Pieter De Korver has completed an amazing story by becoming the EPT Grand Final Champion!

The Dutchman has held sway in the heads up game, bullying Matthew Woodward relentlessly and finally something had to snap.

It just did...

Woodward raised the button to 750k and De Korver made the call.

The pair saw a flop of T 5 6, De Korver checked and Woodward led out for 750,000.

Once again De Korver went for the big check-raise...a favorite move of his and raised all-in, easily covering the shorter Woodward.

The American has been pummeled by the Dutchman heads-up and he looked every part the battered and bruised boxer as he puffed out his cheeks and shook his head.

But he called all-in!

Woodward showed 6 4 for a pair and small flush draw whilst De Korver had 9 6 for the same second pair with a better kicker!

Couldn't handle De Korver heads-up.

Woodward needed a four or heart to stay alive but when the turn and river fell the Q, then the 7, he was eliminated in second place for €1,300,000 whilst De Korver was the champion of the EPT Grand Final!

He picks up the trophy, the plaudits and of course the massive €2,300,000 winner's check following one of the most sensational comebacks in EPT history.

We will be back shortly with winner's photos and a summary of the final table, complete with some quotes from our newly crowned Grand Final champion.

For now though we send our congratulations to Dutchman Pieter De Korver for a superb result and amazing performance!

 

The momentum Dutchman Pieter De Korver built up in ascending to the chip lead has stayed with him and he has been the more aggressive player of the two heads up.

So far Woodward seems unable to get a foothold in the game, being pushed off pots by a blazing series of three-bets and all-in shoves from de Korver.

The latest coup for De Korver saw Woodward open preflop for 425k from the button and De Korver call.

The flop fell A 2 7. Korver checked, Woodward bet 425k and then Woodward, not for the first time, check-raised to 1.2 million.

Woodward called, the turn came the 4, and Korver now led out for over a million.

Woodward made what seemed a big call and it looked like this pot was going to showdown!

Not so, the river fell the 5 and when Korver shoved, Woodward gave it up relatively quickly as adoring fans whooped and cheered their Dutch hero, who has now taken a relatively dominant heads-up lead.

The dinner break is over and heads-up play is underway here at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final for Season 5.

American Matt Woodward and Dutch pro Pieter De Korver are now facing off for the EPT championship and a €2.3 million first prize.

We're down to our final two contestants at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final as Russia's Mikhail Tulchinskiy has been eliminated in third place here in Monaco.

Tulchinskiy called off his 4.2 million stack after Matt Woodward four-bet him all-in and turned up a suspect Q T to counter Woodward's 3 3.

Tulchinskiy was somewhat lucky to even find himself racing for his tournament life, and after the flop came J 8 2 he'd picked up a gutshot draw to increase his outs.

The turn was the 4, however, and the river the 2 and the threes hold out, giving Woodward the pot and sending Tulchinskiy packing.

The Russian received €800,000 for his efforts.

We're now taking a sixty-minute dinner break before commencing heads-up play. Updated chip counts are available on the right-side of the page.

Mikkelsen's fall from grace has been jaw-dropping.

It is now complete.

He moved all-in for his last 340k over the top of a Tulchinskiy raise to 320k and both Tulchinskiy and de Korver made the call.

The board came T 9 4 Q 4 and the Russian and Dutchman checked it down to the river.

When De Korver tabled the surprisingly strong Q 9 for two pair, Mikkelsen couldn't show anything better, meaning he busts in 4th for €600,000, having looked locked on for the title not long ago!

Meanwhile Pieter de Korver's fairytale story continues as he consolidates his incredible ascent to the chip lead with yet another pot that sees his stack rise to 15,530,000.

This is quite simply incredible!

The Dag Martin Mikkelsen downswong and the Pieter De Korver upswing have both continued and appear to be moving towards an illogical conclusion:

De Korver is now the prohibitive chip-leader with 14.64 million and Mikkelsen is on just 360k.

This comes after a brutal hand that saw Mikkelsen raise preflop and De Korver put in a re-raise.

Mikkelsen made the call and the flop came 7 7 6.

De Korver led out for 430k and Mikkelsen opted to flat-call, and the turn brought the 9.

De Korver led out for 1 million and Mikkelsen put him all-in. De Korver insta-called, turning up a pocket pair of sixes for the flopped full house.

Mikkelsen was drawing dead with K T and after the river was an academic A, De Korver had doubled and Mikkelsen was crippled.

 

Pieter De Korver has just taken over the chip lead. The guy was down to his last 350k a few rounds ago and has gone on the heater of heaters to build his stack up to nearly 8 million.

His latest coup saw him ship over the top of a Dag Martin Mikkelsen UTG raise, putting his 3.74 million stack on the line with A J and finding himself racing yet again, this time against Mikkelsen's pocket tens.

The flop was a doozy, coming A K J and giving De Korver two pair while giving Mikkelsen the inside straight draw.

The turn was the 4 and the river the 2 and De Korver doubled up to 7.76 million to take over the chip lead.

This is becoming incredible. The Dutchman Pieter de Korver was on less than three big blinds not long ago but he has won a ridiculous series of all-ins to blast back into contention.

The latest coup saw him shove his 1.8 million in pre-flop, only for Dag Martin Mikkelsen to make the call.

De Korver could only table K J but when Dag showed he had made a thin call with A 3, the Dutchman wasn't in bad shape.

Nonetheless, he had to win yet another all-in to survive and probably had a wish-list of great flops he'd like to see.

This flop appeared:

Q T 9

Yes! Incredibly Pieter flopped the nuts much to his and Dag's collective hilarity. His supporters whooped with Dag drawing almost dead and when a second ten appeared on the turn, there was no way back for the Norwegian.

Unbelievable recovery from de Korver who is still the shortstack, but now has 3.8 million to his name.

Following that hand, de Korver shipped his paltry 345k in pre-flop and both Mikkelsen and Woodward called, no doubt looking to finally finish off the pesky Dutchman who refuses to die.

The two live players in the hand checked through the board of 8 6 4 3 T and turned up king-three and nine-deuce.

de Korver needed to show better than a pair of threes to win and...

He showed queen-four for a pair of fours!

His supporters go crazy in the crowd, whooping as their hero trebles through and meanwhile de Korver has an ear to ear grin and even manages a little dance as he rakes in the 1.1 million pot! 

Update:

A few hands later, De Korver gets his 1.075 million stack all-in with K 6 against Dag Martin Mikkelsen's Q 2.

The board comes K Q J 8 6 and De Korver takes the pot with a pair of kings. He's now on 2.32 million.

Relegated to short-stack status after Pieter De Korver executed a couple of timely double-ups, Matt Woodward gets all-in over the top of De Korver's opening raise in a blind v. blind confrontation.

It's a 4.81 million chip race, as De Korver has 9 9 and Woodward K J.

The flop comes A 7 6 and the nines maintain their lead. The turn is the Q, however, and Woodward picks up bocoo outs to stay alive.

The river is the T and the American rivers the Broadway Straight to double through De Korver, who is left with just 350k behind.