Russia's 'sexiest poker player' found dead

The 26-year-old PokerStars Pro, Liliya ‘liay5’ Novikova was found dead in her apartment in Moscow.

Liliya Novikova was one of the most popular poker players in Russia. Her Instagram page has almost 16,000 followers, while she also often streamed on Twitch, where more than 24,000 users followed her.

Novikova was considered a maths 'wizz-kid' and had a degree in engineering. She was a sponsored pro by PokerStars.

She preferred playing online tournaments, but also had $98,904 in live tournament earnings from the past three years. Liliya was found in her bathroom by a neighbor. 

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Сквозь переезды и недоезды... я вчера таки прошла сателлит на WPT Russia в Сочи. Серия будет идти с 18 по 27 января. Выиграла целых 1000$ ppl. Саты идут на пати, шахиды есть. Именно из-за такого я вчера прошла, он сделал два супер-минусовых кола, что подарило мне проходку. Плюс еще в том, что могу потратить на любой турнир из этой серии, еще больший плюс, что там отличные склоны, и у меня сразу вопрос, кто будет брать с собой лыжи, чтобы кататься? Бтв за баин в мейн через ppl дают дополнительные 300$ на карманные расходы. На мейн пока не прошла, но буду пробиваться как танк. Удачки мне ❤️ и вам. _______ #russia#girl#vsco#vscocam#good#picoftheday#photography#model#selfie#look#liay5#poker#pokerstars#pokerface#покерстарс#покер#сочи#wsop#wsop2018#partypoker #partypokerlive#pokerface#888#eapt#розыгрыш [4]

2,033 Likes, 118 Comments - Liay Novikova PokerPro (@liay5) on Instagram: "Сквозь переезды и недоезды... я вчера таки прошла сателлит на WPT Russia в Сочи. Серия будет идти с..."

As her parents were worried when she wasn't answering the phone, they asked the elderly woman to check on her. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, “During the first checks of young woman’s dead body, signs of electric shock trauma were registered,” as Gazeta reported [5].

It is believed that Novikova has been blow-drying her hair while using her mobile phone. Reports have also stated that she hit her head as a result of the electrical incident. The cause of her death will be confirmed after the postmortem was carried out.