Snooker Best Shots Players Championship 2023

This week, we're looking for the best shot from the Players' Championships, and to help us do that, I have a list of the top 15 shots from the event, so we can decide which of them is best by attempting to recreate them as accurately as possible, and in the fewest possible attempts. But we're going to begin with Mark Allen, who was really struggling in this match against an informed Joe O'Connor, and really needed to pull out big, long shots like this one to give himself a chance. It's really difficult to play long, thin shots like this one and still maintain good control of the cue ball. I was pretty pleased on my first attempt to actually pot it, but lost the cue ball behind the black. Initially, I was trying to play this shot without sidespin, and I realised pretty quickly that was making the cue ball race away off the cushions. So to play this shot correctly, I had to put a little bit of left-hand side on it, and as soon as I potted a ball like this, it was 1,000 times easier to hold for the black, even if I did finish a little bit low. Sean Murphy's next up, pouring in the long red off the bold cushion. I'm going to have to be really accurate with this one. Especially with the red close to the cushion where the pocket's at its tightest, I'm going to have to be pretty precise to pot this one at pace. Obviously, this just requires topspin that you have to put on the cue ball because you're striking above the cushion, and I was really happy to get it on my first attempt. However, I was just a little bit short of the blue, and I wanted to get topside of the blue spot. However, I didn't quite appreciate how lucky I'd been to pot this the first time round, and injecting a little bit more pace into the cue ball made it all the more difficult. A little bit of moisture got into my camera lens on this one, and I didn't notice till the next shot, so sorry it's a bit blurry. And also, when I careered into the pack on my second attempt, I didn't quite put the end red back in the correct place, which is annoying because my eighth attempt was perfect other than that. Joe O'Connor's next with a nice cannon off the black to see him in perfect position. He had to be really accurate with this shot because if he was just slightly out, he could have finished on nothing. I was trying to use a nearly unnoticeable trace of right-hand side on this one just to help me make the angle off the side cushion. However, this shot was actually a lot harder in general than I thought it was going to be. I got the angle right on my second attempt, but didn't hit it anywhere near hard enough, and my third attempt was actually pretty similar. This positional shot was definitely a lot harder than I first appreciated, but on my fourth attempt, I just about left it in a cuttable position. Yet another powerful shot being played off the bulk cushion next, this time by the informed Robert Milkins, who absolutely screams in this long red. This is going to need really good cueing to get this one right. This is a lot like the Sean Murphy shot from earlier, but you just have to hit it a lot harder. And obviously, I was trying to cannon the reds off two cushions, but thought it was going to be a little bit unlikely. Potting it after just two attempts is really good, but I was some way out with the cannon. The Ali Carter screw shot is next, and I've been practising getting a lot of spin on the cue ball for this one, but to even get close, I really am going to have to hit it well. You have to be pretty accurate to even pot a length-of-the-table shot like this, so I was pretty happy to pot it on my first attempt. However, my cue ball barely came back. I knew I could give it a little bit more, but that caused me to miss, and eventually on my third attempt, I actually got about as far back as I could, which is going to be a problem. Even if I strike the cue ball about as well as possible, I'm still not going to be getting back past the blue spot, so I need a new plan. So what I'm going to do is turn on the dehumidifier for about an hour, turn the heating up, I'm going to use a slightly different cue ball that's a training ball and about five grams lighter. I know that's cheating a bit, but I'm also going to clean the cue ball as much as I can with Mark Williams' ball cleaner, see if that actually helps, and see if I can screw back a little bit further. I also did something that's a little bit difficult to explain, but should definitely help, but the big question is, when I finally pot it, can I make this lighter cue ball come back any further? All of a sudden, it's like I'm playing on TV. That's a lot more like it. So I'm pretty pleased with that, even though the cue ball's a little bit lighter, but that wouldn't have made too much difference, and at some stage, I'll show you the other thing I did that actually allowed that to work. Bashing the blue ball around the billiards table next, we have the Belgian bullet, Luca Brussel. That was a lot of Bs. This is another shot I didn't expect to be too much of a challenge. After all, this is a fairly standard shot that snooker players often use to manoeuvre the cue ball around the table. However, what I didn't take into consideration was just how straight Luca actually was. He had barely any angle on this one, and you can't do what you'd normally do and just load up the cue ball with a lot of right-hand side, because the green gets in the way, and you end up nowhere near where you want to be. For this to work, you need a lot of topspin, and that's what I delivered on my fifth attempt. And I actually got the cue ball to run around the table a lot more than I thought possible, pretty close to where Luca got it. After winning the frame, Mark Selby plays a nice little exhibition shot on the pink here. Not that it helped him out too much in the match against the in-form Sean Murphy. But it was still an impressive double that meant Sean couldn't carry on and play for snookers. Now, with shots like this, I usually say it takes me roughly three attempts, but that's when I can cleanly get to the cue ball, and with the white being so close to the cushion, I was expecting it to take a lot more. That is, until my second attempt went close and somehow rattled in, which I'm not sure how was possible. Judd Trump also gets a nice double who I just noticed looking really worried in the background there. To play this one, I'm going to need to strike the cue ball with a small amount of right-hand side to make sure I get it back into bulk. And one attempt's actually pretty good with a shot like this, even if I did hit it a bit too hard. But which is the cheekiest double, this or the Mark Selby shot? Cue the music. Not only was the Mark Selby shot really difficult, it was also pretty unnecessary. So for that, it receives four cheeky chillies, whereas the Judd Trump shot was actually fairly straightforward and he played it as a shot to nothing. So because of that, it only receives two cheeky chillies, so the Mark Selby shot is this week's winner. Sean Murphy gets himself in good position on the black next after going into the pack of reds, although nobody's quite sure how much control he actually had over this. He was definitely trying to hit the reds, but he was certainly a little bit fortunate to come off them the way he did and end up in perfect position on the black. But that's a bit of fortune we have to try and repeat, and every time I miss, I'm spreading the reds everywhere. So I was pretty happy to get it perfectly after just two attempts. Ryan Day is powering the cue ball into the middle pocket next with what I think is a seriously underrated shot, as he manages to screw the cue ball off the bulk and side cushion to get up for the reds. This shot requires a lot of backspin and left-hand side, and when you're playing into the middle pocket with a lot of pace like this, it makes it very missable. ACHOO! And you need a lot of backspin to get up the table. I think this one's comparable to the Ali Carter shot in how difficult it is to get in the right position. My fourth attempt was good, but I didn't quite get enough spin on the cue ball. My fifth attempt was better and about as well as I could play it, but I still didn't quite get it there, although Ryan missed the next red, so it'll probably be marked down a bit for that. Another Joe O'Connor shot next, this time with a crucial cushion-first pot This was a good shot at a crucial time in the match, and I didn't really expect it to be too difficult until I got down on the shot and realised you had to hit the red quite thin. And because of that, I wasn't fully confident, but I did manage to hit it thinner than Joe and get out for the black. Next, we've got another Sean Murphy shot, right after we find OJ, who's from Tampere, Finland, which is there. And the next one's a great positional shot right in the middle of Sean Murphy's 1-4-7. He needs the perfect half-ball cannon to leave reds on into the middle pocket here. To play this shot accurately, I'm going to need a precise amount of right-hand side and topspin, but not a little bit too much like my first attempt, where I probably played the black a little bit wide into the pocket, because even if you're just a fraction off from where you put the black, you end up feet out in terms of position. My third attempt was close, but I just hit the red a bit full. You need a really precise contact, and that's why I got my fourth attempt. Didn't end up on the right red, but I could still pot it easily enough and finish on the black. Yet another powerful pot of the bulk cushion next, this time from Joe O'Connor, as he's looking to try to finish off the frame. Another good pot in his win over Mark Allen. This one, once again, just needs really good cueing. There's nothing more to it than that, other than the fact I was trying to cannon the yellow on the way back, just like Joe did. I'm not really sure why, but I found potting this red more awkward than any other shot I tried during the course of this video, as even though it's a really difficult shot, I would have expected to get it in five or six attempts, and I was really struggling to even get this one in the jaws. So I was just relieved when it actually went in, and I didn't mind too much that the cue ball was nowhere near where it was supposed to be. Time for a snooker escape, and this is a good one from Judd Trump, as he not only manages to hit the blue here, but he also manages to hit it full enough to push it onto the side cushion. It was awkward to get the angle right for this one, especially bridging over the black when you're so close to the top cushion. But Judd didn't get this shot on his first attempt either, so maybe I could get it on my second. Or maybe not quite, so maybe my third. I finally got it and hit it safe in a fairly similar way. Yet another good shot powered in off a cushion next, though at least this time it's the top one, as Sean Murphy looks to take a 3-0 lead in the final. I'm not sure why, but there seemed to be a large number of well-played shots like this one during the tournament. Either way, we have to recreate it again, and after the Joe O'Connor shot, I wasn't feeling so confident. As it was fairly similar again, just a little bit easier because it was in the middle of the table. So I was pretty happy to get it after two attempts, even if I did slightly overhit it. Now for the results, and it was close because there were a lot of shots like this one, but third place goes to Sean Murphy because I think this was the best one. And second place also goes to Sean Murphy. I'm not sure how much he knew about the positional element of this shot, finishing on the black like this, but it certainly looked good. But first place obviously goes to Ali Carter. This wasn't even the easiest of pots, but not only does he manage to get it, he also manages to scoot back about 10 feet, and I was just pleased to somehow be able to play it. And like I said earlier, I'll explain exactly how I did that at some point, but if you want to see more videos of me recreating shots from previous tournaments, have a look at these two. And remember, don't just watch, play. And make the commitment to becoming a better player by subscribing to the channel and visit the website. See you later.