Mark King and Alfie Burden were among those caught out by the heavy traffic along the M4 on their way over the Severn Bridge for first-round matches with a 72,000 crowd converging that night not on the Newport Centre but the Wales v France Six Nations match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. King at one point tweeted: “Nice poodle down to Newport, just taken 5hrs 36 and counting,see if we can play when the World Cup of football is on too #trafficjam .”

Burden’s plight was if anything worse, given that unlike King – playing Sean O’Sullivan on Saturday morning – he was due on table at 7pm on Friday night against Ahmed Saif. But both not only made it to Newport, but also through their last-128 stage matches. At least neither had to try and get on the two-carriage trains from Cardiff station back to Newport afterwards, which was by all accounts an even worse experience.

Recent Shootout winner Dominic Dale is usually pretty busy for his home event at the BetVictor Welsh Open. Even when his time in the draw comes to an end – and often before – he has other commentary duties with BBC Wales. And while remembering to pack all his TV studio gear Dale for the first time in a 22-year career neglected to bring a waistcoat in which to play his last-64 contest against Dechawat Poomjaeng. Dale had to go out hunting for something to wear at 9am on the Monday morning of the match, finally ending up parting with £25 for a natty white number from wedding menswear hire shop Cayzers on the Chepstow Road in Newport.

Top referee Michaela Tabb has toughed it out in some luxurious five-star hotels in her time as a worldwide traveller, not least while on duty for events such as pool’s Mosconi Cup in Las Vegas. The Scottish official, on duty at the BetVictor Welsh Open, admits to a weakness for time spent in the MGM Grand and Mirage hotels in the Nevada desert – but was faced with slightly different accommodation in Newport. World Snooker officials and tournament staff, traditionally housed for this event in the Hilton by the M4, found themselves in the humbler surroundings of the Newport Central Travelodge – alongside fans, lower-ranked players (and freelance journalists). When asked to compare the facilities with the Bellagio with its magnificent fountains, Tabb would only offer a tactful: “No comment.”

Tour teenager Scott Donaldson almost came unstuck in at the Welsh Open after failing to truly grasp the meaning of his match against Rob Milkins starting ‘not before 2pm’. The Perth professional had actually booked a flight home for around 8pm on the Wednesday evening, not expecting to progress. But having had to wait until mid-afternoon to get on table, meaning he would have missed his flight anyway even if he had lost, the world No77 pulled off an excellent shock win over Milkins, ranked 65 places higher. Donaldson spent another night in Newport before being offered a lift by compatriot and Good Samaritan John Higgins back to Scotland on Thursday following the four-time world champion’s 4-0 victory over Tony Drago – both then returning ahead of last-64 stage games at the start of the second week.

One player expressing some disappointment at the Players Tour Championship Finals being switched from Thailand to Preston was world No2 Mark Selby. The 30-year-old from Leicester is a big fan of his home city football club The Foxes, currently looking good to regain their place in the Premier League next season. City have wealthy Thai owners and through his friendship with club ambassador Alan ‘Birch’ Birchenall Selby was on a promise of some top-level hospitality during the scheduled trip to Bangkok, abandoned due to the violence and political unrest in the country.

Complaints about tables and playing conditions are always quick to make it into the media, so in the interests of balance credit should probably be given to those responsible for such matters at the Newport Centre this year, at least in the first week. On the face of it the equation doesn’t appear to be rocket science – give the technicians the time and the tools to do the job, and they should be able to get it right more often than not. Compliments were the order of the day at the 128-player stage for the four-table set-up in the arena in Wales, chief World Snooker Services fitter on site Chris Barnes having had five full days to allow the Star tables to settle down. That contrasts with at times two or less on tour this season, notably in India.

At least one former world champion was heard saying as an aside after his press conference: “It was really nice out there, we’re going to have to find something else to moan about.”