It took Joseph subiimeCheong (pictured) all of three hours to dispose of Hugo HHHUGOLemaire in the semifinals of Event #6 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP), a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Mix-Max tournament. Cheong was set to face off against the winner of the other semifinal match, but that one took over nine hours to complete. Consequently, the finale of Event #6 will be held at Noon PT at the Rio on Monday.

After Aubin Cazals finally defeated Warwick Mirzikinian in the second semifinal, WSOP staff discussed when to play the last heads-up match. PokerNews’ live coverage detailed, “What came next was much debate as to when the championship match would take place. In the end, it was agreed upon by all parties involved that the championship match will convene at 9:00am Monday morning. However, following Cheong’s elimination in Event 9, the two players agreed to bump the start time to 12:00pm.”

Cazals and Cheong had originally discussed playing the finale on Tuesday, but WSOP officials said a one-day delay wasn’t possible due to Nevada Gaming regulations.

On the restart issues in Event #6, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla told PocketFives, “It’s a brand new tournament that we’ve never run before. The schedule required that the players play it out last night. You can’t postpone things into Tuesday because (1) the sports book had taken action on it and (2) it’s a Gaming Commission issue where you have to submit a tournament’s schedule and the tournament has to fall within it. You can’t stop the tournament, wait a day, and then come back.”

Cheong opened up an early lead in his match against Lemaire. In one of the first hands of the semifinals, with the board reading 3-7-7-J-4 with three hearts, Lemaire checked and Cheong pushed out a bet of 225,000. Lemaire thought for a few minutes before calling and Cheong showed pocket threes for a boat. Lemaire flashed aces, resulting in a nearly 2:1 chip lead for the former November Niner.

The heads-up match went from bad to worse for Lemaire when Cheong showed 9-9 on a board of 6-J-3-7-7 for nines-up to win another sizable pot. Cheong then flopped a set, also holding pocket nines, to lay claim to another pot and widen his lead to nearly 5:2.

Cheong ultimately built a 5:1 edge after betting 156,000 on a board of 3-J-K-10-8 with three hearts. PokerNews relayed, “Lemaire (pictured) tanked for nearly a minute, staring at both Cheong and the board, before he finally called.” Cheong rolled over K-3 for top and bottom pair and Lemaire, who calls France home, mucked. Cheong hit a runner-runner straight and then bested A-2 with 3-2 to go up 6:1 in chips.

In the final hand of the semifinal match, Cheong bet 89,000 on the turn of a 7-5-10-8 three-diamond board. Lemaire check-raised all-in and Cheong called, rolling over 6-2 of diamonds for a flush. Lemaire had pocket jacks and was drawing dead, sealing a finals birth for Cheong. Lemaire banked $162,000 and officially finished in fourth place.

Cheong was on pins and needles while the second semifinal match ground to a close. Upon conclusion of his bout with Lemaire, Cheong took to Twitter to thank his fans for their support: “HU for a bracelet! Thanks for the support so far everybody.” Later, after thinking a Tuesday restart had been agreed upon, Cheong vented, “Absurd. Other player and I agree to postpone til Tuesday, but we are not allowed to bc basically the sports book lines require us to finish.”

You’ll recall that Cheong banked $4.1 million for taking third in the WSOP Main Event two years ago. He went out with a bang after 6betting all-in pre-flop with A-7 offsuit and running into the pocket queens of eventual champion Jonathan Duhamel.

Elsewhere at the Rio on Sunday, Herbert Tapscott, a 71-year-old financier from Hartselle, Alabama, collected $264,400 and won the largest Omaha High-Low Split tournament in history. The event weighed in at 967 players, smashing the old record of 925. Tapscott, a Vietnam veteran, has four children and is a private pilot.

Oh, and Tapscott had to beat out live poker Triple Crown winner Gavin Griffin heads-up in a final table that also featured John $JMONEY$Racener (pictured), Thayer THAY3RRasmussen, and Can Kim Hua, all of whom have made final tables on the World Poker Tour. Here’s how the dust settled at the final table of Event #8:

1. Herbert Tapscott – $264,400
2. Gavin Griffin – $163,625
3. Ashly Butler – $102,373
4. Can Kim Hua – $74,306
5. Michael Kleist – $54,855
6. John $JMONEY$ Racener – $41,121
7. Thayer THAY3R Rasmussen – $31,278
8. Raymond Davis – $24,111
9. Bryan Jolly – $18,837

We’ll keep you up to date on the latest WSOP news right here on PocketFives.