The present invention relates to card games, both with traditional cards as well as video card games such as played on a computer screen or in a video machine such as found at a casino.
Games of chance provide entertainment to many. Games of chance are more likely to be enjoyable and successful when players are provided with a sense of participation and control, the opportunity to make decisions, reasonable odds of winning, and when the players perceive an improved chance to beat the odds that are normally in favor of a casino.
Poker is a popular type of card game in which players gamble on the superior value of the card combination (“hand”) in their possession. Poker is typically played using a standard 52 card deck of playing cards (or computer-generated facsimiles thereof). In poker, various combinations of the cards have significance based on both the numerical or face value of the cards and their suits. The winner is the one who holds the hand with the highest value according to an established hand-rankings hierarchy. The basic object of poker is for a player to achieve a hand having a higher poker rank than the hands held by the player's opponents. Even when wild cards are used, wild cards only substitute for cards in the defined combinations and do not create new or broader combinations of winning poker hands, although they improve the odds of having a winning hand. Other games that use poker hand rankings may likewise be referred to as “poker”.
Poker has many variations, all following a similar pattern of play. Depending on the variant, hands may be formed using cards which are dealt face-down or a combination of face-up and face-down. Two of the most popular variants are draw poker and stud poker. In draw poker, the player has the opportunity to substitute one or more of the cards from their dealt hand in an effort to improve the value of their hand. In traditional draw poker, the player does not know the value of the substitute cards until after the cards are dealt. Thus, by accepting a substitute card, the player increases chance and lessens control over her game. In stud poker, the player is traditionally dealt a combination of face-up and face-down cards, with betting taking place after each round of dealing.
The introduction of computerized poker games permits players to see the representation of dealt hands on a screen, and the players usually play against a standard pay table retained in memory. For example, conventional computerized poker is a single player game in which a player does not play against a dealer or other players, but rather tries to achieve the highest possible ranking poker hand. A payout schedule is used to determine the amount awarded to the player for achieving specified winning combinations of cards. Poker-hand rankings are used to determine winning card combinations, and a payout schedule contained in the pay table is used to determine the amount awarded to the player for achieving various winning card combinations. The conventional poker hand rankings are based on the probability of that hand occurring, using the normal 52 card deck. The lower the probability of the hand, the higher the ranking. The number of winning card combinations possible in a poker game means that, even at the lower payout value levels a player has a relatively low probability of having a winning hand, even though lower ranked winning hands of cards are the ones which occur most frequently. Also, by drawing substitute cards without knowing their value, the player reduces the amount of control she has over her hand and accepts chance over strategy.
Over time gaming casino patrons can become bored with standard versions of poker games. Casinos are continually looking for new variations of video poker games to continually create renewed interest and attract more players to play poker. It would therefore be advantageous to have new poker games which are similar to conventional poker games in their playing strategy, but which provide for greater player interaction with the game, appear to provide greater opportunities for winning, and provide greater opportunities to increase the amount of strategy used to play the game. Such new games would stimulate renewed interest of experienced players, and the interest of casual players, who will both find the games exciting.
A new card game in accordance with the principles of the present invention is similar to conventional poker games in playing strategy, but provides for greater player interaction with the game, appears to provide greater opportunities for winning, and provides greater opportunities to increase the amount of strategy used to play the game. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an improved card game is provided. The card game of the present invention comprises dealt cards being face-up and draw cards also being face-up.
In one embodiment, the card game of the present invention can be based on a stud poker game, in which face-up cards are displayed. A player selects a displayed face-up card to add to a hand. The selected displayed face-up card is replaced with another face-up card from the deck. The player continues to select displayed face-up cards, and the selected displayed face-up card continues to be replaced with another face-up card from the deck, until the hand is complete.
In another embodiment, the card game of the present invention can be based-on a draw poker game, in which face-up cards are dealt and face-up replacement cards are displayed. A player chooses from none to all cards to discard. The player selects a displayed face-up card to replace a discarded card. Each selected displayed face-up card is replaced with another face-up card from the deck. In both embodiments, once all desired cards are selected, the hand is evaluated based on a pay table having payout odds adjusted relative to a face-down card game. This invention may be played using traditional cards or on an electronic gaming machine or a computer.
The foregoing aspects and many of the advantages of the present invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The present invention relates to card games, both with traditional cards as well as video card games such as played on a computer screen or in a video machine such as found at a casino. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, desirable elements of conventional poker games are combined with a non-obvious improvement that gives a player more sense of participation and control, the opportunity to make decisions, reasonable odds of winning, and player perception of a chance to beat odds that are normally favor a casino. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a variation on traditional poker games is provided where face-up cards are dealt and draw cards also are face-up instead of face-down, with pay tables adjusted accordingly. Giving the player the ability to choose from a set of known cards to complete the player's hand gives the player the sense that they have a better chance of winning the poker game, although the odds are adjusted in the pay table for the game. The class of poker games in accordance with the principles of the present invention is non-limitingly referred to herein as “Race Poker”.
While two embodiments of such “Race Poker” are described herein—“Race Draw Poker” and “Race Stud Poker”—it will be appreciated that the principles of the present invention may be easily applied to many variations of poker, including but not limited to, for instance, Texas Hold-em, Omaha Hold-em, High-Low, Canadian Stud, Mexican Stud, Crocodile Stud, Telesina, Scandinavian Stud, Up Down variants, Anaconda, Howdy-Doody, Jacks to Open, Trips to Win, Trees, All for One, One for All, Pick a Partner, Threes, Don Juan, Triple Draw, Monkey Love, and any other variations that are now known or are developed in the future.
A typical gaming machine has other elements, not shown in the Figures because they are well known in the art and not part of the present invention, such as for example a game housing or console having a front panel with a display screen (shots of which are depicted in
The screen shots shown in
It is assumed throughout that a player of the electronic game variation is utilizing and has inserted cash or a debit card (not shown) into an appropriate slot (not shown) in the gaming machine. The debit card has stored thereon a numerical indication of a number of credits which the player may use to bet and play games. Bets are debited from the stored amount, and winnings are added to the stored amount. When a player first inserts their debit card or cash into the appropriate slot in a gaming machine, the number of credits currently held by the player is read from the debit card and can be displayed on the screens. The number of credits increases and decreases during the course of playing games as a player places bets, wins, and loses.
After a player inserts their debit card or cash into an appropriate slot in the gaming machine (both not shown) to indicate that they wish to play the “Race Poker” game, the number of credits the player has (as indicated by the number of credits stored on the player's debit card if they use a debit card) is read from the card and displayed as described in the previous paragraph. More particularly, a player can physically touch ones of the displayed ‘Bet’ buttons on video display screen to place one or more bets on the game, up to a maximum of bets. Each time the player touches a ‘Bet’ button it is sensed by the touch-screen technology, and the number of bets displayed on display is changed accordingly. Technology may be included for decreasing as well as increasing bets during the play of the game, or to select a maximum bet, as shown on
When the player is satisfied with the initial wager, they may press the ‘Deal’ button to begin game play. In one embodiment, the poker game of the present invention can be based-on a stud poker game, in which face-up cards are displayed. A player can then select a displayed face-up card to add to a hand. The selected displayed face-up card is replaced with another face-up card from a card deck, either real or electronic. The player continues to select displayed face-up cards, and the selected displayed face-up card continues to be replaced with another face-up card from a card deck, until the hand is complete.
In another embodiment, the poker game of the present invention can be based-on a draw poker game in which face-up cards are dealt and face-up replacement cards are displayed. A player can choose cards to discard, in one example embodiment from none to all. The player can then select a displayed face-up card to replace a discarded card. Each selected displayed face-up card is replaced with another face-up from a card deck. In both embodiments, once all desired cards are selected, the hand is evaluated based on a pay table having payout odds adjusted relative to a face-down card game. This invention may be played using traditional cards or on an electronic gaming machine or a computer.
In one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, the improvement is achieved by allowing the player to construct their poker hand one card at a time by selecting initially from a set of three face-up draw cards, an example of which is shown in
Referring to
Referring to
For each card removed from the draw box and placed into the hand, that card is replaced from the deck of cards. Once all desired cards are replaced, the player's hand is then evaluated according to the pay table developed for the game of the invention. Once again, there are many variations of pay tables that are suitable for use with the invention
the pay table must simply balance the player's willingness to continue play with odds that are acceptable to the casino.
There are many variations of pay tables that are suitable for use with the invention
the pay table represents an appropriate balance between the player's willingness to continue play and odds that are acceptable to the casino. Example pay tables are set forth below. Comparing Table 1 and Table 2, the difference between a pay table for a five-card “Race Poker” example of the invention described herein and a pay table for a conventional electronic poker game are seen, with Table 1 a conventional pay table and Table 2 depicting an example of a pay table for the five-card “Race Poker” of the present invention.
It is thus seen that because the odds of a player “drawing” a “royal flush” are less in this “Race Draw Poker” game relative to conventional draw poker, the payout for “royal flush” in the present invention is greater than the payout for a conventional game; in this example, 5,000 verses 4,000. This is because in a standard draw poker game a player is dealt five cards. The player then decides what cards to hold and discards the others; which are replaced by cards from the top of the deck. In “Race Draw Poker” the player is shown three face-up cards and decides to which card to place into the hand. Once a player has select a card it is replaced with a card from the top of the deck; this continues until the hand is completed. In standard draw poker the odds of getting a royal flush increase because the player has the potential to see more cards (10) verses Race Draw Poker where the most cards the player can see is seven; thus the difference in payout. Of course, a different pay table could be developed for each variation of the game reflecting the varying odds, such as the size of the draw box, if wild cards are allowed, etc.
While the invention has been described with specific embodiments, other alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it will be intended to include all such alternatives, modifications and variations set forth within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
This application is based upon U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/937,350 titled “Game and Method of Playing Poker with Face up Card Draws” filed 27 Jun. 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60937350 | Jun 2007 | US |