Jason Shaw has won Turning Stone XXIII by defeating a very hot-shooting John Morra 13-11. Morra caused quite a buzz in the room when he dominated Mika Immonen to win the hot seat 9-1 in less than thirty minutes. Morra got out every time that was even a remote possibility and locked Immonen up in a vault when he played safe.
But Shaw had been busy with his warm-ups and came into the finals with his usual confidence and amazing eye. Morra had beaten Shaw earlier in the day 9-8 to send him left. Once there Shaw knocked out Shaun Wilkie 9-3 and then Jeremy Sossei 9-5 before facing Mika Immonen. Immonen had just been beaten badly by Morra and was determined to not let that happen to him again. Against all odds it did. Once again Immonen simply could not gain control of the table at critical moments and Shaw put him down by the same 9-1 score line that Mika had just suffered at the hands of Morra.
So both of our finalists had taken out a multi-time U.S. Open and World Champion by the same dominating score. The match lived up to expectations with both men playing well. Shaw reached the hill first at 12-11 but denied Morra the opportunity to join him there as he took the final rack for a 13-11 victory.
AZB would like to thanks Mike Zuglan and the Turning Stone Resort Casino for their impeccable hospitality and yet another great tournament. Congrats also to both John Morra and Jayson Shaw who have firmly established their positions amongst the top players in the world.
