Four-card poker with variable wager over a network

• US 10,357,706 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2018
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Snow, Roger M., Castle, II, Louis J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, David L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoel, Matthew D
• Application Number:
  US15/898,552
• Publication Number:
  US 20180169507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 521 Days
• Field of Search: 463 11- 13, 272292
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/00 Card games aspects of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions showing representations related to the game A63F13/00; card games played on a gaming machine G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

An online casino game utilizes at least one deck of playing cards. Each player places an initial wager. A first and a second number of cards are dealt to a dealer and to each player, respectively. The first and the second numbers are greater than the number of cards to be used in determining a poker rank hand for the dealer and for each player, respectively. The dealer and each player discard at least one card to form a dealer hand and a player hand, respectively, having an equal number of cards. Each player hand is resolved against the dealer hand according to predetermined game rules. The initial wager must be at least matched with a game wager (play wager), which may be a multiple of the initial wager (e.g., 1× to 5×, at the option of the player), for the player to remain in the game after receiving his cards.

Claims

1. A method of operating a gaming system over a network, comprising:

providing a server of a gaming system;

providing, by the server, a client for execution on a user device connected to the network and associated with a player, the user device being remote from the server; and

operating the gaming system in a round of the method according to a set of rules applied in an ordered combination of steps,

the set of rules comprising rules of;

the player must wager to participate in the round;

play of the round is head-to-head poker with a player hand of cards competing against a dealer hand of cards, the player hand of cards associated with the player, the dealer hand of cards associated with a dealer;

the player is provided more cards than are needed to form the player hand;

the dealer is provided more cards than are needed to form the dealer hand; and

an amount of an in-round wager is variable, not being preset before administration of the round; and

the ordered combination of steps comprising;

applying the rule that the player must wager to participate in the round, comprising the client receiving, from the user device and communicating to the server;

at least one credit for an Ante, in a form of at least one virtual gaming chip in a designated ante wager area on a virtual play surface of a virtual play table, to enter the player to participate in a wagering game, and

at least one other credit, in a form of at least another virtual gaming chip in a designated bonus wager area on the virtual play surface of the virtual play table, to enter the player to participate in a Bonus event;

applying the rule that the player is provided more cards than are needed to form the player hand and applying the rule that the dealer is provided more cards than are needed to form the dealer hand, comprising;

the server determining a set of five player cards and a set of six dealer cards, each of the set of five player cards and the set of six dealer cards randomly selected by the server from a set of playing cards;

the server communicating to the user device the set of five player cards for display on the user device in a player card receiving area on the virtual play surface of the virtual play table;

the server receiving, from the client, an indication of a four-card player hand formed from the five player cards, the four-card player hand providing the player hand of cards associated with the player; and

the server determining a four-card dealer hand from the set of six dealer cards, the four-card dealer hand providing the dealer hand of cards associated with the dealer;

applying the rule that the amount of the in-round wager is variable, comprising the server receiving, from the client, a game play election selected, by the player at the user device, from;

a fold election and

a Play event election of;

 

1×

the Ante, as the in-round wager, for the four-card player hand exceeded by a predetermined threshold ranking, and

 

1×

to 3×

the Ante, as the in-round wager, for the four-card player hand at least equaling the predetermined threshold ranking; and

applying the rule that play of the round is head-to-head poker with the player hand of cards competing against the dealer hand of cards, comprising, after the server receives the game play election, the server resolving any of the Ante, the Bonus event, and the Play event not already resolved comprising;

for the Ante and the Play event, the server comparing the four-card player hand to the four-card dealer hand; and

for the Bonus event, the server applying a bonus threshold and a bonus pay table to the four-card player hand.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one credit for the Ante and the at least one other credit to enter the player to participate in the Bonus event are virtual credits.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the virtual credits are play-for-fun credits of no monetary value.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the ordered combination of steps further comprises distributing additional virtual credits to the player associated with the user device based on a hierarchy of players.

5. A method of operating a gaming system over a network and in communication with a remote user device, the method comprising:

providing, by a server of the gaming system, a client for execution on the remote user device connected to the network and associated with a player; and

after providing the client, operating the gaming system in a round of the method according to a set of rules applied in an ordered combination of acts,

the set of rules comprising rules of;

the player must wager to participate in the round;

play of the round is head-to-head poker with a player hand of cards competing against a dealer hand of cards, the player hand of cards associated with the player, the dealer hand of cards associated with a dealer;

the player is provided more cards than are needed to form the player hand;

the dealer is provided more cards than are needed to form the dealer hand; and

an amount of an in-round wager is variable, not being preset before administration of the round; and

the ordered combination comprising;

applying the rule that the player must wager to participate in the round, comprising the client receiving, from the remote user device and communicating to the server;

an Ante to enter the player in the round of the method, and

a Bonus event entry;

applying the rule that the player is provided more cards than are needed to form the player hand, comprising;

the server determining a set of five player cards randomly selected by the server from a set of playing cards;

the server communicating to the user device the set of five player cards for display on the remote user device in a player card receiving area on a virtual play surface of a virtual play table;

the server receiving, from the remote user device, an instruction to form a four-card player hand from the set of five player cards, the four-card player hand providing the player hand of cards associated with the player; and

the server communicating to the remote user device the four-card player hand for display on the remote user device;

applying the rule that the amount of the in-round wager is variable, comprising the server receiving, from the client, a game play election option selected, by the player at the user device, from;

a fold election and

a Play event entry of

 

1×

the Ante, as the in-round wager, with the four-card player hand exceeded by a threshold ranking, and

 

1×

, 2×

, and 3×

the Ante, as the in-round wager, with the four-card player hand at least equaling the threshold ranking;

applying the rule that play of the round is head-to-head poker with the player hand of cards competing against the dealer hand of cards and applying the rule that the dealer is provided more cards than are needed to form the dealer hand, comprising the server resolving at least the Ante and the Play event, comprising distributing at least a portion of a game pot to the player upon a rank of the four-card player hand exceeding a rank of a four-card dealer hand formed from a set of six dealer cards from the set of playing cards; and

the server resolving the Bonus event entry, comprising applying a bonus threshold and a bonus pay table to the rank of the four-card player hand,

wherein the game pot comprises all of the Ante, the Bonus event entry, and the Play event entry received by the server or the client, and

wherein the Ante, the Bonus event entry, and the Play event entry are each indicated by at least one virtual, monetarily valuable gaming chip in a respective designated area on the virtual play surface of the virtual play table.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, before the server determining the set of five player cards:

the client receiving from the remote user device and communicating to the server an indication of a poker pot entry; and

the gaming system adding the poker pot entry to a poker pot having no house advantage.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising, before the server determining the set of five player cards:

the client receiving, from the remote user device and communicating to the server, an additional bonus event entry;

the gaming system adding the additional bonus event entry to the game pot before the server resolving at least the Ante and the Play event; and

after the server distributing at least the portion of the game pot to the player upon the rank of the four-card player hand exceeding the rank of the four-card dealer hand, the server distributing at least another portion of the game pot for occurrence of a predetermined event.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, before the server distributing at least the portion of the game pot and at least the other portion of the game pot, the gaming system deducting a rake from the game pot.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined event is a predetermined number of hands, a predetermined number of rounds, a predetermined time limit, or a predetermined total in the game pot.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined event is the rank of the four-card player hand at least equaling a qualifying hand rank.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the game pot is a progressive pot.

12. A system for executing a set of instructions over a network and in communication with at least one remote user device, the system comprising:

a storage device comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions; and

at least one processor in communication with the storage device and at least one user device remote from the storage device, the at least one processor configured to execute the set of instructions,

the set of instructions defined to, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform an ordered combination of acts by which a set of rules are applied;

the set of rules comprising;

a player must wager to participate in a wagering game;

play of the wagering game is head-to-head poker with a player hand of cards competing against a dealer hand of cards, the player hand of cards associated with the player, the dealer hand of cards associated with a dealer;

the player is provided more cards than are needed to form the player hand;

the dealer is provided more cards than are needed to form the dealer hand; and

an amount of an in-round wager is variable, not being preset before administration of the wagering game; and

performance of the ordered combination of acts causing the system to, for each of the at least one user device;

in applying the rule that the player must wager to participate in the wagering game, receive, from the user device, an indication of an Ante and an indication of a Bonus event entry to enter the player associated with the user device to participate in the wagering game, the indication of the Ante and the indication of the Bonus event entry comprising at least one virtual gaming chip in a respective designated wager area on a virtual play surface of a virtual play table;

in applying the rule that the player is provided more cards than are needed to form the player hand and in applying the rule that the dealer is provided more cards than are needed to form the dealer hand;

determine, by random selection, a set of five player cards a set of playing cards;

communicate, to the user device, the set of five player cards for display on the user device in a player card receiving area on the virtual play surface of the virtual play table;

determine, by random selection, a set of six dealer cards from the set of playing cards;

receive, from the user device, an indication of a four-card player hand formed from the set of five player cards, the four-card player hand providing the player hand of cards associated with the player; and

determine a four-card dealer hand from the set of six dealer cards, the four-card dealer hand providing the dealer hand of cards associated with the dealer;

in applying the rule that the amount of the in-round wager is variable, receive, from the user device, a game play election selected, at the user device, from an election set consisting of;

a fold election and

an indication of a Play event entry, comprising at least one virtual gaming chip in a respective designated wager area on the virtual play surface of the virtual play table, of;

 

1×

the Ante, as the in-round wager, for a rank of the four-card player hand exceeded by a threshold rank; and

 

1×

to 3×

the Ante, as the in-round wager, for the rank of the four-card player hand at least equaling the threshold rank;

in applying the rule that play of the wagering game is head-to-head poker with the player hand of cards competing against the dealer hand of cards, resolve the indication of the Ante and the indication of the Play event entry, comprising comparing the rank of the four-card player hand to a rank of the four-card dealer hand; and

resolve the Bonus event entry, comprising comparing the rank of the four-card player hand to a bonus threshold rank defined in a bonus pay table.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the indication of the Ante, the indication of the Bonus event entry, and the indication of the Play event entry are in a form of virtual credits.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the virtual credits have no monetary value.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions is defined to, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to, when performing the ordered combination of acts, add all received of the indication of the Ante, the indication of the Bonus event entry, and the indication of the Play event entry to a game pot.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of instructions is defined to, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to, when resolving all received of the indication of the Ante and the indication of the Play event entry, distribute at least a portion of the game pot to the user device for the rank of the four-card player hand exceeding the rank of the four-card dealer hand.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions is defined to, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to, when performing the ordered combination of acts, receive, from the user device, an entry to a poker pot, the poker pot having no house advantage and including other poker pot entries received from other remote user devices of the at least one remote user device.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions is defined to, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to, when resolving all received of the indication of the Ante and the indication of the Play event entry:

distribute only a portion of the game pot to the user device for the rank of the four-card player hand exceeding the rank of the four-card dealer hand; and

retain a remaining portion of the game pot to carry over for another execution of the set of instructions.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of instructions is defined to, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to, when performing the ordered combination of acts, deduct a rake from the game pot.