Sandra Naujoks has proved virtually unstoppable in the second half of this EPT and she has just won the trophy!

There was a stroke of luck in the final hand, the two players getting it in preflop and Sandra finding herself in bad shape, holding A 9 to Kanisch's A Q.

Naujoks looked likely to be ousted at the final hurdle. A flop of A 7 2 did nothing to change the balance of power, and Kanisch had one hand on the trophy.

Then the Black Mamba struck again!

The 9 spiked on the turn to turn the tables and shift the momentum back in her favor. Needing a queen on the river, Kanisch watched the 8 peel off to end his tournament as he finished runner-up for €533,000.

But Sandra Naujoks it was who conquered a strong final table to pick up the trophy, plaudits and €917,000 in prize money!

A superb result. We can only applaud Naujoks for her strong performance as she becomes the third German to win an EPT title this season.

Join us shortly for some shots of the glamorous winner and our recap of what has proved a hugely enjoyable, action-packed and dramatic final!

Sandra Naujoks just took a massive step toward becoming the second female winner of an EPT.

Following some trappy preflop action, Sandra and Kranisch got their chips in on a 5-6-7 board, Kanisch confident with his pocket jacks, only to find the dangerous and deadly Sandra had been playing possum effectively with her pocket aces!

Quite the cooler; when the board blanked out, Sandra's stack was doubled through, giving her the chip lead with $5 million to Kanisch's $1.5 million.

She is on the verge of history!

Following Sandra's double-up at his hands, the fruit-loving, poetry-reading, cravat-wearing Gork was left short, and when Kanisch raised and Sandra called, in a move reminiscent of Cengizcan Ulusu's demise earlier, Gork decided to flip a coin to determine his action.

The coin decided ... he would move all-in!

He did so, and Kanisch quickly reraised to squeeze Sandra out of the pot. She wasn't happy, but his raise worked and so he and Gork were heads-up with Gork's tournament life hanging in the balance.

Pocket sevens for Kanisch; K T for Gork, who was delighted to find himself in a coin-flip situation.

The flop briefly threatened Kanisch, falling Q 5 2 J to give Gork 14 outs on the river to make a superior hand, but the blank five that appeared was not one of those, meaning Kanisch eliminates Marc Gork in third spot.

We'll miss his crazy antics at the table.

Gork picks up a nice chunk of change - €307,000 to be exact - for his third-place spot and we are now heads-up for the title!

The players are on a short break but when we return Sandra "The Black Mamba" Naujoks will take on Holger Kanisch for the EPT Dortmund title!

Update: Heads-up play is now under way, with Kanisch holding $3,666,000 to Naujoks' $2,980,000 as action kicks off.

Sandra Naujoks had seen her sizable chip advantage melting away, with several ill-timed moves resulting in her $3.8 million stack knocked down to $1.5 million.

She then made a standard raise, only for Gork to shove all-in over the top.

Despite having put 35% of her stack, she tanked for a little bit ... and then called!

It proved surprising that she had tanked, seeing as she had pocket tens, and when Gork flipped up sixes, she was in great shape for a double-up.

Well, the board ran out J-9-5-8-2 with ne'er a six in sight and she had recouped much of her losses, propelled back into the chip lead with $3.2 million!

Play resumed three-handed following a short intermission and as they came back, Sandra Naujoks and Marc Gork became entangled in a preflop battle that saw Sandra evenutally calling Gork's shove with J T.

Hoping to be live, when Gork revealed K J, Sandra made a quick technical analysis of the situation.

"Oh s***," said Sandra.

Both players hit a jack, but with his superior kicker, Gork took down the pot and doubled through to $2.4 million or so, whilst the previously big-stacked Naujoks had taken a big hit.

T-J suited may have seemed like a weak hand to felt there, but it is likely the remaining three German players have struck some sort of deal, meaning they are liable to display a greater willingness to gamble now the payouts have been somewhat flattened.

Just minutes after sending EPT4 Dortmund champ Mike "Timex" McDonald home in fifth, Sandra Naujoks continues her reign of terror, getting Swede Johan Storakers all-in preflop in another massive pot.

Storakers holds A Q and is dominated by the Black Mamba's A K. The flop comes 9 8 2 and big slick still leads.

The 2 on the turn gives Storakers some outs to chop, but the 2 on the river cannot save the PokerListings.se blogger and he's out in fourth place, taking  €237,000 for his time.

Naujoks has won nearly all of the hands after the return from the dinner break, and now enters three-handed play with a commanding $4 million in front of her.

Since the resumption of play it has been German Sandra Naujoks who has turned the heat up on the table, shoving to pick up the blinds several times.

She then saw a K-Q-J two-club flop with Marc Gork and when Gork led for $125k, Sandra moved all-in!

Gork had been reading poetry indifferently in his seat, but put down his book for a moment to consider the situation more carefully. Then he folded and Sandra was left with $1,500,000 in chips, good for second place!

Then this momentous hand took place.

Holger raised it up from UTG, then Mike McDonald shoved all-in for $915k. Once again, the lady who has been the story of this final table got involved, calling the Canadian's shove!

Everyone else folded to leave the pair heads-up and Timex looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, announcing "I hope I have three outs!"

It turned out he was in better shape than he had hoped as Naujoks tabled tens. A $2 million pot was being played for!

Needing a king or jack, McDonald hoped in vain as the dealer dealt out a Q 7 5 6 3 board.

Amazing! No second title for Timex - he was knocked out in fifth, winning €197,000 for his troubles.

"I was happy with how I played," revealed Timex as he left the tournament. He'll be back as I think we all know.

The players have retaken their seats to play out to the conclusion.

Can Timex continue to push the table around as he was prior to dinner? We'll soon find out.

Game on!

The titanic nature of the blinds at this stage reduces the opportunities for any post-flop poker, meaning right now it is all about shoving and folding.

Sooner or later, two reasonable hands were likely to bump heads and indeed just moments ago Luca Pagano moved all-in, and Gork, who had him marginally covered, made the call!

Action!

Pocket sevens for Luca and a flipping ace-nine for Gork. With a $1.7 million pot in the offing, the flop fell K T 4.

It was a good flop for Luca, since his opponent failed to pair up. However, his face fell as a nine appeared on the turn to leave him virtually down and out and once the river blanked out.

Luca was left rubbing his sweaty forehead in dismay and climbing down from the platform, any hopes of a first EPT triumph dashed.

He picks up a healthy €153,000 for his performance, but the dejected manner in which he left the stage underlined how disappointed the Italian was at failing to nail the win.

With that elimination the players are now taking an hour's break to eat dinner, after which time the final five combatants will return to battle to the death.

See you then!

Mike "Timex" McDonald has moved all-in in six of the last 11 hands, whether over open-limpers, open-raisers or just straight open-shoving by his own self.

Nobody dares call, and Timex is up to $1.3 million and climbing as his fearless strategery pays off.