The venue was The Rack Billiards in Jackson, MS and the event was the Mississippi State bar box championship. A total of 121 players travelled from all over the southern region to display some phenomenal shooting and stamina to compete for the $18,000 total prize fund (tournament and calcuttas). Owner's Tony Allen and wife, and Tournament Director, Johnny Sparks, made this tournament a tremendous success. The crowd was excited and cheered every time a great shot was made or a great match was one. The atmosphere was great!
Local favorite Reed Pierce seemed unstoppable. He cruised to the semifinals of the winner's bracket to face Johnathan Hennessee for a chance to take the hot seat, but Hennessee emerged to the top with a 7-6 win. Then David "G" Gutierrez won his semifinal match to face Hennessee for the hot seat match. Gutierrez was favorite to win, but Hennessee again dominated and won by a score of 7-5. Meanwhile, Reed Pierce continued to cruise through the loser's side defeating John Schmidt and Erman Bullard. David "G" awaited Reed Pierce for a chance to avenge himself, but Pierce proved to be the victor with a 7-3 score.
In the meantime, there was a lot of talk as to whether Johnathan could hold up against Reed to take the top prize. All doubts were eliminated when Hennessee took the match by a decisive 7-4 score.
Friday night was the mini tournament before the main event. There were 52 players in the single elimination race to 7 tournament. Total prize money was $1040 and total calcutta was $3075. Scotty Townsend took first place and $420 from the tournament and $1300 from the calcutta. Second went to John Schmidt with $250 tournament and $875 calcutta. 3rd and 4th was Dennis Hesil and Dewayne Flenoi - $125 tournament and $450 calcutta. 5-8th received $30 each.
On behalf of all the players and spectators, many thanks to all the staff at The Rack for their great food and service! They made this tournament a very exciting one.
