Apparatus and Method of Using an Apparatus to Conduct a Wagering Game

Abstract

An apparatus for conducting a wagering game includes standard cards having a value and a suit supplemented with at least one special card. The special card may take the form of a substitute card that substitutes for a subset of values among the values of the standard cards. The special card may alternatively take the form of an intermediate card that is assigned a value between consecutive values among the standard cards.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of using the apparatus for conducting a wagering game. More particularly, the present invention relates to decks of playing cards comprising standard cards supplemented by new, special-purpose cards, and methods for using the decks of playing cards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Playing cards have been used to conduct a variety of card games including wagering games such as poker. A poker deck of standard playing cards includes four suits of thirteen cards for a total of fifty-two cards. The thirteen cards in each suit have values, in ascending order, of deuce, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king, and ace. The four suits are spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs.

Poker is typically conducted using a poker deck of standard cards. Occasionally, the poker deck may be supplemented with a non-standard card, such as one or more jokers. A conventional five-card poker game utilizes a well known ranking system illustrated in Table 1 below:

TABLE 1
Hand            Example
Royal Flush     10  J  Q  K  A
Straight Flush  5  6  7  8  9
Four of a Kind  8⋄ 8  8  8  J
Full House      7  7  7⋄ J  J⋄
Flush           3⋄ 5⋄ 6⋄ 9⋄ K⋄
Straight        8  9  10⋄ J  Q
Three of a Kind 5  5  5⋄ 8  A⋄
Two Pair        4  4  6  6  K
One Pair        3  3  7  8  K⋄

The five-card poker hand rankings are used not only in five-card poker games, such as five-card stud poker, five-card draw poker (including video draw poker), and the like, but also in games using seven cards, such as seven-card stud poker and Texas Hold'Em poker. In these games, a player's hand is typically ranked based on the highest ranking five-card hand that can be formed from the seven cards dealt.

For card games conducted with a standard deck of cards plus one or more jokers, the joker usually is a wild card that can substitute for any card. For example, a hand containing 10 Q K A plus a joker is a royal flush in the suit of clubs since the joker can substitute for a J. A royal flush containing a joker is typically referred to as a “wild” royal flush just so it can be distinguished from a natural royal flush that contains no joker. Some video poker games include one or more jokers acting as wild cards in this manner. In such games, the inclusion of a joker in the deck necessitates a change to the standard five card poker ranking since it is possible to have other hands. One example of such hands is the five of a kind, e.g. a hand of 8⋄ 8 8 8 Joker, where the joker is treated as an 8.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes an apparatus and a method for using the apparatus in conducting a wagering game. An apparatus, namely a deck of cards for conducting a game, includes a plurality of standard cards, each having a face identifying the fixed value and suit of the standard card. Additionally, the deck of cards includes at least one special card.

In one optional embodiment, the deck of cards includes at least one substitute card adapted to substitute for at least one of the value and suit of a defined subset of the standard cards. Optionally, the subset comprises fewer than all the values. For example, in one optional embodiment in which the values include jacks, queens, and kings, the substitute card substitutes for the subset of standard cards containing only the jacks, queens, and kings of any suit. Similarly, the substitute card may substitute for a limited subset of the suits or may substitute for any suit.

In another optional embodiment, the special card may include at least one intermediate card adapted to have a value between two consecutive values of the standard cards. For example, in an optional embodiment, the values of the standard cards include kings and aces and the intermediate card has a value between the king-value standard cards and the ace-value standard cards. An intermediate card may include a suit identifier to identify a suit for the intermediate card or the intermediate card may substitute for any suit.

As may be appreciated, in an optional embodiment the deck of cards may include at least one intermediate card and at least one substitute card with the standard cards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of standard cards according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a special card according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a special card according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a special card according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION

Reference is now made to the figures wherein like parts are referred to by like numerals throughout. Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the present invention includes playing cards for conducting a wagering game or, more specifically, a deck of playing cards including standard playing cards, examples of which are illustrated in FIG. 1, combined with special playing cards, examples of which are illustrated in FIGS. 2-4. It is contemplated that the standard playing cards may be constituted as a standard poker deck, as shown in FIG. 1, in which four suits, i.e. clubs, spades, hears, and diamonds, each include thirteen cards, i.e. cards numbered deuce through ten, jack, queen, king, and ace. As shown in FIG. 1, each standard card 100 includes a face with an identifier of the suit 102 and value 104 of the standard card 100. Alternate optional embodiments may include standard cards collected into truncated decks of cards, such as a Spanish deck that includes twelve cards in each of four suits, and supplemented decks of cards which may include additional suits, duplicate cards, or additional cards (such as one or more jokers).

In one optional embodiment of the invention, a special card comprises a substitute card that can substitute for at least one of the value or suit of a subset of standard cards. That is, the substitute card could substitute for certain standard cards, or certain values or certain suits of one or more standard cards, in a defined subset of the standard cards. In an optional embodiment, the subset includes fewer than all the values in the deck of cards. For example, in an optional embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, a “Noble” substitute card 200 may substitute for a jack, queen, or king-value card. Thus, if a player held a hand of 8 9 10 N Q⋄, the Noble substitute card 200 (denoted by the “N”) could substitute for a jack-value card to provide the player with a straight. Similarly, if a player held a hand of 3 3 3 K N, the Noble substitute card 200 could substitute for a king-value card to provide the player with a full house.

In one optional embodiment, the substitute card may be assigned a suit so that the substitute card substitutes for a subset of values within a specific suit. For example, in one such optional embodiment, one or more of four different Noble substitute cards may be provided from among a Noble of spades, Noble of clubs, Noble of hearts, and Noble of diamonds. For example, in one such optional embodiment, a player obtaining a hand of 7 8 9 10 N⋄ would hold a straight, but not a straight flush, since the Noble substitute card is of a diamond suit rather than a club suit.

In another optional embodiment, the substitute card may be suitless and may substitute for the subset of values within any suit. For example, in one such optional embodiment, a player obtaining a hand of 10⋄ J⋄ Q⋄ N A⋄ would hold a royal flush, since the suitless Noble substitute card 200 could substitute for a king card within the diamond suit (or any other suit, for that matter). As may be appreciated, the chances of dealing a royal flush hand from a standard fifty-two card deck supplemented with a single suitless Noble substitute card is 1/179,355. This is distinctly greater than the chance of dealing a royal flush from a standard fifty-two card deck without a Noble substitute card which is 1/649,740.

Since the substitute card substitutes for a subset of fewer than all the values among the standard cards, the impact of the card on the payouts for many game is less severe than a wild card, such as a joker, that can substitute for any value or suit. That is, since jokers can substitute for any card regardless of value or suit, the joker unduly increases the probability of all types of winning hands, which results in an unattractive depression of payouts for premium hands.

In one example, the present invention may be applied to a poker game such as five-card draw poker commonly conducted using electronic video poker machines. As known in the art, a standard game of video poker is a house-banked game of draw poker in which the player attempts to form one of the “winning” hands listed on a pay table. Specifically, in a typical video poker game, a player places a wager and is dealt an initial hand of cards. From the initial hand, the player designates zero or more cards to retain. Any cards not retained are discarded and replaced by cards selected from the same deck of cards.

The resulting player hand is evaluated against a predefined pay table and, if the hand is at least of a designated poker rank, the player is paid the award specified in the pay table. The hands for which awards are received, and the awards themselves, particularly when expressed as a multiple of the initial wager, provide most of the variability among different video poker machines. For example, some video poker machines include wild cards, such as jokers or deuces, while others do not. Similarly, different video poker machines include pay tables that issue special awards for certain hands, such as four aces, while others treat four aces as any other four of a kind.

According to one optional embodiment of the present invention, a video poker game is conducted using a deck of cards including fifty-two standard cards (as shown in FIG. 1) plus one suitless Noble substitute card 200. In one such optional embodiment, a pay table of winning hands and payouts may be defined. Table 2 illustrates an example of such a pay table.

TABLE 2
Final Hand                    Payout (to 1)
Natural Royal Flush           920
5 of a Kind                   300
Royal Flush with a Noble Card 250
Straight Flush                60
4 of a Kind                   20
Full House                    8
Flush                         5
Straight                      4
3 of a Kind                   3
A Pair of Queens or Better    1

It is contemplated that the winning hands and/or payouts may vary from that shown in Table 2 in alternate optional embodiments. For example, Table 3 illustrates an alternate example pay table for a video poker game in which one Noble substitute card 200 is included with fifty-two standard cards.

TABLE 3
Final Hand                    Payout (to 1)
Natural Royal Flush           940
5 of a Kind                   400
Royal Flush with a Noble Card 250
Straight Flush                60
4 of a Kind                   20
Full House                    8
Flush                         5
Straight                      4
3 of a Kind                   3
Two Pair                      1
A Pair of Queens or Better    1

It is contemplated that a substitute card could substitute for any defined subset of values among the standard cards. For example, in an alternate optional embodiment, a “Mini” substitute card (not illustrated) could substitute for a deuce or three. As above, such Mini substitute cards could be suitless, i.e. substitute for a deuce or three of any suit, or may be suited so that they can only substitute for a deuce or three in a specific suit.

In another optional embodiment, the special cards may serve to fit between the values of standard cards. That is, a special card could take the form of an intermediate card that has a value between two consecutive values of the standard cards. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a card named Zing (denoted as a “Z” in the examples below) can be a card with a new value added to the standard cards in a fifty-two card deck. Such a Zing intermediate card could have any value. For example, in an optional embodiment a Zing intermediate card may be valued between king-value cards and ace-value cards. Thus, in such an example, a hand of 10 J Q K Z (or a Zing-high straight) would outrank a hand of 9 10 J Q K (or a King-high straight) because a Zing intermediate card outranks a king-value card. However, a Zing-high straight would not outrank an Ace-high straight (J Q K Z A) since an ace-value card outranks a Zing intermediate card. It is contemplated that a hand of 10 J Q K A may be treated as a straight, i.e. the lack of a Zing intermediate card may not disrupt a straight, or 10 J Q K A may not be considered a straight, i.e. the lack of a Zing intermediate card may break the straight, depending on the embodiment.

In one optional embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 3, a suitless Zing intermediate card 300 may be treated as any suit. That is, a suitless Zing intermediate card 300 may have a fixed value, but may substitute for any suit. Thus, a hand of 3 5 9 Q Z in which the Zing intermediate card is suitless would be treated as a flush.

In an alternate optional embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 4, suited Zing intermediate cards 402, 404, 406, 408 are accorded a suit based on a suit identifier appearing on the face of the Zing intermediate card 402, 404, 406, 408.

It is contemplated that an intermediate card could be valued between any two consecutive values of standard cards. For example, an intermediate card could have a value between a ten-value card and a jack-value card or between an ace-value card and a deuce-value card.

In an optional embodiment, standard cards may be supplemented with both at least one intermediate card and at least one substitute card. In such an optional embodiment, the substitute card and intermediate card would function substantially as described above.

According to a general method of the present invention, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 5, a deck is formed 500 from standard cards supplemented with at least one special card. A ranking system for hands including the special card is defined 502. For example, where the special card is a substitute card, the subset of values and/or suits for which the substitute card can substitute is defined. Similarly, where the special card is an intermediate card, the value of the intermediate card, i.e. the standard card values between which the intermediate card falls, is defined. At least one wager is received 504 from the player and a hand is dealt 506 to the player. The hand is evaluated 508 based on the ranking system including any special cards dealt to the hand. It is contemplated that the hand may be evaluated by comparing the hand to another player's hand, a dealer's hand, a standard hand, a community hand, a pay table of winning hands, or any other standard. Based on the evaluation of the hand, the player's wager is resolved 510. The resolution of the wager may be carried out by collecting or retaining the player's wager if the player loses based on the evaluation of the hand, returning the player's wager if the player pushes or ties based on the evaluation of the hand, or issuing a reward based on the player's wager if the player wins based on the evaluation of the hand. If a reward is issued, the reward may take the form of a payout based on the player's wager, an award based on a pay table, a pot or portion thereof, or any other form of reward.

While certain embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described it is to be understood that the present invention is subject to many modifications and changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention presented herein.

Claims

1. A deck of cards for conducting a game comprising: a plurality of standard cards, each of said standard cards having a face identifying the fixed value and suit of said standard card; andat least one substitute card, said substitute card adapted to substitute for at least one of the value and suit of a defined subset of said standard cards, said subset comprising fewer than all said values.

2. The deck of claim 1 wherein said substitute card is adapted to substitute for a defined subset of said standard cards in any suit.

3. The deck of claim 1 wherein said values include jacks, queens, and kings, and said substitute card is adapted to substitute for a subset comprising only said jacks, queens, and kings of any suit.

4. A deck of cards for conducting a game comprising: a plurality of standard cards, each of said standard cards having a face identifying the fixed value and suit of said standard card; andat least one intermediate card, said intermediate card adapted to have a value between two consecutive values of said standard cards.

5. The deck of claim 4 wherein said intermediate card includes a suit identifier adapted to identify a suit for said intermediate card.

6. The deck of claim 4 wherein said intermediate card is adapted to substitute for any suit.

7. The deck of claim 4 wherein said values include kings and aces and said intermediate card is adapted to have a value between said king-value standard cards and said ace value standard cards.

8. A deck of cards for conducting a game comprising: a plurality of standard cards, each of said standard cards having a face identifying the fixed value and suit of said standard card;at least one substitute card, said substitute card adapted to substitute for at least one of the value and suit of a defined subset of said standard cards, said subset comprising fewer than all said values; andat least one intermediate card, said intermediate card adapted to have a value between two consecutive values of said standard cards.