Method, apparatus and article for evaluating card games, such as blackjack

• US 6,964,612 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2004
• Issued: 11/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Walker Digital Table Systems LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming International Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Soltys, Richard, Huizinga, Richard, Mouchou, Robert B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brocketti, Julie
• Application Number:
  US10/756,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20040147327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• Field of Search: 463/47, 463 11- 13, 273/149.R, 273/149.P
• US Class Current: 463/47
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/18 Score computers; Miscellaneous indicators time-testing devices G07C
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/70 Game security or game management aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• 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 system reads an identifier from a hand of cards to identify the cards. For example, the system can read an identifier from a pair of cards forming the initial hand in blackjack, where the one card is face up and the other card is face down. The system determines the value of a hand of cards form the read identifiers. For example, the system can determine a value of an initial hand of two cards in blackjack, while only one card is face up. The system can inform a dealer of the value, or status based on value, of the hand. The system can determine whether cards forming a hand of cards are authenticate by validating the cards based on the read identifier. The system can determine if the cards forming the hand of cards are in an expected sequence based on a knowledge of the initial sequence of cards in a deck.

Claims

1. An automated system to monitor cards, comprising:

a card deck reader capable of reading identifying information from a number of playing cards forming a deck of playing cards from which a card game is dealt;

a dealer hand reader capable of reading identifying information from a number of the playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand after the playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s initial hand are dealt and before the playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s initial hand are collected;

a discard card reader capable of reading identifying information from a number of the playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s complete hand and a player'"'"'s complete hand after the playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s complete hand and the player'"'"'s complete hand are collected; and

at least one processor coupled to receive the read identifying information from the card deck reader, the dealer hand reader and the discard card reader, and programmed to process the read identifying information by;

determining a sequence of the playing cards in the deck, prior to a dealer dealing any of the playing cards in a card game;

determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

determining a sequence of a number of discarded playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and the dealer'"'"'s complete hand;

determining a position of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the sequence of the discarded playing cards;

determining a number of active hands played by players during the card game;

for each of a number of players and for each hand played by the player, determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

for each of the number of players and for each hand played by the player, determining a value of the player'"'"'s completed hand from the determined value of each of the number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s completed hand; and

determining a value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand from the determined value of each of the number of playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.

2. The automated system of claim 1 wherein each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader reads the identifying information as machine-readable symbols and the processor receives the identifying information from each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader as electronic representations of the read machine-readable symbols.

3. The automated system of claim 1 wherein each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader reads the identifying information as machine-readable symbols and the processor receives the identifying information from each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader as an alpha-numeric identifier uniquely identifying each of the playing cards in the deck, where the deck comprises at least fifty-three playing cards including at least two playing cards with identical rank and suit markings.

4. The automated system of claim 1 wherein each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader reads the identifying information as machine-readable symbols and the processor receives the identifying information from each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader as a card rank and a card suit.

5. The automated system of claim 1 wherein each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader reads the identifying information as magnetic polarizations and the processor receives the identifying information from each of the card deck reader, dealer hand reader and discard card reader as an alpha-numeric identifier uniquely identifying each of the playing cards in the deck.

6. The automated system of claim 1 wherein the processor is programmed to process the read identifying information by:

determining a value of a dealer'"'"'s completed hand;

for each of a number of players, determining a value of the player'"'"'s completed hand; and

for each of the number of players, determining a winner based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.

7. The automated system of claim 1 wherein the processor is programmed to process the read identifying information further by:

for each of the players and for each hand played by the player, determining an outcome based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.

8. An automated system to monitor cards, comprising:

a card deck reader capable of reading identifying information from a number of playing cards forming a deck of playing cards;

a dealer hand reader capable of reading identifying information from a number of the playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

a discard card reader capable of reading identifying information from a number of the playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s complete hand and a player'"'"'s complete hand; and

a processor programmed to process the read identifying information by;

determining a sequence of the playing cards in the deck, prior to a dealer dealing any of the playing cards in a card game;

determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

determining a sequence of a number of discarded playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and the dealer'"'"'s complete hand;

determining a position of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the sequence of the discarded playing cards;

determining a number of active hands played by each a number of players during the card game;

for each of the number of active hands played by each of the number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

for each of the number of active hands played by each of the number of players, comparing the identity of the playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand with a set of expected playing cards based on the sequence of playing cards in the deck.

9. A method of evaluating a card game, comprising:

automatically determining a value of a dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards;

automatically determining a value of at least one player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards; and

automatically determining an outcome of a card game based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards, wherein automatically determining a value of a dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards includes;

reading identifying information from each of a number of playing cards collected from a dealer.

10. A method of evaluating a card game, comprising:

automatically determining a value of a dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards;

automatically determining a value of at least one player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards; and

automatically determining an outcome of a card game based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards, wherein automatically determining a value of at least one player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards includes;

reading identifying information from each of a number of playing cards collected from the player.

11. A method of evaluating card games, comprising:

determining a sequence of a set of playing cards in a deck of playing cards, prior to a dealer dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game;

determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

determining a sequence of a number of collected playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and a dealer'"'"'s complete hand;

determining a position of a first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the determined sequence of playing cards in the deck;

determining a number of active hands corresponding to a number of hands played by one or more players during the card game based on the determined position of the first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

for each of a number of the players and for each hand played by the player, determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

for each of the number of players and for each active hand played by the player, determining a value of the player'"'"'s completed hand from the determined value of each of the number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s completed hand;

determining a value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand from the determined value of each of the number of playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s completed hand; and

for each of the players and for each hand played by the player, determining an outcome based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein determining a sequence of the playing cards in the deck, prior to a dealer dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game includes:

automatically reading an identifier from each of the playing cards in the deck.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand includes:

automatically reading an identifier from each of the playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s initial hand after dealing the playing cards to the dealer and before the playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s initial hand are collected.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein determining a sequence of a number of collected playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and a dealer'"'"'s complete hand, includes:

automatically reading an identifier from each of the playing cards in the number of collected playing cards.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein determining a number of active hands corresponding to a number of hands played by one or more players during the card game based on the determined position of the first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand, includes:

counting the number of playing cards in the sequence of playing cards in the deck between a start of the sequence of playing cards in the deck and a first playing card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand, includes:

locating the player'"'"'s initial hand within the sequence of collected playing cards;

locating a previous adjacent initial hand in the sequence of collected playing cards;

determining the value of each playing card in the player'"'"'s initial hand; and

determining the value of each playing card, if any, between the player'"'"'s initial hand and the previous adjacent initial hand in the sequence of collected playing cards.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s completed hand, includes:

locating the dealer'"'"'s initial hand within the sequence of collected playing cards;

determining the value of each playing card in the dealer'"'"'s initial hand; and

determining the value of each playing card, if any, between a start of the sequence and the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the sequence of collected playing cards.

18. A method of evaluating a card game, comprising:

automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a player'"'"'s completed hand;

comparing the identity of each of the number of playing cards from the player'"'"'s completed hand to an expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand; and

producing a notification if the identity of each of the number of playing cards from the player'"'"'s completed hand does not match the expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand, wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a player'"'"'s completed hand includes;

determining a sequence of playing cards in a deck of playing cards from which the playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand is dealt;

determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

for each of a number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s initial hand from the determined sequence of playing cards in the deck and a position of a first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the determined sequence of playing cards in the deck;

determining a sequence of a number of collected playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and a dealer'"'"'s complete hand, the collected playing cards collected from a dealer and the one or more players; and

for each of the number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of hit playing cards forming a portion of the player'"'"'s completed hand along with the playing cards of the player'"'"'s initial hand based on the position of the player'"'"'s initial hand of playing cards and a previous adjacent initial hand of playing cards in the sequence of collected playing cards.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the number of players is one.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining the expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand wherein determining the expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand, comprises:

determining a position number “

i”

based on a position of a player'"'"'s hand with respect to a dealer'"'"'s hand and a number of other player'"'"'s hands;

determining an identity of the playing card at an i^th position in the sequence of playing cards where a first card in the sequence of playing cards has a position i equal to 1, the playing card corresponding to a first playing card in the expected set of playing cards;

determining an identity of the playing card at an n+1+i^th position in the sequence of playing cards where n is equal to a number of active hands in the card game, the playing card corresponding to a second playing card in the expected set of playing cards;

determining a number of hit cards j for each of the players'"'"' hands, the number of hit cards being equal to a number of cards between a first card in the player'"'"'s initial hand and a previous adjacent initial hand in the sequence of collected cards; and

determining an identity of the playing card at a number j of successive positions in the sequence of playing cards in the deck, starting at a 2n+2+ number of hit cards for all previous players'"'"' hands'"'"' positions.

21. A method of evaluating a card game, comprising:

automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a player'"'"'s completed hand;

comparing the identity of each of the number of playing cards from the player'"'"'s completed hand to an expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand; and

producing a notification if the identity of each of the number of playing cards from the player'"'"'s completed hand does not match the expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a player'"'"'s completed hand, includes;

reading in sequence an identifier from each of a number of playing cards in a deck of playing cards from which the playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand is dealt;

reading an identifier from each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

for each of a number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s initial hand from the sequence of identifiers read from the playing cards in the deck and from a position of a first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the read sequence of playing cards in the deck;

reading in sequence an identifier from each of a number of collected playing cards collected from a dealer and the one or more players including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and a dealer'"'"'s complete hand; and

for each of the number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of hit playing cards forming a portion of the player'"'"'s completed hand along with the playing cards of the player'"'"'s initial hand based on the position of the player'"'"'s initial hand of playing cards and a previous adjacent initial hand of playing cards in the sequence of collected playing cards.

22. A computer-readable media, having instructions that cause a computer to evaluate a card game, by:

automatically determining a value of a dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards from a sequence of playing cards collected from the dealer and from at least one player;

automatically determining a value of at least one player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards from the sequence of playing cards collected from the dealer and from the at least one player; and

automatically determining an outcome of a card game based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand of playing cards.

23. A computer-readable media, having instructions that cause a computer to evaluate a card game, by:

determining a sequence of a set of playing cards in a deck of playing cards, prior to a dealer dealing any of the playing cards from the deck in a card game;

determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

determining a sequence of a number of collected playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete band and a dealer'"'"'s complete hand;

determining a position of a first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the determined sequence of playing cards in the deck;

determining a number of active hands corresponding to a number of hands played by one or more players during the card game based on the determined position of the first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

for each of a number of the players and for each hand played by the player, determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

for each of the number of players and for each active hand played by the player, determining a value of the player'"'"'s completed hand from the determined value of each of the number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand;

determining a value of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s completed hand;

determining a value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand from the determined value of each of the number of playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s completed hand; and

for each of the players and for each hand played by the player, determining an outcome based on the determined value of the player'"'"'s completed hand and the determined value of the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.

24. A computer-readable media, having instructions that cause a computer to evaluate a card game, by:

automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a player'"'"'s completed hand;

comparing the identity of each of the number of playing cards from the player'"'"'s completed hand to an expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand; and

producing a notification if the identity of each of the number of playing cards from the player'"'"'s completed hand does not match the expected set of playing cards for the player'"'"'s completed hand, wherein automatically determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a player'"'"'s completed hand includes;

determining a sequence of playing cards in a deck of playing cards from which the playing cards forming the player'"'"'s completed hand is dealt;

determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming a dealer'"'"'s initial hand;

for each of a number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of playing cards forming the player'"'"'s initial hand from the determined sequence of playing cards in the deck and a position of a first card of the dealer'"'"'s initial hand in the determined sequence of playing cards in the deck;

determining a sequence of a number of collected playing cards including at least one player'"'"'s complete hand and a dealer'"'"'s complete hand, the collected playing cards collected from a dealer and the one or more players; and

for each of the number of players, determining an identity of each of a number of hit playing cards forming a portion of the player'"'"'s completed hand along with the playing cards of the player'"'"'s initial hand based on the position of the player'"'"'s initial hand of playing cards and a previous adjacent initial hand of playing cards in the sequence of collected playing cards.

25. A method of evaluating at least one round of at least one card game played with a plurality of playing cards selected from at least one deck of playing cards, the method comprising:

determining a sequence of at least a subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt;

determining a sequence of a number of playing cards collected after completion of the round of the card game;

computationally recreating the complete hand of at least one participant in the at least one round of the card game based on the determined sequence of the playing cards collected after completion of the round of the card game and based on a pickup order that defines an order in which the playing cards are collected from all participants in the at least one round of the card game; and

evaluating at least one aspect of at least one round of the card game based on the determined sequence of the at least subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt and the determined sequence of the number of cards collected after completion of the round of the card game.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein determining a sequence of at least a subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt includes determining the sequence of at least the subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt before a dealer deals any of the playing cards from the plurality of playing cards in the round of the card game.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the number of playing cards collected after completion of the round of the game include at least one player'"'"'s completed hand and a dealer'"'"'s completed hand and determining a sequence of a number of playing cards collected after completion of the round of the card game includes determining values of the playing cards forming the at least one player'"'"'s completed hand and determining values of the playing cards forming the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein evaluating at least one aspect of at least one round of the card game based on the determined sequence of at least the subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt and the determined sequence of the number of cards collected after completion of the round of the card game includes determining at least one of:

whether the determined sequence of the number of playing cards collected after completion of the round of the card game includes an extra playing card with respect to the determined sequence of at least the subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the game will be dealt, and

whether the determined sequence of the number of playing cards collected after completion of the round of the card game omits at least one playing card with respect to the determined sequence of at least the subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the game will be dealt.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein evaluating at least one aspect of the card game based on the determined sequence of the at least subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt and the determined sequence of the number of cards collected after completion of the round of the card game includes determining a statistical wagering pattern indicative of a card counting strategy.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein evaluating at least one aspect of the card game based on the determined sequence of the at least subset of the plurality of playing cards from which the round of the card game will be dealt and the determined sequence of the number of cards collected after completion of the round of the card game includes determining an outcome for at least one player'"'"'s completed hand against the dealer'"'"'s completed hand.