Online blackjack tournaments with option to purchase card counting report

• US 8,357,032 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2006
• Issued: 01/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cork Group Trading Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Cork Group Trading Ltd.
• Inventors: Naicker, Theo
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuff, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin Y
• Application Number:
  US11/522,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20080070659A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,322 Days
• Field of Search: 463/12
• US Class Current: 463/12
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

Online blackjack tournaments are described which provide a facility by which a player in the blackjack tournament may purchase a card counting report to assist in their play. The card counting report could be purchased with cash or cash equivalent, or with chips assigned to the player for play in the tournament. The player may select the format or content for the card counting report. The report could be purchased for the entire tournament, a round of the tournament, or for one or more hands. In one variation, the card counting report is generated by a central gaming server. In another variation, the card counting report is generated locally by a client process executing on a workstation used by a player to play in the tournament.

Claims

1. A method for conducting an online blackjack tournament by remotely located players over a computer network, comprising the steps of:

providing a pool of prize money for paying out to one or more winners of the tournament;

providing a set of one or more rules for playing rounds of blackjack at the tournament;

providing a database storing data relating to play in the tournament, the data including data relating to cards revealed to the remotely located players during the course of play of the tournament, and

providing a gaming server configured for conducting multiple rounds of play of blackjack, the gaming server communicating with the remotely-located players over the computer network, each round of play consisting of multiple hands of blackjack, using the set of rules wherein during the rounds of play the players make wagers and receive winnings with chips provided by the proprietor of the tournament to the players; and

providing a facility whereby players in the blackjack tournament may purchase a card counting report during play of the tournament in the form of an index or score resulting from a systematic card counting method providing guidance to the player for play of the round.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tournament is played at a plurality of virtual card tables and wherein the rules comprises a first rule of playing blackjack at the tables using a single deck of cards and a second rule of dealing the cards from the deck of cards down to the last card in the deck.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the card counting report is generated by a central gaming server process and transmitted to a workstation associated with a player who has purchased the card counting report.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the card counting report is generated by a client process executing on a workstation associated with a player who has purchased the card counting report.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the card counting report is purchased with cash or cash equivalent.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein cash or cash equivalent exchanged for purchases of card counting reports during the tournament are added to the pool of prize money.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein cash or cash equivalent exchanged for purchases of card counting reports during the tournament are retained, at least in part, by the proprietor of the tournament.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the card counting report is purchased with chips assigned to the player for playing in the tournament.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the facility comprises a display screen displayed on a workstation of a player playing in the tournament wherein the display screen provides a menu of options for the card counting report.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the menu of options comprises a menu of content of the card counting report.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the menu of options comprises a menu of options for receiving the card counting report.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the facility comprises a display screen displayed on a workstation of a player playing in the tournament wherein the display screen provides for purchase of a card counting report in the form of an index or score during play of a round of play at the tournament.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the purchase of the card counting report is associated with a cost and wherein the cost of the card counting report varies depending on at least one of (1) the round of play in which the card counting report is purchased, (2) whether the card counting report is purchased for a limited number of hands in the round of play in which the card counting report is purchased, (3) whether the card counting report is purchased for all rounds of the tournament, (4) a theoretical advantage a particular card counting report is likely to provide to a player for play of a particular hand using the card counting report;

(5) the size of the pool of prize money, and (6) the cost of a buy-in for the tournament.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the pool of prize money is formed from buy-ins paid by players to enter the tournament, whereby both the pool of prize money and the payment of winnings with chips during the rounds of play eliminates exposure to the proprietor to losses for conducting the tournament.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the pool of prize money is further formed from sponsorship fees paid by sponsors of the tournament other than the proprietor of the tournament.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the rules comprise rules favorable for counting cards during hands of play of blackjack including a first rule of dealing the cards from a single deck of playing cards down to the last card in the deck and a second rule of exposing the cards of players including cards of players that bust.

17. Online blackjack tournament apparatus comprising

a gaming server generating results of play of players playing in an online blackjack tournament, the players playing at virtual blackjack tables, the gaming server transmitting datagrams to workstations associated with the players;

a database storing data relating to play in the tournament, the data including data relating to cards revealed to players at the virtual blackjack tables,

a server process comprising instructions stored in a memory for accessing data from the database and responsively generating a card counting report in the form of an index or score resulting from a systematic card counting method providing guidance to the player for play of the round for play occurring at at least one of the virtual blackjack tables,

wherein the gaming server transmits the card counting report to a workstation in which the player associated with the workstation has purchased a card counting report for play at the tournament.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the gaming server generates results of play in accordance with rules for the tournament, wherein the rules includes a rule of dealing cards from a deck of virtual cards down to the last card in the deck.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the database stores data indicating the total amount of chips assigned to each player in the tournament, wherein the card counting report is purchased with chips, and wherein the price of the card counting report is reflected by reducing the number of chips assigned to the player that purchases a card counting report.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a credit facility for accounting for money paid by players to play in the tournament, wherein the players pay with cash or cash equivalent to purchase the card counting report, and wherein the payment of cash or cash equivalent is accounted for by the credit facility.

21. Online blackjack tournament apparatus comprising:

a memory storing a client process comprising a set of software instructions for execution on a workstation playing in the online blackjack tournament,

wherein the client process includes instructions receiving datagrams from a central gaming server, the datagrams indicating cards revealed in the course of play at a virtual blackjack table at the tournament, and

wherein the client process further includes a subroutine displaying a card counting report in the form of an index or score resulting from a systematic card counting method providing guidance to the player for play occurring at a virtual blackjack table, the client process displaying the card counting report on a display of the workstation.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the client process generates a display screen providing a menu of options for the card counting report.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the menu of options comprises a menu of content of the card counting report.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the menu of options comprises a menu of options for receiving the card counting report.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the client process includes a subroutine calculating the card counting report from data in datagrams received from the central gaming server.