On Wednesday 12-6-2019 a sad story struck all poker fans. The famous Twitch poker video streamer and Instagram poker star Liliya “Liay5” Novikova had died during a tragic accident at her parents’ apartment in Moscow.
The details of the death of the young Russian are not confirmed. “The reports are, however, indicating that while drying her hair, she suffered a fatal accident after being struck by electricity in the bathroom of her parents’ apartment”, commented the BBC reporter on the tragic event.
The suspicion of homicide was precluded, and the Russian investigation committee confirmed the death was caused by electricity. Her body was discovered by a neighbor and family friend after being asked by the parents that were not being contacted by Liliya on the phone.
A tremendous loss for the poker community
Novikova was very well known as a poker streamer mainly among the Russian-speaking communities. She gained her Supernova Status at the young age of 22 when she became the member of the Online Pro team of PokerStars Pro. The year was 2015 and by then “Liay5” already made almost 100,000 dollars in live tournaments including her largest single taking of 54,000 dollars. The number of Twitch viewers grew above 24,000 fans and on Instagram, it was a nice 16,000.
Her mainly online career had closely merged with her studies on the renowned Bauman University in Moscow. She gained her engineer title for the study of math. She used her knowledge, talent to the fullest and combined them with a hobby which was poker from a young age.
“I used to play leisurely, turbo sit-and-go, and slowly her love became hyper turbo poker. I liked the speed and a quick game”, she stated in the year 2015 for the PokerStars blog, when she entered her dream community as a professional at 22 years old. “My dream came true. I’ve dreamed of getting a challenge to become a member of the online team and now I am a member of the PokerStars Pro Online team”, she added as a fresh member of the team.
She regularly added streams to her channel on the popular site Twitch until the faithful day. Her last video is from June 10, 2019.
Aside from cards, she loved riding her bike, rowing, and snowboarding in the winter. She didn’t just enjoy a fast ride during turbo poker. Boxing was one of her hobbies.
“It is incredibly sad when I hear what happened to Liliya Novikova after her home tragedy. She had such a strong positive influence on the poker/twitch community thanks to her strong will, hard work and big performance. I admire how she managed to handle so many things. Such a tragic loss. RIP”, stated his feelings the poker legend Lex Veldhuis via the social site Twitter.
Also giving condolences after the recent sad event for the entire world is the British professional, 34 year-old Liv Boeree: “Truly heart-tearing. Such a nice, beautiful and talented girl, that worked hard on raising the popularity of our game. Rest in peace”.
Our condolences and lots of strength to the entire family...