INNER JOIN within a LEFT JOIN clause
A little indenting will show you better what was intended
SELECT
T1.Acct#
, T2.New_Acct#
, T3.Pool#
FROM DB.dbo.ACCT_TABLE T1
LEFT JOIN DB.dbo.CROSSREF_TABLE T2
INNER JOIN DB.dbo.POOL_TABLE T3
ON T2.Pool# = T3.Pool#
ON T1.Acct# = T2.Prev_Acct#
This is a valid syntax that forces the join order a bit. Basically it is asksing for only the records in table T2 that are also in table T3 and then left joining them to T1. I don't like it personally as it is confusing for maintenance. I would prefer a derived table as I find those much clearer and much easier to change when I need to do maintenance six months later:
SELECT
T1.Acct#
, T2.New_Acct#
, T3.Pool#
FROM DB.dbo.ACCT_TABLE T1
LEFT JOIN (select T2.New_Acct#, T3.Pool#
FROM DB.dbo.CROSSREF_TABLE T2
INNER JOIN DB.dbo.POOL_TABLE T3
ON T2.Pool# = T3.Pool#) T4
ON T1.Acct# = T4.Prev_Acct#
An OUTER APPLY would be clearer here:
SELECT
T1.Acct#,
T4.New_Acct#,
T4.Pool#
FROM DB.dbo.ACCT_TABLE T1
OUTER APPLY
(
SELECT
T2.New_Acct#,
T3.Pool#
FROM DB.dbo.CROSSREF_TABLE T2
INNER JOIN DB.dbo.POOL_TABLE T3 ON T2.Pool# = T3.Pool#
WHERE T1.Acct# = T4.Prev_Acct#
) T4