DEFENDING champion Graeme Pickett has retained his Northern Tasmanian snooker championship, defeating David Bates 5-2 in the final at the Works Club over the weekend.
Pickett has now won 27 Northern championships: 13 in snooker and 14 in billiards.
Pickett beat teammate Peter Donati 4-0 in the semi-final and John Fraser 4-1 in the quarter-final.
David Bates overcame last year's runner-up, Gary Bjarnoe-Elliott, 4-1 in his semis final and veteran Robin McEnnulty 4-1 in the quarters. Keith Coomber and Rex Swain were the other quarter-finalists.
Graeme Pickett had the best breaks of 57, 49, 45. David Bates had 50 and John Fraser 39.

In the Southern Tasmanian title, defending champion Les Higgins will play Gregg Watt in the final tomorrow night.
Quarter-final results: Steve Carroll d Anthony Adams 3-1, Luke Webb d Marcus Jackson 3-1, Gregg Watt d Phil Woodham 3-0, Les Higgins d Chris Forsyth 3-0.
Semi-finals; Les Higgins d Steve Carroll 4-1, Gregg Watt d Luke Webb 4-3.

Interclub snooker
Works Blue was this week's big winner, thrashing reigning premier Exeter Black 4-0 in their A grade match at the Exeter Club.
Works Blue, after a slow start to the season, has moved into the four ahead of Works Gold on percentage.
Michael Leslie, John Stevenson, Rolf Stevenson and Hans Georgieff were all winners for Blue.
Works Gold had a 3-1 win over Launceston RSL Grey.
Gary Bjarnoe-Elliott, Trevor Leary and John Fraser were Gold's winners, and Roydyn Bishop continued his good form in winning 2-0 for the Grey team.
The Devils and the Raiders drew two-all, with Heath Rainbow and Josh Rainbow winning for the Devils and Lionel Young and Keith Coomber for the Raiders.
Devils, Raiders and Black are equal on top on 28 points, separated by percentage, with Blue and Gold close behind on 26.
In A reserve, the Green Horns and Works Green are tied on top of the ladder on 102 points with both having a percentage of 57.63.
Works Navy relegated Red to the bottom of the ladder in winning 8-4. Steve Collins, Craig Jory and Ray Skinner won for Navy. Bob Cain was Red's only winner.
Works Green beat Exeter 7-5. Glen Johansen and Andrew Thomas won for Works Green and John Waters for Exeter.
Works Green Horns and Launceston RSL White had a six-all draw. Dallas Fry and Tony Quach won for the Green Horns and Greg Williams and Adrian White for the RSL team.