Two years ago at the Victoria Casino in London, Vicky Coren triumphed on home soil to become the first woman to win an EPT main event. Coren remained alone until about an hour ago at Hohensyburg Casino, Dortmund, when Sandra Naujoks joined her in the records books, winning €917,000 and the EPT champion title.

Naujoks, 27, took the lot after a tense heads up finale against countryman Holger Kanisch. An all-in with aces over jacks gave Naujoks the momentum and despite a battling comeback from Kanisch, Naujoks never looked like losing the match.

However, the last time their chips went to the middle, pre-flop and with the stacks close to even, Kanisch was ahead, A-Q over Naujoks’ A-9. An ace landed on the flop changing nothing but the crucial nine hit the turn making Naujoks the champion.

Tribute to the popularity of the game in Germany more than a third of the field called this their home EPT with German players picking up more than €2.1million of the €3.3 million prize pool. Sebastian Ruthenberg in Barcelona, Moritz Kranich in Deauville and now Sandra Naujoks, not to mention German winners of past seasons Thang Duc Nguyen and Michael Schultze, have proven that German poker is here to stay.

Results of the EPT Dortmund final table:

1st – Sandra Naujoks, Germany, €917,000
2nd – Holger Kanisch, Germany, €533,000
3rd – Marc Gork, Germany, €307,000
4th – Johan Storakers, Sweden, €237,000
5th – Mike McDonald, Canada, €197,000
6th – Luca Pagano, Italy, €153,000
7th – William Thorson, Sweden, Team PokerStars Pro, €116,500
8th – Cengizcan Ulusu, Turkey, €83,500