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The poker community was hit by the tragic news of Russian poker player and Twitch streamer Liliya Novikova’s (cover image) untimely demise yesterday.
The 26-year-old, who used to live with her parents, was discovered by an elderly neighbor in her bath. The daily Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) reported that the neighbor was a longstanding friend of Novikova’s parents and had a key to the flat. He entered the flat after receiving an emergency call from Novikova’s parents. Reports suggest she suffered a fatal electric shock while using a hair dryer in the flat. Russia’s Investigative Committee (SK) confirmed that she had been electrocuted. There was no evidence of foul play with all reports suggesting that it was an unfortunate accident.
Though known mostly as an online poker player, Novikova’s poker record shows $98,904 in total live earnings at the time of her passing with her biggest live score coming in the €2,200 NLHE Eureka High Roller at the EPT Prague in 2015, which she won for €49,440 ($54,068).
She was a popular Twitch streamer with 24,626 followers on her Twitch channel – ‘Liay5’. She was even signed on by online poker giant, PokerStars, as a member of its Team Online in 2015. In fact, she was just 22 years old at that point and had already achieved Supernova status on PokerStars.
You can watch her Twitch videos here.
Novikova had an engineering degree from Moscow’s prestigious Bauman University, and besides poker, she enjoyed various sports, including rowing and snowboarding.
The worldwide poker fraternity was shocked by the news of Novikova’s death and took to Twitter to express their grief and offer their condolences.
Incredibly sad to hear Liay ‘liay5’ Novikova passed away due to a home accident. She had such a good influence on the poker/twitch community through her hard work and efforts. I’ve always admired all the many different things she did. What a tragic loss, and so young ?? RIP
— Lex Veldhuis (@LexVeldhuis) June 12, 2019
Utterly heartbreaking. She was such a sweet, beautiful and talented girl who worked so hard to promote the game. Rest in peace lady ❤️
— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) June 12, 2019
Just heard news of Liay Novikova (Liay5) passing away. Poker and Twitch lost a great ambassador today. Really sad.
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples) June 12, 2019
Sending love to her family during this hard time!!
— Arlie Shaban (@ArlieShaban) June 12, 2019