GAMING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MULTIPLE-HAND POKER GAME

• US 20080252011A1
• Filed: 04/10/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Nicely, Mark C., Ennis, Damien C., Bickley, Jeffery S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,353,751 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 273/292
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

A gaming device having a multi-player poker game includes a plurality of two-card hands dealt to a player and to a virtual opponent. First, the player has an option to place a wager on or fold each of the player hands. Then, the gaming device folds a number of dealer hands corresponding to the number of folded player hands and contributes a wager to the pot for each remaining virtual opponent hand in play. A primary award is provided if at least one of the active player hands outranks all of the non-folded virtual opponent hands. A bonus award is provided to the player if the rank of the player'"'"'s winning hand is a predetermined rank.

Claims

1. A method of operating a card game, said method comprising:

(a) enabling a player to designate a wager amount;

(b) dealing cards face-down to form a plurality of two-card player hands and a plurality of two-card house hands from a virtual deck of playing cards;

(c) sequentially for each player hand;

(i) revealing the cards in said player hand;

(ii) if said player hand is not the final player hand or if the player has already placed a wager on a previous player hand, enabling the player to either place a wager of the designated wager amount on said player hand or fold said player hand;

(iii) if said player hand is the final player hand and the player has not already placed a wager on a previous player hand, requiring the player to place a wager of the designated wager amount on said player hand; and

(iv) for each hand folded by the player, folding one of the house hands;

(d) dealing five community cards face-up;

(e) determining the rank of each wagered on player hand and each non-folded house hand by forming, for each of said hands, the highest ranking five card poker hand from the two cards in said hand and the five community cards; and

(f) providing a primary award to the player if the rank of at least one of the wagered on player hands is greater than the rank of all of the non-folded house hands, the primary award based, at least in part, on the total value of the placed wagers.

2. The method of claim 1, which includes enabling the player to place an optional bonus wager.

3. The method of claim 2, which includes providing a bonus award to the player if the player placed the optional secondary wager and if the rank of one of the wagered on player hands is one of a plurality of designated ranks.

4. The method of claim 1, which includes providing a bonus award to the player if the rank of at least one of the wagered on player hands is greater than the rank of all of the non-folded house hands, and if the rank of said wagered on player hand is one of a plurality of designated ranks.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of designated ranks include:

a Full House;

a Four-Of-A-Kind;

a Straight Flush; and

a Royal Straight Flush.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the bonus award is based on the value of the primary award.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the bonus award is based on the value of the designated wager amount.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the bonus award is based on the rank of the wagered on player hand.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(a) enabling a player to place a secondary wager up to the value of any provided bonus award;

(b) dealing cards face-up to the player to form a two-card player hand and dealing cards face-up to form a two-card house hand;

(c) dealing five community cards face-up;

(d) determining the rank of the player hand and the house hand by forming the highest ranking five card poker hand from the two cards in each hand and the five community cards; and

(e) providing a secondary award to the player if the rank of the player hand is greater than the rank of the house hand.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the value of the secondary award is the same as the value of the secondary wager.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of house hands is greater than the number of player hands.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the number of house hands is four and the number of player hands is three.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of house hands is equal to the number of player hands.

14. The method of claim 1, which includes providing the primary award to the player if the rank of at least one of the wagered on player hands is greater than the rank of some of the non-folded house hands, the primary award based, at least in part, on the number of non-folded house hands ranking below the wagered on player hands.

15. The method of claim 1, which includes providing a bonus award to the player if the rank of at least one of the player hands meets a predetermined criteria, where the bonus award is based on a paytable.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein folding one of the house hands includes selecting and folding one of the house hands having a rank closest to the rank of the most recently folded player hand.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein folding one of the house hands includes randomly selecting and folding one of the house hands.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein folding one of the house hands includes selecting and folding the lowest ranking house hand.

19. The method of claim 1, which is provided through a data network.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the data network is an internet.

21. A gaming device comprising:

a display device;

a poker game played from a virtual deck of playing cards and configured to be displayed by the display device, said poker game operable upon a primary wager by a player; and

a processor programmed to;

enable the player to place a primary wager;

deal a plurality of two-card player hands face-down and a plurality of two-card dealer hands face-down from a virtual deck of playing cards;

select one of the player hands by enabling the player to select one of the plurality of player hands by displaying one of the player hands and allowing the player to accept or reject said hand, for each of the plurality of player hands until the player accepts one of the player hands, the final player hand being automatically selected if the player rejected all of the previous player hands;

select one of the plurality of dealer hands by displaying one of the dealer hands and accepting or rejecting said hand, for each of the plurality of dealer hands until one of the plurality of dealer hands has been accepted, the final dealer hand being automatically selected if all of the previous dealer hands are rejected;

deal five community cards face-up;

determine the rank of the selected player hand and the selected house hand by forming the highest ranking five card poker hand from the two cards in each said hand and the five community cards; and

provide a primary award to the player if the rank of the selected player hand is greater than the rank of the selected house hand.

22. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to provide a bonus award to the player if the rank of the selected player hand is greater than the rank of the house hand and is one of a plurality of predetermined ranks.

23. The gaming device of claim 22, wherein the plurality of predetermined ranks include:

a Full House;

Four-Of-A-Kind;

a Straight Flush; and

a Royal Straight Flush.

24. The gaming device of claim 23, wherein the bonus award is based on the value of the primary wager.

25. The gaming device of claim 23, wherein the bonus award is based on the relative probability of achieving a hand having one of the plurality of predetermined ranks.

26. The gaming device of claim 22, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

enable the player to place a secondary wager up to the value of any provided bonus award;

deal cards to the player face-up to form a two-card player hand and deal cards face-up to form a two-card dealer hand;

deal five community cards face-up;

determine the rank of the player hand and house hand by forming the highest ranking five card poker hand from the two cards in each hand and the five community cards; and

provide a secondary award to the player if the rank of the player hand is greater than the rank of the dealer hand.

27. The gaming device of claim 26, wherein the value of the secondary award is the same as the value of the secondary wager.

28. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the number of house hands is four and the number of player hands is three.

29. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the number of house hands is equal to the number of player hands.

30. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to provide the primary award to the player if the rank of at least one of the wagered on player hands is greater than the rank of some of the non-folded house hands, the primary award based, at least in part, on the number of non-folded house hands ranking below the wagered on player hands.

31. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to provide a bonus award to the player if the rank of at least one of the player hands meets a predetermined criteria, where the bonus award is based on a paytable.

32. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to, for a play of the game, select from the non-folded house hands the hand having a rank closest to a rank of the most recently folded player hand, and fold the selected house hand.

33. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to randomly select one house hand from the non-folded house hands, and fold said randomly selected hand when the player folds one of the player hands.

34. The gaming device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further programmed to fold the lowest ranking non-folded house hand when the player folds one of the player hands.

35. A gaming system comprising:

a display device;

a poker game played from a virtual deck of playing cards and configured to be displayed by the display device, said game operable upon a primary wager by a player;

a tracking device configured to determine and store into a memory values of the cards dealt to the player and the dealer; and

a processor programmed to;

enable the player to place the primary wager;

deal a plurality of two-card player hands and a plurality of two-card dealer hands from a virtual deck of playing cards;

enable a player to select one of the plurality of player hands by displaying one of the player hands and allowing the player to accept or reject said hand, for each of the plurality of player hands until the player accepts a player hand;

select one of the plurality of dealer hands by displaying one of the dealer hands and accepting or rejecting said hand, for each of the plurality of dealer hands until one of the plurality of dealer has been accepted;

deal five community cards;

determine the rank of the selected player hand and house hand by forming the highest ranking five card poker hand from the two cards in each hand and the five community cards; and

provide a primary award to the player if the rank of the selected player hand is greater than the rank of the selected house hand.

36. The gaming system of claim 35, wherein the processor is further programmed to deal five community cards by:

dealing three community cards face-up, and enabling the player to place another optional wager;

dealing a fourth card community card face-up and enabling the player to place another optional wager; and

dealing a fifth card community card face-up and enabling the player to place another optional wager.

37. A method of playing a card game, said method comprising:

(a) requiring a player to place an initial ante wager;

(b) dealing cards face-down to form a plurality of two-card player hands and a plurality of two-card house hands from a virtual deck of playing cards;

(c) sequentially for each player hand;

(i) revealing the cards in said player hand;

(ii) enabling the player to either place a wager on the player hand or fold the player hand; and

(iii) if the player folds the player hand, folding one of the house hands;

(d) if any player hands have been wagered on;

(i) dealing five community cards face-up;

(ii) sequentially for each wagered on player hand and each wagered on house hand, determining the rank of said hand by forming the highest ranking five card poker hand from the two cards in said hand and the five community cards; and

(iii) providing a primary award to the player if the rank of at least one of the wagered on player hands is greater than the rank of all of the non-folded house hands, the primary award based on the total value of the placed wagers and the value of the initial ante wager.

38. The method of playing a card game according to claim 37, wherein the initial ante wager and any subsequent wagers by the player are added to a pot.

39. The method of playing a card game according to claim 38, further including increasing the pot, for each wagered on player hand, by the amount of the wager for the respective player hand.

40. The method of playing a card game according to claim 39, wherein the primary award is the total value of the pot.