William Day passed away in late 2011. Most video poker players have never heard of him. He was, however, one of the strongest video poker theoreticians from about 1997 through 2004 and much of today’s knowledge about the game originated with him. He deserves to have a place in any legitimate Video Poker Hall of Fame. But he was a quiet, self-effacing man who shunned the spotlight.
He was a seemingly healthy 65-year-old who went into the doctor’s office because of an unusual pain in his leg. He found he had inoperable brain cancer. He was given three to six months to live. There were some medical procedures. Six weeks later he was gone.
If you anagram “William Day,” you can come up with “Liam W. Daily.” He was my co-author on all six Winner’s Guides and all nine strategy cards.
The actual writing of the Winner’s Guides was done by Day — although there was a lot of back and forth between us. I can’t tell you what percentage of the underlying theory was developed by each of us. I can tell you that I personally understand video poker MUCH better after the process of the strategy cards and the Winner’s Guides. Part of it was insights by Bill Day. And part of it was just being in the environment where we were both inspiring each other.
I’ve been writing continuously and sharing what I know. Much of what I know came from working with Bill Day. So it’s not a stretch to say that his knowledge has been shared with each of you.
The straight flush designations of SF3+1, SF3 +0, SF3 -1, and SF3 -2 were original to Day — although people have told me they came up with a similar notation on their own prior to Day. The discussion of penalty cards in the Winner’s Guides is MUCH better than the same discussion I had in the now-out-of-print “Reports” that I self-published for three games. The “general principles” listed in the Winner’s Guides were developed by him. I didn’t even realize we needed General Principles in addition to strategies, but after I saw them I agreed that they added a lot to the learning process.
He delighted in puzzles. He would email me something like, “give me four cards in deuces wild that may possibly become a straight flush but can never become a straight.” I would return with puzzles of my own: “In Deuces Wild where you don’t know the pay schedule, consider the two hands W ‘568’ 9 and W ‘568’ 7. In both cases you have a 4-card straight flush and a 5-card straight. Right or wrong, you decide to go for the straight flush in both cases. Which of the two straight flush draws is worth more?” I’ve written about both of these puzzles elsewhere. But they both arose while in collaboration with Bill Day.
Our two families sometimes played video poker together. Twice when we were partners, his wife Ghislaine was dealt big royals. Once we were playing $5 Triple Play 10-7 Double Bonus at the Orleans with double points (I think that was 0.50% at the time) and double pay for a dealt royal (those were the days!) and she hit one worth $120K. Another time the Aladdin was having a promotion best-played on a $25 9/6 Jacks or Better machine. As much for social as other reasons, we played it as a foursome — alternating who was actually playing every time a full house or larger came around. Both Ghislaine and I hit $100,000 royals over the several weeks we played this promotion, but hers was dealt.
Bill was very generous. He would create and present gifts to dozens of different people for no apparent reason.
We broke apart because he was offended by my two novels, Sex, Lies, and Video Poker and More Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. He considered them filth — and wanted nothing to do with anybody who could possibly produce such trash. I was rather proud of the novels. Yes they were a bit risqué, but I thought I became a much better writer in the process of creating them.
I emailed him dozens of times over the past several years hoping for some sort of reconciliation but he never responded. Sometimes Shirley would call Ghislaine and we’d have a sort of back-door communication, but never anything more. And now any such opportunity has passed.
Day used the pseudonym because he wanted to maintain his welcome in casinos. He and his wife lived in Arizona. The fallout between us caused him to turn his brilliant mind away from gambling topics and on to others. They haven’t returned to Las Vegas in several years.
I learned a lot from you, Bill Day. Shirley and I loved you and will miss you. The video poker community has learned a lot from you, and they never knew you. Rest in Peace.
