Before Derby city this year, I'd never seen John Hennessee (also called John Pinegar) play pool. I was absolutely amazed at how well he plays. Here's a sampling of Hennessee's wizardry:
In his match with Hohmann, with about fifteen players left in the nine ball event, Hennessee, leading 3-2, had to contend with this after a well-played Hohmann safety.
Hennessee thought better of trying to make the very difficult hit and opted to jack up the cue and try to use the eight to tie up the two. Exceptional execution by Hennessee gave Hohmann ball in hand looking at this position. Whether the diagram makes it clear or not, the eight could not be played by either carom or combo:
Hohmann played a superb two rail safety off the edge of the two and left this.
Once again, Hennessee would be hard pressed to hit the two, and thought better of even trying. After all, if he tried for it and missed, Hohmann could repeat the same safety and could win on a three-foul. Hennessee realized that at bare minimum he'd need to move the six ball to take that safety away ---- but another problem loomed. With ball in hand, Hohmann could bank the two in the side, then play three in the corner and run out. Hennessee's solution was most impressive. He simply sent the six in front of the three to take that option away, leaving this.
The best Hohmann could do was to thin the two with the cue ball and carom the cue ball off the seven to leave this one rail kick.
Now on two fouls, Hennessee, not having a whole ball to kick at, successfully slowed rolled the one-rail kick, leaving Hohmann near the two ball without a shot. Hohmann tried to play safe under the four ball, but wasn't quite up to playng his fourth straight rock-solid safety. The safety battle continued and Hennessee finally won control of the table.
In short, Hennessee exercised great judgment, great escape tactics, great creativity and great billiard knowledge to wrestle control of the table from Hohmann at this key juncture. This rack gave Hennessee a win in a rack that looked air-tight for Hohmann, and it gave him a 4-2 lead which he'd never relinquish.
I was very impressed with this sequence, which showcased Hennesse's excellence in tactical judgment.
In his match with Hohmann, with about fifteen players left in the nine ball event, Hennessee, leading 3-2, had to contend with this after a well-played Hohmann safety.
Hennessee thought better of trying to make the very difficult hit and opted to jack up the cue and try to use the eight to tie up the two. Exceptional execution by Hennessee gave Hohmann ball in hand looking at this position. Whether the diagram makes it clear or not, the eight could not be played by either carom or combo:
Hohmann played a superb two rail safety off the edge of the two and left this.
Once again, Hennessee would be hard pressed to hit the two, and thought better of even trying. After all, if he tried for it and missed, Hohmann could repeat the same safety and could win on a three-foul. Hennessee realized that at bare minimum he'd need to move the six ball to take that safety away ---- but another problem loomed. With ball in hand, Hohmann could bank the two in the side, then play three in the corner and run out. Hennessee's solution was most impressive. He simply sent the six in front of the three to take that option away, leaving this.
The best Hohmann could do was to thin the two with the cue ball and carom the cue ball off the seven to leave this one rail kick.
Now on two fouls, Hennessee, not having a whole ball to kick at, successfully slowed rolled the one-rail kick, leaving Hohmann near the two ball without a shot. Hohmann tried to play safe under the four ball, but wasn't quite up to playng his fourth straight rock-solid safety. The safety battle continued and Hennessee finally won control of the table.
In short, Hennessee exercised great judgment, great escape tactics, great creativity and great billiard knowledge to wrestle control of the table from Hohmann at this key juncture. This rack gave Hennessee a win in a rack that looked air-tight for Hohmann, and it gave him a 4-2 lead which he'd never relinquish.
I was very impressed with this sequence, which showcased Hennesse's excellence in tactical judgment.
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