Ahipara's Tom Adams is the new NZ Master Snooker and Billiards Champion

Ahipara's Tom Adams was stoked to take out the 2022 Kamo-Northland Masters Snooker Championship at Kamo Club recently. Photo / Supplied

When Tom Adams first picked up a pool cue at nine years old, it was love at first shot.

In the 1970s and 80s, the Ahipara youth could regularly be found at the Kaitaia Billiard's Saloon, under the watchful guise of Tony Jujnovich - a mentor and friend.

Adams said he played snooker through to his late teens, but eventually put down the cue when life pulled him in another direction.

"My interest in snooker started with my dad who used to wake me up Saturday mornings to watch Pot Black on our black-and-white TV," Adams reminisced.

"It was like watching a boxing match for Dad and I when our favourite players would play against each other," he said with a laugh.

Tom Adams in action at the Kamo Club recently. Photo/Supplied.

"It was great fun and eventually my older brothers took me to the billiard saloon and that's where I really got into it."

Adams recently returned to the Far North after years of living in Port Hedland, Western Australia.

While he would sometimes play pool tournaments at local pubs, he said it wasn't until two months ago he picked up a snooker cue.

The 53-year-old said it had been about 30 years since he last played the game seriously.

So when he was invited to enter a prestigious snooker tournament at Kamo Club, he wasn't expecting big things.

The three-day 2022 Kamo-Northland Masters Snooker Championship run by New Zealand Billiards and Snooker Association is a prestigious invite-only tournament, with only the best players in New Zealand asked to attend.

The weekend of October 7-9 marked the first time the association had brought the tournament to Northland, with 48 players dispersed across eight tables, split between the Kamo club and Northland club.

The players, from as south as Wellington, put their cues to work to try to take home the top prize of $1000 cash or at least some of the $5000 cash prize pool.

Adams said being his first major tournament, he didn't think he'd make it far, but couldn't turn down the "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.

"I've never done anything at that level before, so when we went there I was expecting to come last," he said.

Adams did better than that, however, taking out the singles main event and top prize overall winner, shocking everyone, including himself.

"This kind of masters snooker tournament is a fairly tense event, where everyone is all dressed up in their best clothes and bow ties," Adams said.

Tom Adams from Ahipara was the overall winner at the 2022 Kamo-Northland Masters Snooker Championship. Photo/supplied

"I knew I might be in with a chance of winning on the third day after I managed to beat some of the favourites in the first couple of days.

"It was a real nail-biter in the end and something I've never experienced, so I was really excited to win."

Adams intended to keep "dipping his toes in the water", with his next tournament in Whangamata on November 4 and then in Papakura in February.

The newly crowned snooker master said the best thing about it all was the renewed sense of joy the sport had brought him and his whānau.

He said his great mentor Tony Jujnovich had been instrumental in his snooker journey, who'd taught him everything about outwitting and beating his opponent.

Adams said his son, Raymond Jujnovich, had been and continued to be a great mate and supporter.