Hennessee & O’Neal Double Dip at Lucky Break

by Paul · November 17, 2010

Fair Game hosted another great tournament weekend! This time we were at Lucky Break Billiard Club in Manchester, TN. That’s the new pool room owned by John Hennessee, with 4 7″² valleys and 4 7″² Diamonds and 3 IPT Diamond 9″² tables, along with darts and great food, it is quite a room. I personally loved the elevated rail and spectator seating allowing for a very nice birds eye view of the 10 tables up front. John put up a guaranteed $750 for first place in the open tournament, which was a race to 9 on the winner’s side and a race to 7 on the losers, plus adding $200 to the race to seven mini-tournament on Friday night.

The Friday night mini had 31 players including John Hennessee, Tim Miller, Jeremy Hart, Russ Edward, Ricky Leatherwood, Wade Martin and Nick Hickerson. Although Hennessee and Hickerson were definite favorites, it was Tim Miller who upset the field, including Hennessee, to take the hot seat. After an early round loss, Ricky Leatherwood would not be stopped through the loser’s side, eventually defeating Hickerson to face Hennessee in the semi-finals. But Hennessee was out for revenge on his loss to Miller and quickly dismissed Leatherwood to make it to the finals. In the finals, Hennessee never allowed Miller to breathe as he rolled through to double dip his opponent, with huge breaks and brilliant run outs.

Friday Mini

1st John Hennessee                  t$200/a$260
2nd Tim Miller              t$150/a$195
3rd Ricky Leatherwood            t$100/a$130
4th Nick Hickerson                  t$55/a$65

Saturday’s open would be just as special with 30 players, which only about half of played in the Friday night event. It consisted of some familiar faces like Hennessee, Jeremy Hart, Russ Edwards and Nick Hickerson. But it added some of the usual suspects like Josh O’Neal, Billy Young, Cliff Fredrick and Ryan Dunn.

There was also a strong group of women including Sonya Chbeeb, Melanie Gilmer, Christina Hall and Kristen Robinson, who I might add collected $75 for honors of top female finisher. To no surprise, 3 of the final 4 on the winner’s side were O’Neal, Hennessee and Young, but all of the big guns were in the final 12. The spectators would have to be considered the real winners as they got to see some great shot making and O’Neal, Hennessee and Young crush the balls on the break. Hennessee would defeat quite a few players like Russ Edwards and Josh O’Neal on his way to the top of the winner’s bracket to play for the hot seat, along with Billy Young, who did not miss a ball, until the later stages of the tournament. Then Young would defeat Hennessee 9-7 for the hot seat. On the loser’s side, after suffering a loss to Hennessee, Josh O’Neal would not be stopped or even slowed, as he ran over the field pocketing 4 and 5 balls every time he broke. He would eventually defeat Cliff Fredrick and then Hennessee to get to the finals to face Young. O’Neal and Young put on a breaking display for the first 14 games in the 1st set of the finals, as both would pocket 4-6 balls but could not get out until game 15, when O’Neal cleared the rack and the next to take the 1st set 9-7. The 2nd set; however, was all Josh, with a quick and demanding victory, 9-2. Congratulations to Josh Oneal and John Hennessee on their victories over the weekend.

Saturday – Sunday Open

1st Josh O’Neal                                               t$750/c$435
2nd Billy Young                                                t$300/c$325
3rd John Hennessee                                          t$200/c$215
4th Cliff Fredrick                                              t$100/c$105
Top Female Finisher Kristen Robinson            $75

Fair Game and Lucky Break would like to thank everyone for coming out and making such a great event. We hope to see everyone again next month.