament director Mike Zuglan did mention he plans to change the racking rules in the future, because a lot of matches where slowed down to a snails pace because of racking disputes. I would imagine they will eventually change to the Magic Rack which seems to be the least controversial racking method these days.

I would like to congratulate Zuglan for running another great tournament, as well as the Azbilliards team of Mike Howerton and Jerry Forsyth in conjuction with Upstate Al for their top notch streaming and tournament coverage. It really is a treat for fans that cannot make the trip to watch the tournament for free online. Finally I would like to thank my sponsor for this event David Touhey from Touhey Management in Ottawa Ontario. I look forward to the next event, see you all there! To see our entire coverage of this event please check out the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page. 

Turning Stone Classic Update Day 3: Dechaine Continues Losers Side Charge

By: Markus Noé

Saturday at the Turning Stone Classic in Verona, New York was "moving day". Meaning it was time for the cream of the crop to surface as matches were played until there was only eight left. Mike Dechaine who lost his first match of the tournament had another impressive day. To put things briefly this was Dechaine's day.

 M .Dechaine (9) vs J.Dupuis (2)

M. Dechaine (9) vs Mika Immonen (2)

M.Dechaine (9) vs S. Wilkie (2)

M. Dechaine (9) vs D. Orcollo (2)

Mike Dechaine vs Dennis Orcollo 

As you can see by these scorelines he was living up to his nickname "Fireball." I was fortunate to catch his match live against Orcollo tonight. Orcollo had just suffered a close loss 9-7 to fellow Filipino Roberto Gomez in the 8:00 PM time slot and was forced to play on the losers side immediately after. Dechaine as he did all day never let his opponent into this match breaking and running the first five racks I believe, and missed a sixth one due to what could be called a careless positional mistake which resulted in a foul. In the end Dechaine offence was just too much for Orcollo. This win sets up an intriguing match-up between Corey Deuel and Dechaine Sunday Morning.

Shane VanBoening continued his machine like ways winning all his matches again today. He had a very tight match with Dennis Hatch which carried some drama which I filmed and can be seen on the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page. After missing a 6 ball in the side Hatch gave SVB the chance he needed at 8-7 down. The frustration for Hatch was evident as he was fully aware that SVB could very well go on to break and run the final rack.

As is so often the case he breaks the balls nearly perfect and proceeds to run out to the 8 ball.  He overran the cue ball and nearly froze it to the object ball, which began the discussion. Here Hatch called for a ref and to be fair caused a bit of a stir, people have their own opinions on this however I found it all very entertaining. Eventually SVB shot the 8 under the supervision of the ref and tournament director Mike Zuglan, and ran out for the win. Hatch was never able to recover going on to lose his next match 9-0 to Darren Appleton.

Corey Deuel vs Shane VanBoening

Jayson Shaw also continued on his impressive run here at Turning Stone. He started of the day beating R. Young 9-1 then Tom D'Alfonso 9-5 to keep his three peat hopes alive. On Sunday he plays a very game Justin Hall.

John Morra vs Alain Parent 

In conclusion all the the remaining Canadians were eliminated. The last man standing was Sylvain Grenier who had another impressive tournament follow his 9th place finish at the last event in January. Alain Parent had a very notable win today 9-8 vs John Morra before losing to Oscar Dominguez.

I will be updating our Facebook page throughout the day tomorrow and will have a final report on Monday. In conclusion it has been another great weekend here at Turning Stone, I would like to thank Mike Zuglan for hosting a amazing event and to Upstate Al for providing a great stream. For live score updates and a link to the stream for tomorrow go to www.azbilliards.com

Turning Stone Day 2: Bergman Defeats Morra and Hohmann

By: Markus Noé

Day two of the Turning Stone Classic was a travelling day for me, as I took the 3 hour drive south from Cornwall, Ontario. By the time I reached the venue the first round of the losers side matches were just being completed. To my surprise Darren Appleton who was rumored to have left the tournament because of a pinched nerve had decided to play on and had already won a match.

His first match of the day was against a player from Ottawa, Ontario Dale Kemmitt. Appleton won this match easily 9-2, and in the 10:00 pm match he won again with ease 9-3 against J.Barbravich. Two time defending champion Jason Shaw continued his charge on the winners side today with two more wins. The most notable was against Scott Frost, this match maybe took a half an hour which was all Shaw needed to win 9-3.

John Morra vs Justin Bergman 

Justin Bergman 2014 Mosconi Cup winner and last weekends Smoking Aces Champion had a very good day.  He started off the day with a 9-7 win over John Morra who was the runner up here in January. To finish the day he won a thrilling 9-8 match against multiple world title holder Thorsten Hohmann. Bergman will have another tough match tomorrow against Roberto "Superman" Gomez.

Shane Van Boening 

It might sound a bit strange but Shane Van Boening who is only the reigning three time U.S Open Champion and back to back World Pool Masters Champion, has been going under the radar so far. This might have to do with his draw as he has been a heavy favourite in each of his matches.  However his match against Dennis Hatch is bound to get some attention. Hatch who has a character that sometimes appears larger than life, had a very entertaining match with Canadian Martin Daigle. There was a bit of controversy in this match as Hatch was nearly frozen on the three ball, and according to the rules here, he was forced to shoot away from the ball. Hatch demanded that Mike Zuglan tournament director officiate this shot himself because he could not believe he was not allowed to shoot directly through the ball. As he waited for Zuglan he repeatedly plead his case to the crowd when he said "Are you telling me I cannot shoot this shot straight in?"

Mario Morra vs Karen Corr 

Also it should be mentioned John Morra's father, Mario Morra is on a charge of his own on the winners side. Today he defeated Karen Corr 9-3 and followed that up with a win over Shaun Wilkie 9-8. Tomorrow Morra will play Corey Deuel and many more big matches will start to line up. Another notable match will be Dennis Orcollo vs Luc Salvas. As I am completing this article one of Canada's top ranked female players Naomi Williams had just won her last match of the day against E. Saur 9-6.  Stay tuned to Cue Sport Nation's Facebook Page as we will be updating throughout the day.

Turning Stone Day 1 Update: Salvas Beats Dechaine in First Round

By: Markus Noé

Thursday afternoon at 4:00 PM eastern standard time the much anticipated Turning Stone Classic kicked off. For touring professionals this signifies the beginning of the season for major 9 foot table events. Lots of Canadians took the trip to Verona NY to partake as it is usually the case, because this is the closest major event for those in eastern Canada. 

Cue Sport Nation co-owner and contributor Erik Hjorleifson played Jayson Shaw in the first round today. This was always going to be a tough match as Shaw is the current two time defending champion. In the beginning both players seemed to be having trouble adjusting to the conditions while trading racks. At 3-2 a few mistakes made by Hjorleifson allowed Shaw to take control and as he so often does, he never looked backed in this one winning 9-3. Next up for Hjorleifson will be Roger Miller a strong semi-pro player from Ottawa Ontario. 

For those watching on the stream today brought to you by Upstate Al and AZBTV, next up was Danny Hewitt vs Bucky Souvanthong. This was a very quick match as the world class talent of Hewitt was too much for Souvanthong on this day as he succumbed in a 9-3. 

Luc Salvas, photo from AZbTV live stream

In the final match on the stream tonight it was Canadian Luc Salvas out of Valleyfield Quebec, up against Mike Dechaine. Salvas is making his first appearance on the american circuit in about ten years. Despite being a 3 time World Speed Pool Champion along with dozens of 9 Ball titles he was a slight underdog against second ranked american Dechaine. For those that have never played Salvas, his quick pace and reckless abandon can through people off, which I think was the case in this match. It seemed like Dechaine never felt comfortable and was unable to get into stroke. That being said after Salvas obtained an 8-6 lead he did make some errors that should have cost him the match, but Dechaine was unable to capitalize and eventually lost 9-8. It might take a few more matches before we get to see the Salvas of old, but for those who have never seen him play do not be fooled he is a world class talent. 

A side note for today is that Darren Appleton one of the tournament favourites was forced to forfeit. He has some sort of pinched nerve in his neck and it is said he went straight to the hospital after his match. Other notable wins today would include Alain Parent another strong semi-pro from Montreal beating Jennifer Barretta 9-3, Martin Daigle beat J.Vitale 9-1 and Mika Immonen beat Kyle Pepin 9-1. Stay tuned to Cue Sport Nation all weekend for full coverage, I will be joining Hjorleifson tomorrow and will be there all weekend, look forward to seeing everyone. Finally I would like to thank all my sponsors for making this weekend possible especially David Touhey from Touhey Management out of Ottawa Ontario. 

World Pool Masters: Shane Van Boening Makes History Once Again

By: Markus Noé

Sunday August 16th at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, England Shane Van Boening once again made history. There have been a few multiple winners of the World Pool Masters, most of them going to Ralf Souquet who has collected 6 titles over the years. However no one has won the title in consecutive years, that is until SVB did it yesterday.

This years title defense got off to a shaky start as SVB had to play Canadian John Morra in the first round. Morra has been having a career year with many top finishes at some of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. This was also Morra's first time representing Canada since the format changed to 16 player invite only. 

In this match SVB got off to a bad start rattling the 9 in the very first rack, allowing Morra to take the early lead. Taking advantages of some more uncharacteristic mistakes by the defending champion Morra pushed his lead to 5-2. This is when SVB began to charge back and tied the match at 5-5. In this rack it felt it was a must win for Morra. After a miss by SVB Morra began to run out and had to use the "bridge" which always ads a degree of difficulty to any shot. Morra was trying to draw for shape on the 7 ball which was slightly blocked by the 8 ball. Unfortunately he came up short on his position and looked to be in very big trouble, but before you could blink he sent the cue ball in the the side rail and kicked the 7 ball into the corner and came around the table for perfect position and ran out the rack. 

This would be the last rack Morra would secure as SVB went up 7-6 before a missed 2 ball by Morra ended the match 8-6. From here SVB went on virtually unchallenged beating Waleed Majid 8-5 in the Quarter-Finals. In the Semi-Final match against Liu Haitao, SVB put together his most dominating performance in the tournament. Here he wins 8-0 with seven break and runs and up 2-0 he ran out the last six games. 

This set up a very interesting match-up between two of the most accomplished 9 Ball players in the last decade, Shane Van Boening and Darren Appleton.  By the time I was able to tune into the stream it was already 3-0 for SVB. Appleton did gain some momentum wining the next two racks, but two bad misses ended his hopes for the title this year. From this point SVB went on to win each rack in a flurry of break and runs and two golden breaks. The final rack had Van Boening running into a problem as the 2 and the 6 ball were tied together with the 9 ball about a foot a away. He did what most players would do while enjoying a big lead and threw caution to the wind and hit the two ball square sending the 6 ball a few rails and into the corner pocket. This also lined up an impossible to miss 2-9 carom to secure his second consecutive World Pool Masters title.

Last year SVB silenced a lot of his critics by winning this title for the first time, as it was also his first major win overseas. Personally I am not sure that winning overseas was ever a problem because the level of talent is higher in Europe and Asia. I think it has more to do with that SVB is most comfortable playing a winner breaks format on Diamond tables, a format in which it is clear he is the best in the world at. For major events such as the China Open and the last World 10 Ball Championship played in the Philippines, the conditions are not nearly as pristine and are often alternative break. For many "purists" or "haters" until he wins a World Championship or China Open alternate break and not on Diamond tables there will always be a hint of doubt before dubbing him the best in the world. Next month in Qatar at the World 9 Ball Championship he will once again have a chance to silence his critics.