Snooker World Championship Best Shots Luca Brecel Recreated

Luca Brussel was looking like the nearly man of the season, pulling off all the big shots and competing against the best players the game had to offer, but ultimately there always seemed to be something just preventing him from getting over the line. That is of course until the World Championships. That's why I'm going to be sharing the tactics and strategies that Luca deployed, while of course recreating the key shots that won him the tournament. After failing to make it into the top eight, he narrowly missed out on the lucrative Tour Championships and was coming into the Worlds a little bit cold. This was evident in Luca's first round match against Ricky Walden, where this excellent snooker was the only shot of any significance. Both players showed good form in this match, but certainly nobody was talking about Luca winning the tournament at this stage, and he only just made it through to the next round, 10-9. But this was a really tough shot that I felt I did well to get straight away. Luca didn't start much better against Mark Williams and was going further behind until he made this wonder clearance, including this shot which I believe to be the shot of the tournament. We often see exhibition shots like this once the frame's already won, but this was to keep a crucial live break going. This requires a lot of left-hand side and backspin, and you have to time it absolutely perfectly to get around the pink and the blue. I kept snatching at the ball too much on my first few attempts, but somehow on my fifth attempt everything went right and I pulled the yellow out to the wrong pocket but still OK. This one shot seemed to elevate Luca's game to a level Mark couldn't quite cope with, and it got him right back into the match. With shots like this one it was then Luca dominating the game, and don't think this is easy. I missed on my first couple of attempts because of just how hard you had to play this into a narrow angle. But this was a tactic Luca was deploying. By attacking every opportunity, he was making his opponent worried about making a mistake. From this point on, Luca's form didn't dip for the entire tournament, and you could see by the shots he was taking on just how much confidence this was giving him. And it was shots like this one that were really making the difference, because if he missed this he was almost sticking the entire game up for Mark. I did however miss this on my first attempt, but managed to get it with my second, which is pretty good for a shot of this difficulty. Mark was still giving Luca a close game, but the difference between what we were seeing from Luca now compared with earlier on in the season was that Luca was no longer missing frame balls. In fact, he was absolutely clinical when it came to the pressure shots. Luca believed this was because he wasn't practicing during the tournament, which was allowing him to play a lot more fluidly. And it wasn't all about potting, as this shot shows. Luca was also playing really well tactically, and this would go on to become all the more significant as the tournament went on. Even though it looked like I got this on my first attempt, there was still a possibility you could have potted that red into the middle pocket, so I had a go again and pushed them a lot safer. When it came to Ronnie, Luca was attacking because he was taking exactly the same form of confidence into this one as he had from the previous match. I would never have even considered playing this yellow, which made me all the more happy that I somehow managed to get it on my first attempt. But once again, this shows Luca's tactic of not backing down when there's a chance to win the frame. Although Luca was playing some incredible shots, Ronnie was just too good for him in the first couple of sessions, and he managed to maintain a full frame lead. Even great shots like this one weren't enough to stop Ronnie racing towards the finish line. He was just playing too well at this stage of the match. However, I was doing pretty good as well, because that's two for two on those yellows. Luca didn't stop trying, however, and this shot allowed him to get back within two frames of Ronnie, but every time Luca came back, Ronnie just went further and further away again. I didn't find this shot quite as easy as I did the previous two yellows. I kept slightly overcutting it, but managed to readjust for my third attempt that got me almost perfectly on the black. Luca's positional play was immense at times, and this is just a great example of it, as he manages to play the white around the table and stop it exactly in the right place. You need brilliant control of the cue ball to get this straight away, and I clearly haven't got that, as I kept hitting the yellow. It was a little bit difficult to avoid because you had to play this with right hand side, enough to straighten it up, but not too much. On my third attempt, I just about got away with this. I nearly went too far, but held for the red. In the final session, Ronnie's form dipped just a little bit, and this was enough to allow Luca to reel off frame after frame after frame, and take an unlikely victory. Most players would have lost the match in the first two sessions, but because Luca was able to keep in contact, he was then able to take advantage of the situation he found himself in. He did have to play this pink, which I was just struggling to strike low enough to get enough backspin on, and then when I finally did, and started cueing the shot well enough, I kept catching the middle jaw. I probably should have got this one a lot quicker, but this was quite a long way to screw the ball back. This was the end of the road for Ronnie, but it did give him a chance to set up his new coaching programme, which you can purchase by going to www.snooker.online, and if you use the promotional code BREAK, you can get it at a discounted price. Luca's next opponent was Sijai Wei, which once again gave Luca a problem, because even though Luca's form was quite good, somehow Si was managing to play even better. This is where Luca deployed the same tactic he used against Ronnie, to keep playing his shots, and just win as many frames as possible during this difficult time. Luca's form allowed him to stay in contact with great shots like this one, but only for so long, as Si raced to a 14-5 lead. Weirdly, this was when Luca was able to do something incredibly impressive, because although Si was winning all of these frames, Luca's form didn't dip at all. He was able to keep playing just as well during this period, when he wasn't really getting any table time. And I couldn't fully play this shot, just about getting past the blue spot was about as well as I could do here. Just like Luca's previous opponents, Si couldn't maintain this top form, and as he dipped, Luca was playing just as well as ever, even though he'd sat almost an entire session out. Luca's tactic of just playing his game, no matter what else was going on with the match, was starting to pay off here. He wasn't necessarily going to get a chance to get back in it, but once he got that chance, there was absolutely no way he was going to throw it away. What I needed to do, however, was hit the reds, and it was difficult to avoid the brown and the green and get into them, but I finally managed it. Once again for Luca, maybe it was an exhibition shot that spurred him on, as the comeback really took hold, as he started to reel off frame after frame. I struggled to get this one when we did it for the World Championship video, so I was pretty happy to get it straight away, even if the white didn't quite go in the right place off the jaw. His long-potting was exceptional during this comeback, and not only that, he was able to get in and win those frames with multiple frame-winning breaks. The fact that he was so relentless meant that Sea didn't really have the time to raise his game back to where it was before. I was pretty happy with my long-potting as well, but these are tough shots to keep getting consistently. However, Sea fought back and looked like forcing a decider, until Luca was able to escape from the snooker and get the red tight against the side cushion. Not only is this shot difficult to get safe, it's tough to even hit the red in the first place. I realised you had to get quite close to the yellow, and it kept getting in the way on the first few shots. And after just a few goes, I realised how difficult it was to get this vital shot safe. It was a really tough one to play under the circumstances. It did become a little bit easier though when I finally missed the yellow and realised I missed the red at the same time, and you had to go quite a bit wider. This showed me the right line, and I finally got it to the side cushion. And after Sea probably pushed the boat out a little bit too far in the end, Luca was once again clinical in taking out the clearance, completing the biggest ever comeback in Crucible history. And once again following his strategy to take out the match as soon as possible. This was a thin awkward shot, so I was also pretty happy to get it first time, and that I didn't go in off. After a gruelling win against Mark Allen, Mark Selby got left behind a bit in the first session against Luca because of shots like this one. Unlike the Brussels Sea semifinal, which was two players in good form attacking the game, the Selby-Allen semifinal was considered to be a lot more defensive and tactical. And this showed in the early stages where Mark's tactical game wasn't able to keep Luca out. They were playing two different brands of snooker all the way through, and Mark just wasn't ready for what Luca was able to throw at him. And this double definitely wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. It took me more goes than I thought because I just couldn't quite find the right angle. Got it in the end though. This thing cut on the blue shows the change in Luca's game in this tournament, as he was no longer struggling to get over the winning line. In fact, he was jumping over it as soon as possible on every opportunity. I had a little bit of trouble finding the edge of the ball here, which was annoying because I don't think this one was anywhere near as difficult as the other shots I'd already played. In the early sessions, Selby struggled to get any foothold at all in the match because Luca was potting like this. I told you his game never dipped. However, mine definitely did as I struggled on the first few attempts to get anywhere near this shot. But Mark wasn't just going to give up without a fight and it was about at this time he started to raise his game and match Luca in every department. You've also probably noticed the table spinning around a little bit during this shot. Unfortunately, I left stabilisation on my camera and it's an annoying thing that's going to keep happening during the next few shots. This next shot shows just how much confidence Luca had in his game as he has absolutely no hesitation to play this round the table and finish in position on the black. I had a real challenge setting this one up accurately because it looked like every time I got down on the shot I was going to hit the brown. After a few goes of getting the balls in the right place it still didn't look right but I played the shot anyway and managed to get round for the black so I was pretty happy with this one even if I was a little bit too far away from the black. As you'd expect, Mark's experience was beginning to show in this part of the final but potting like this kept Luca a healthy lead. Just like Cee and Ronnie before him Mark was able to outplay Luca at times during this match but not even Mark Selby could play this well for long enough to really threaten Luca's lead. He was just winning frames off shots like this far too consistently. Once again, Luca was facing an opponent who was playing better than him in this tournament but Luca was just about able to keep playing shots like this and keep winning frames. This is a really tough shot because it requires a lot of left-hand side to hit the red at the right angle. You need the side to make the angle and I was really lucky to be fair to get it on my second attempt because on my World Championship video I think this took a lot longer. This isn't just another excellent pot it shows how much cue power the top players actually have. This sort of shot is incredibly difficult to play on a regular snooker table. I would have to not only pod the ball but get a huge amount of screw back on the whites. I tightened up a bit too much on my first couple of attempts but somehow managed to get it on my third. This was more of a fluke than anything else but I'd got the white back about as far as I could. For me, this is Luca's most impressive part of the tournament. Even when Marc Selby, a multiple world champion started hitting top form and knocking 147s in against him it didn't faze him and he kept playing at about the same level he had the entire tournament. Although the pot's tough here it's fairly easy to get round the back of the black but unfortunately on my first attempt I played it about as badly as I could. I struggled to find the right angle with this one especially difficult because I was cueing off the cushion so three attempts with this I thought was pretty good in the end. Personally, I think this shot from Luca is one of the most impressive of the entire tournament because it completely broke the back of the Marc Selby comeback. Luca would race away after winning this frame to a point where he got within two frames of victory. This shot, however, isn't anywhere near as easy as it looks. It's a really tight angle to pot down the cushion from and I got close on a couple of attempts but finally got it on my third. Unlike the previous lot, however this is one I definitely should have got a lot sooner. Before the next shot let's just find Chris who's in Dublin, Ireland which is there. This shot's not really that important it's just a good exhibition shot. I can't remember too many shots that he got wrong and dropped out of position however this one definitely isn't easy. It took me a few attempts to get near this and when I finally got the red off the cushion I didn't actually get it in a good position but I had to settle with it really because this video's long enough already. This yellow from Luca's another clinical shot in the frame that comes off exactly when he needs it. Yet another occasion where he could have let Marc back into the match. To play this shot you just need a lot of power and topspin. I was also pretty happy to get it first time although I could have hit it a little bit harder but I was still on the green. This brown from Luca showed he has absolutely no intention of turning anything down even at this late stage and once again his position play was excellent. This is such a narrow gap to land the cube all in you have to be incredibly precise. On my first attempt I hit the blue proving you didn't need to just get the weight right you needed to get the line right as well. This meant I had to make an adjustment that took me a little while to get right but when I did I just about stopped the cube all in time. I'm just about on the top red here. Another nice double from Luca but even though this look won Marc Selby was about to launch a comeback. As this was Luca's first big shot at winning a major tournament like this it was expected that the pressure might get to him and Marc might yet be able to find a way back into it. This didn't end up happening at the end because Luca was just too prepared for this sort of situation. I was pleased to get this double within just two attempts because it was really awkward to play and I was a long way out with my first and even though I didn't manage to get on the black properly I was still able to cut it in. This snooker escape shows that Luca's tactical game was even a match for Marc Selby and even though Marc got all the way back to 15 frames ultimately he was just too far behind and Luca was able to close it out and win the match with great safety shots like this one. It was a match for Selby in all areas of the game and that included tactical play. I took a few goes at getting out of this I just couldn't quite hit the end red right because it seemed to slide off the second cushion a lot more than I was expecting but in the end when I finally hit the red I got it exactly how I intended to which got the white to the top cushion. And that's how Luca Brussel won the World Championships. Thanks to GT Commissar for some of the ideas for these shots because I would never have found all of them but if you want to see me recreating shots from other tournaments or even just the World Championships and every player as a whole then have a look at these two videos 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!