Player-banked four card poker game

• US 20040217548A1
• Filed: 06/08/2004
• Published: 11/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/1994
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SHFL Entertainment Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Snow, Roger M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,387,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 273/292
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/005 Poker
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00157 Casino or betting games horse races A63F3/00082

Abstract

A player-banked casino game utilizes at least one deck of playing cards, the game comprising: each player placing at least one wager to participate in the casino game; dealing a first number of cards to a dealer as a banker'"'"'s hand, the first number of cards being greater than the number of cards to be used in determination of a poker rank hand for the banker'"'"'s hand; dealing a second number of cards to each player, the second number of cards being greater than the number of cards to be used in determination of a poker rank hand for each player; the dealer discarding at least one card from the banker'"'"'s hand to form a resulting single dealer hand; each player discarding at least one card to form a resulting player'"'"'s hand for each player, wherein the number of cards in resulting player'"'"'s hands and the resulting banker'"'"'s hand are equal; and resolving each player hand against the banker'"'"'s hand according to predetermined game rules. The initial player'"'"'s wagers must be at least matched with a Game Bet (or play bet of 1× or more of the Ante) to remain in the game after players have received their cards. The Game Bet multiplier is selected by the player.

Claims

1. A player-banked casino game play method utilizing at least one deck of playing cards, the method comprising:

each player placing at least one wager to participate in the casino game;

dealing a first number of cards to a dealer as a banker hand, said first number of cards being greater than the number of cards to be used in determination of a poker rank hand for the banker hand;

dealing a second number of cards to each player, said second number of cards being greater than the number of cards to be used in determination of a poker rank hand for each player;

the dealer utilizing fewer than all of the cards dealt to form a resulting single banker hand;

each player utilizing fewer than all of the cards dealt to form a resulting player'"'"'s hand for each player, wherein the number of cards utilized in the resulting player'"'"'s hands and the resulting banker'"'"'s hand are equal; and

resolving each player hand against the banker'"'"'s hand according to predetermined game rules.

2. The casino game of claim 1 wherein physical cards are provided to each player and the dealer.

3. The casino game of claim 1 wherein the first number of cards and the second number of cards are both five cards and the resulting number of dealer'"'"'s cards in the banker'"'"'s hand and the resulting number of player cards are both four cards.

4. The casino game play method of claim 1 wherein the game is implemented on a multiple player gaming platform.

5. The casino game of claim 3 wherein, if the banker'"'"'s hand does not have at least a minimum predetermined rank of poker hand, the banker'"'"'s hand is provided with one more additional card.

6. The casino game of claim 1 wherein the player makes an Ante wager prior to review of that player'"'"'s second number of cards.

7. The casino game of claim 6 wherein after the player reviews that player'"'"'s second number of cards, that player may place a wager of at least 1×

the Ante wager to stay in the game.

8. The casino game of claim 6 wherein after the player reviews that player'"'"'s second number of cards, that player may place a wager of greater then 1×

the Ante wager when the player'"'"'s resulting number of cards'"'"' hand exceeds at least a predetermined minimum poker ranking for a player'"'"'s hand.

9. The casino game of claim 8 wherein the wager of greater than 1×

is an amount equal to a multiple of the Ante wager.

10. The casino game of claim 9 wherein the multiple of the Ante wager may be selected from the group consisting of 1×

, 2'"'"', 3×

, 4× and

5×

.

11. The casino game of claim 5 wherein the player makes an Ante wager prior to review of that player'"'"'s second number of cards.

12. The casino game of claim 11 wherein after the player reviews that player'"'"'s second number of cards, that player may place a wager of at least 1×

the Ante wager.

13. The casino game of claim 11 wherein after the player reviews that player'"'"'s second number of cards, that player may place a wager of greater then 1×

the Ante wager if the player'"'"'s resulting number of cards'"'"' hand exceeds at least a predetermined minimum poker rank for a player'"'"'s hand.

14. The casino game of claim 13 wherein the wager of greater than 1×

may be an amount equal to a multiple of the Ante wager.

15. The casino game of claim 13 wherein the multiple of the Ante wager may be selected from the group consisting of 1×

, 2×

, 3×

, 4× and

5×

.

16. The casino game of claim 5 wherein physical cards are provided to each player and the dealer.

17. The casino game of claim 11 wherein physical cards are provided to each player and the dealer.

18. The casino game of claim 15 wherein physical cards are provided to each player and the dealer.

19. The casino game of claim 1 wherein the first number of cards exceeds the second number of cards by at least one card.

20. The casino game of claim 5 wherein the first number of cards exceeds the second number of cards by at least one card.

21. The casino game of claim 11 wherein the first number of cards exceeds the second number of cards by at least one card.

22. The casino game of claim 15 wherein the first number of cards exceeds the second number of cards by at least one card.

23. The casino game of claim 21 wherein physical cards are provided to each player and the dealer.

24. The casino game of claim 22 wherein physical cards are provided to each player and the dealer.

25. The casino game of claim 1, wherein each player places at least one of an Ante and a Bonus Bet, and when a bonus bet is placed, paying the player a payout for achieving a predetermined winning card combination.

26. The casino game of claim 25, wherein multiple winning combinations are predetermined, and payouts and combinations are displayed on a pay table.

27. The casino game of claim 25, and further comprising an automatic bonus paid on the ante for at least one predetermined winning combination.

42. The method of claim 1, and further including a mandatory Super Bonus bet, wherein payouts are made on the Super Bonus bet for predetermined hand ranks.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the Super Bonus bet pays odds for predetermined winning hands.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein the Super Bonus and Ante bets are equal.

28. A live player-banked casino game play betting method comprising the steps of:

each player placing a first wager to participate in a live casino game;

a dealer dealing a plurality of cards to each player;

the dealer dealing a plurality of cards to the dealer as a banker'"'"'s hand;

each player optionally folding or making an additional bet that is a multiple of the first wager, wherein the multiplication factor is at least 1 and selected by the player; and

resolving the wager according to predetermined game rules.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein both the dealer excludes at least one card from determining a hand to be ranked and each player excludes at least one card from each player'"'"'s hand to form a hand to be ranked against the banker'"'"'s hand.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the dealer and the player are initially dealt exactly five cards and resolution of game rules is based upon ranking of four card hands.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the dealer is initially dealt exactly six cards to form the banker'"'"'s hand and the player is initially dealt exactly five cards and resolution of game rules is based upon ranking of four card hands.

32. The method of claim 29 wherein the dealer and the player are initially dealt exactly five cards and resolution of game rules is based upon ranking of four card hands, and the dealer is dealt a sixth card for the banker'"'"'s hand only if the dealer'"'"'s four-card poker hand rank with the initial five cards in the banker'"'"'s hand does not at least equal a predetermined banker'"'"'s minimum hand rank.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the banker'"'"'s minimum hand rank is at least a rank less than one pair.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the banker'"'"'s minimum hand rank is at least a rank of one pair.

35. The method of claim 29 wherein the at least a first wager is an Ante and the player must make the additional wager to stay in the game, and the additional wager may be a multiple selected from values between 1×

and 5×

.

36. The method of claim 29 wherein the at least a first wager is an Ante and the player must make the additional wager to stay in the game, and the additional wager may be a multiple selected from the group consisting of 1×

, 2×

, 3×

, 4× and

5×

.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the multiple wager may exceed 1×

only if the player'"'"'s four-card poker rank exceeds a predetermined player'"'"'s minimum four-card poker rank.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein the multiple wager may exceed 1×

only if the player'"'"'s four-card poker rank exceeds a predetermined player'"'"'s minimum four-card poker rank.

39. The method of claim 29 wherein the dealer is provided with one additional card for the banker'"'"'s hand after receiving the dealer'"'"'s initial plurality of cards.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the player may make an additional wager before the dealer receives the additional card for the banker'"'"'s hand.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the player may make the additional wager after the dealer has determined that the four-card poker rank of the banker'"'"'s hand in the initial cards dealt does not meet at least the rank of a banker'"'"'s predetermined minimum four-card poker rank.

45. A live player-banked casino game betting method comprising the steps of:

each player placing a first wager to participate in a live casino game;

a dealer dealing a plurality of cards to each player;

the dealer dealing a plurality of cards to the dealer as a banker'"'"'s hand;

each player optionally folding or making an additional bet that is a multiple of the Ante wager, at the option of the player, but not necessarily equal to the Ante wager; and

resolving the wager according to predetermined game rules.

46. The method of claim 45 wherein the dealer combines the Ante and additional bet after placement of the additional bet.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein the player is paid according to a pay table when the player'"'"'s hand ranking exceeds the dealer'"'"'s hand ranking.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein the pay table includes the following predetermined winning combinations and corresponding payout odds:

49. The method of claim 45 wherein the players are paid an automatic bonus amount for a number of predetermined high-ranking hands.

50. The method of claim 45 wherein the predetermined high-ranking hands and corresponding payout odds are as follows:

51. The method of claim 45 wherein the multiple is between 1×

and 5×

the Ante.

52. The method of claim 45, wherein the multiple is selected from the group consisting of 1×

, 2×

, 3×

, 4× and

5×

the Ante.

53. The method of claim 45, wherein the multiple is selected from the group consisting of 1×

, 2× and

3×

the Ante.

54. A method of playing a wagering game, wherein each player competes against a dealer and/or banker hand, the method comprising:

each player making an Ante bet to participate in the game;

dealing a first number of cards comprising at least a part of a first hand to each player;

dealing a second number of cards comprising at least part of a second hand to the dealer,

dealing an additional card or cards, if necessary to complete the player and dealer hands;

after viewing his cards, each player either folding or making a play bet that is a multiple of at least 1×

the Ante, the multiple selected by the player;

each player discarding at least one card from the player hand;

the dealer discarding at least one card from the dealer hand;

comparing the hand values using poker rank as a criteria;

and awarding all players whose hand is of a higher rank than the dealer and banker hand a payout.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the first and second number of at least part of a first hand of cards are equal.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the number of cards in the dealer and players hands is 5, and each player and the dealer play with a best four card hand for a highest ranking four card poker hand.

57. The method of claim 54, wherein a card count of the initially dealt dealer and player at least part of a hands are equal.

58. The method of claim 54 and further comprising dealing at least one community card that is used to complete dealer and player hands.

59. The method of claim 54, wherein the dealer combines the Ante and Play bets and collects and/or pays on the combined Ante/Play wager.