The present invention relates to an insurance feature offering a second chance to win to the player in a game of chance.
In the recent years, numerous strategies to offer players better pay tables and higher chances to win have been developed. Blackjack already offers the player the possibility of buying insurance, but it is only offered in cases where the dealer has the possibility of getting a Blackjack, and protects the players only if the dealer's hand actually results in a Blackjack outcome.
Other patents teach us methods to offer a second chance to win to a player. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,070,873 and 6,234,485 describe a game wherein the player is offered a chance, when he loses, to place a second bet, corresponding to half the value of his primary wager. Said second bet allows him to “buy” a sixth card, and thus gives him a chance of getting a better hand and increasing his chances to win. This does not allow to greatly change the chances to win since only adding one card does not nullified the effect of a useless primary hand.
Another patent family, among which U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,135,882 and 6,146,271, teach us a method in which the player is allowed to choose his hand among a plurality of hands. This method gives some control over the game to the player but does not give him a second chance to win when the player has chosen a losing hand.
Other card games offer the player the opportunity to place an auxiliary bet on the dealer having a better ranking hand. In these games, the player is awarded a prize if the dealer has a hand equal or higher to that of his own hand. But this kind of auxiliary bet is not really an insurance, but more like a second game in which the player bets on his chance of having a lower hand ranking than the dealer's, thus a Baccarat-like bet.
Consequently, it is desirable to offer players a new game method offering a real second chance of winning.
Accordingly, this invention describes a method of playing a game of chance wherein at least one first wager and at least one second wager are placed by a player. In response to said first and second wagers, at least one first set of game indicia are distributed and evaluated according to a first set of game rules. If at least a predetermined number of said first set of game indicia results in a losing outcome, a second chance to win is provided to the player.
The second chance to win may be provided to the player in two different manners. First by distributing at least one second set of gaming indicia, which are evaluated according to a second set of game rules, said second set of game rules may be identical to the first set of game rules. The second way of providing said second chance to win is to evaluate at least one of the first set of game indicia by applying a third set of game rules, different from the first set of game rules.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood in light of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention describes a game of chance wherein the player is offered a second chance in the case of a determined losing game outcome. Accordingly,
This invention may be applied to any gambling game such as line games, blackjack, bingo, lotto and keno, and thus the following descriptions must not be construed as limitations to the present invention.
A player places a bet comprising an insurance option, and is dealt a seven-card primary hand, as well as two (2) partially concealed five-card poker hands.
A player places a first and second wager, the second wager providing an insurance option. The player receives a first blackjack hand and plays it to its completion, thus to the determination of a first game outcome according to a first set of game rules, namely standard blackjack game rules. If said first game outcome is determined as a losing outcome, the player receives a second hand which is evaluated according to a second set of game rules, here also blackjack. The player plays this second hand to its completion and an insurance outcome is determined according to the same standard blackjack game rules. If the insurance outcome is a winning outcome, the player receives a prize based on a standard blackjack pay table and on the second wager value. It is to be noted that if the first game outcome had been determined as a winning outcome, the prize awarded to the player would have been based on the standard blackjack pay table and on the first wager value.
A player places up to three first wagers and one second wager, the second wager providing an insurance option. The player receives a five-card hand for each of placed first wager.
The player places a first and second wager, the second wager comprising an insurance option. The player selects his card of four (4) digits and a winning combination is drawn. The player's card is compared to the winning combination and a first game outcome is determined according to a first set of game rules. If the card is determined as a losing card, an insurance pay table, comprised in a third set of game rules, is applied to said card by comparing the drawn numbers to the selected numbers, regardless of their positions. If the number of matching numbers reaches a predetermined threshold, with or without repetition, the player is awarded a prize, based on the second wager.
The player places at least one first and at least one second wager, the at least one second wager comprising an insurance option. The reels of the line game spin and stop to generate a first game outcome. The lines on which the player has placed a wager are analyzed according to a first set of game rules to determine if said first game outcome is a winning or a losing outcome, wherein a winning outcome comprises at least one winning line. If the first game outcome were determined as a losing outcome, the player selects lines, among said played lines, in a number corresponding to the number of placed second wagers. Each of the selected lines is played, according to a second set of game rules, as a draw poker game in which the player selects symbols to hold and thus reels to re-spin. The final insurance outcome of each line is analyzed and a prize value is determined for each winning insurance outcome, based on the sum of the first and the second wagers placed on this line. The player is awarded the highest of the prize values.
The player places a first wager and is dealt a stud poker five-card hand, of which three (3) cards are dealt face down. The player determines his chances of winning and is offered a chance to place a second wager, comprising an insurance option. If the player decides to place said second wager, five (5) five-card insurance hands are dealt face down. The hidden cards of the first hand are revealed and the hand is evaluated according to standard stud poker rules (first set of game rules). If the first game outcome were determined as a losing outcome, the first card of the five (5) insurance hands is revealed and compared to the first card of the first game hand. All of the insurance hands fulfilling criteria, here having a first card of the same color as the first card of the first game hand, will be used to provide insurance outcomes and the others are removed. The played insurance hands are revealed and evaluated according to a second set of game rules, in this example the same standard stud poker rules as the first game outcome to determine insurance outcomes. The player is awarded the prizes corresponding to two (2) of said insurance outcomes. If more than two of said played insurance hands result in a winning outcome, two are randomly selected and their prize values, based on the second wager, are awarded to the player. If only one of said played insurance hands results in a winning outcome, the player is awarded the corresponding prize, based on the second wager.
The player places at least one wager, one for each line the player desires to bet on, and said wager comprising an insurance option for each played lines. The reels are spun and a first game outcome is generated and evaluated according to a pay table awarding prizes for winning lines read from left to right (first set of game rules). If all played lines were determined as losing outcomes, the lines are re-evaluated according to the same pay table but read from right to left (third set of game rules) to determine insurance outcomes. All the winning insurance outcomes corresponding prizes are awarded to the player, each prize being based on the wager placed on this line.
Accordingly, while the invention has been described in connection with the specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that modifications are available. It is the intent to cover any variations, uses or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention. Such covered applications will find their essential features herein in the scope of the appended claims.
This application claims benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/418,378, filed on Oct. 16th 2002 and entitled METHOD OF OFFERING INSURANCE IN A GAMBLING GAME.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5257789 | LeVasseur | Nov 1993 | A |
5997002 | Goldman | Dec 1999 | A |
6070873 | Perkins | Jun 2000 | A |
6135882 | Kadlic | Oct 2000 | A |
6146271 | Kadlic | Nov 2000 | A |
6234485 | Perkins | May 2001 | B1 |
6402148 | Saruwatari | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6585588 | Hartl | Jul 2003 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20040130098 A1 | Jul 2004 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
60418378 | Oct 2002 | US |