Russian Twitch Poker Streamer Liliya "Liay5" Novikova Tragically Passes at Age 26
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On Wednesday, the Twitch Poker community was hit disturbing news that one of their own, Russian poker player, esports player and streamer Liliya "Liay5" Novikova had passed away at the young age of 26 in an accident at home.
Liv Boeree: "Utterly heartbreaking. She was such a sweet, beautiful and talented girl who worked so hard to promote the game."
Details of her death were sparse at first, but on Thursday, more details emerged as the BBC reported that Novikova was found deceased in the bathtub at her parent's apartment. According to the BBC, "Reports suggest she suffered a fatal electric shock while using a hair dryer in the flat, where she lived with her parents."
They further stated that no foul play is suspected, and Russia's Investigative Committee (SK) confirmed the death was a result of electrocution. Novikova's body was apparently discovered by a neighbor who was a family friend, asked to check on her in an emergency call from her parents.
A Loss for the Poker Community
Novikova was a well-known poker streamer, especially among the Russian-speaking poker community, once signing with PokerStars as a Team Online pro back in 2015. She was just 22 years old at that point and had already achieved Supernova status on PokerStars.
With just under $100,000 in live tournament earnings, Novikova's poker career was mostly focused online. She was streaming her poker games regularly leading up to her unexpected death, with her latest stream posted just three days ago on her Twitch channel, 'Liay5'. She had 24,626 followers on her Twitch channel alone.
Outside of poker, Novikova also had an engineering degree from Moscow's Bauman University. You can read about her start in poker in this 2015 PokerNews article about Novikova signing on to be sponsored.
Twitch Community Reacts
Upon hearing the tragic news of the young streamer's death, many poker players on Twitch took to Twitter to express their condolences, including some current and former PokerStars sponsored pros.
Incredibly sad to hear Liay ‘liay5’ Novikova passed away due to a home accident. She had such a good influence on t… https://t.co/Nppn56bseV
— Lex Veldhuis (@LexVeldhuis)
@LexVeldhuis Utterly heartbreaking. She was such a sweet, beautiful and talented girl who worked so hard to promote… https://t.co/rsAVmdiWJF
— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree)
Just heard news of Liay Novikova (Liay5) passing away. Poker and Twitch lost a great ambassador today. Really sad.
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples)
