Mika Immonen poses with rooms owners Keith and Lisa Hulin
New Iberia, Louisiana- Mika Immonen ended his long dry spell of winless tournaments by defeating Shane Van Boening to defend his title at the 3rd Annual DP Poison Pro Classic. In a strong field including names such as Archer, Morris, Williams, Putnam, Hohmann, and Van Boening, Mika was the last man standing in an undefeated run. Mika was a double winner at the Poison DP pro Classic as he and partner Rodney Morris earlier won the 8-Ball Doubles, ironically also over Shane Van Boening and his partner Archer. The Dragon Promotions produced pro events coincided with the 5th Annual Ozone Billiards US Amateur Open. All the events take place at the fantastic facilities of Emerald Billiards in New Iberia, Louisiana and are sponsored by Ozone Billiards www.ozonebilliards.com , Brunswick Billiards, Bonus Ball http://www.playbonusball.com/, Master Chalk, Simonis Cloth, APA Acadiana, and Aramith Balls.
Fans can catch all the action live online with internet streaming provided by www.poolactiontv.com
Immonen started off with an easy win over Keith Fremin who had earlier won the Ozone BIlliards US Amateur Open 8-Ball crown. Then Immonen played a near flawless match against fellow pro and promoter of the event Charlie Williams 9-3. He was up 8-o and missed an easy 9-Ball that would have ended in a 9-0 whitewash, but Williams was able to put together a few more games. Next Immonen took down old foe Johnny Archer with relative ease before facing Shane.
Rodney Morris had a sub-par showing as he lost a tough 9-8 decider to Shawn Putnam, and then immediately lost to Jeff Beckley 9-4 in a weak performance.
"When I lost to Putnam, I just went into a coma and didn't have anything left for Jeff", Rocket Morris commented after.
Shawn Putnam had a great event with wins over Morris, Williams, and Archer. He took both losses in the event against Van Boening. Shane's road to the finals included a 9-6 win over Hohmann, a 9-8 over Putnam, a 8-9 loss to Mika, and another 9-5 over Putnam. With Williams and Hohmann tied at 5th, Archer at 4th, and Putnam a 3rd place semi-finals appearance.
"The fans here are unbelievable. I've never been treated so well in a poolroom tournament. I'll definitely be back", commented Putnam.
"I've never played in the middle of a field. I thought it was pretty cool, and I was impressed by the location," said 2x World Champion Thorsten Hohmann.
The finals pitted Mika and Shane for their 5th battle in their careers. They had played each other a previous 4 matches with each going to hill/hill , with both players splitting the wins.
But Immonen was playing careful and hungry and made very little errors and jumped to a 6-0 lead. Within less than an hour the match was over with Van Boening bowing out to Immonen 10-3.
"It feels really really good to win again. It's been awhile, so I'm going to enjoy the feeling tonight and during this week. I have a great record at Dragon Promotions events, so I felt a good vibe coming here ", said Immonen.
