Variant of texas hold 'em poker

• US 9,129,487 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2013
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Snow, Roger M., Castle, Louis J. II
• Primary Examiner(s): DENNIS, MICHAEL DAVID
• Application Number:
  US14/034,284
• Publication Number:
  US 20140087804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 715 Days
• Field of Search: 273/292, 463/13
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 1/067 Tables or similar supporting structures
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2001/005 Poker
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00157 Casino or betting games horse races A63F3/00082
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/326 Game play aspects of gaming systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3293 Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack

Abstract

An online variant of the game of Hold '"'"'Em poker allows one or all of the players to remain in a game with an option of checking or making specific wagering amounts in first play wagers, being limited in the size of subsequent available play wagers or prohibited from making additional play wagers if a first play wager has been made, being limited in the size of available later play wagers if a first or earlier play wager has been made, and having the opportunity for at least two and as many as three or four distinct opportunities in the stages in the play of a hand to be able to make one or more play wagers.

Claims

1. A method of administering a wagering game over a network, comprising:

providing a game server and a user interaction server of a gaming system;

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

the client receiving from the user device, and communicating to the game server, an indication of an ante wager associated with the player to qualify the player to participate in the wagering game;

the client receiving from the user device, and communicating to the game server, an indication of a bonus wager associated with the player;

the gaming system adding the ante wager and the bonus wager to a game pot;

the game server determining a set of player cards defining a partial player hand including a selected number of randomized playing cards from a set of playing cards;

the game server communicating to the user interaction server the partial player hand;

the user interaction server communicating to the user device the partial player hand for display on a display associated with the user device;

the game server determining a partial dealer hand including a selected number of randomized playing cards from the set of playing cards equal to the selected number of randomized playing cards forming the partial player hand;

the game server receiving, from the client, a first game play election of a check, the first game play election input at the user device and selected by the player associated with the user device from first game play options comprising the check and a play wager election of a play wager amount not exceeding a first predetermined maximum multiple of the ante wager;

the game server determining a set of community cards including randomized playing cards from the set of playing cards;

the game server communicating to the user interaction server the set of community cards;

the user interaction server communicating to the user device the set of community cards for display on the display associated with the user device;

after receiving the first game play election of the check, the game server receiving, from the client, a second game play election input at the user device and selected by the player associated with the user device from second game play options comprising a fold and a play wager election of a play wager amount not exceeding a second predetermined maximum multiple of the ante wager;

the gaming system adding the play wager amount to the game pot;

the game server determining a poker hand for the player associated with the user device, the poker hand for the player formed from the partial player hand and the set of community cards;

the game server determining a poker hand for the dealer formed from the partial dealer hand and the set of community cards;

the game server resolving the ante wager and any play wager associated with the user device based at least in part on a comparison of the poker hand for the player to the poker hand for the dealer and determining a payout to be distributed from the game pot to the player for the poker hand for the player outranking the poker hand for the dealer; and

the game server resolving the bonus wager associated with the player.

2. The method of claim 1:

further comprising, before the client receiving from the user device, and communicating to the game server, the indication of the ante wager, providing virtual wagering elements to the player associated with the user device;

wherein the client receiving from the user device, and communicating to the game server, the indication of the ante wager comprises the client receiving from the user device the indication of the ante wager, the ante wager being of an amount of the virtual wagering elements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing virtual wagering elements to the player associated with the user device comprises providing play-for-fun credits to the player associated with the user device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising awarding a quantity of virtual wagering elements to the player associated with the user device based on a hierarchy of players.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the client receiving from the user device, and communicating to the game server, an indication of a poker wager;

the gaming system adding the poker wager to a poker pot separate from the game pot; and

the game server identifying a winner of the poker pot, the winner of the poker pot being a player, of a plurality of players including the player associated with the user device, holding a highest-ranking poker hand in a round of the wagering game.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the poker pot has no house advantage.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the gaming system collecting a rake on all wagers combined in the game pot.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the game server identifying a winner of at least a portion of the game pot based on occurrence of a predetermined bonus event comprises the game server identifying the winner of at least the portion of the game pot based on a predetermined bonus event selected from the group consisting of a predetermined number of hands, a predetermined number of rounds, a predetermined time limit, and a predetermined amount in the game pot.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the game pot is a progressive pot.

10. A system for managing play of a wagering game by a processor in communication with a plurality of remote user devices, each user device of the plurality of remote user devices associated with a player of a plurality of players, comprising:

a communication interface for communicating with the remote user devices;

a processor configured to execute instructions; and

a set of the instructions stored on a non-volatile medium that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to;

receive, from each user device of the plurality of remote user devices, an indication of an ante wager associated with a player of the plurality of players to participate in the wagering game;

add the ante wager, received from any of the plurality of remote user devices, to a game pot;

receive, from at least one user device of the plurality of remote user devices, a bonus wager;

add each received bonus wager to the game pot;

determine a plurality of partial player hands, each partial player hand of the plurality of partial player hands including a number of randomized playing cards from a set of playing cards;

provide each partial player hand to a respective user device of the plurality of remote user devices;

determine a partial dealer hand including a number of randomized playing cards from the set of playing cards equal to the number of randomized playing cards in the partial player hand;

receive, from each user device of the plurality of remote user devices a first game play election selected, during a round of the wagering game, from options including a check and a play wager of a first predetermined multiple of the ante wager;

providing, by the processor to each user device of the plurality of remote user devices, for display on each user device of the plurality of remote user devices, a set of community cards including randomized playing cards from the set of playing cards;

receiving, from each user device of the plurality of remote user devices from which the play wager was not received, a second game play election selected during the round of the wagering game, from options including a fold election and the play wager of a second predetermined multiple of the ante wager;

add the play wager, received from any of the plurality of remote user devices, to the game pot;

determine, for each player of the plurality of players, a poker player hand formed from one partial player hand, of the plurality of partial player hands, and the set of community cards;

determine a poker dealer hand formed from the partial dealer hand and the set of community cards;

resolve each received play wager based at least in part on a comparison of an associated poker player playing hand to the poker dealer hand and award at least a portion of the game pot to a player, of the plurality of players, holding an associated poker player hand that beats the poker dealer hand; and

resolve the bonus wager with an award of at least a portion of the game pot based on occurrence of a predetermined bonus event.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the ante wager is in the form of virtual wagering elements that are play-for-fun credits.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to award a quantity of virtual wagering elements to the plurality of players based on a hierarchy of the players of the plurality of players.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

receive from at least one user device, of the plurality of remote user devices, an indication of a poker wager;

pool each received poker wager in a poker pot, the poker pot having no house advantage.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of the instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the processor to collect a rake on wagers added to the game pot.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the predetermined bonus event is selected from the group consisting of a predetermined number of hands, a predetermined number of rounds, a predetermined time limit, and a predetermined amount in the game pot.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the game pot is a progressive pot.