Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-15
2001-03-06
Sager, Mark A. (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
C463S025000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196918
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an intelligent card playing gaming system.
2. Background Art
Existing electronic casino games (slot machines) are available in which one player plays against a predetermined criteria that determines whether the player wins. One such game that is prominent in a casino or other gaming environment is referred to as video poker. In video poker, the player is dealt a hand of cards which is evaluated against a payoff table. Thus, the player is pitted against static, predetermined hand rankings. If the player's hand exceeds a threshold ranking, the player wins the amount indicated for the threshold. The player does not play poker against another player.
In Bridgeman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,736, a multi-player poker slot machine is described. One player is a person and the other player(s) is simulated by the slot machine system. The real player initiates all of the actions in the game while the simulated player merely responds by imitating each action of the player. There is no ability or intelligence of the simulated player to develop a strategy in which the simulated player decides upon an action other than the one performed by the real player. It is therefore, impossible for the simulated player to be the initiator of the game (i.e., make the first move). Further, the real player can predict with 100% accuracy the moves that the simulated player will take thereby making it easier for the real player to out-maneuver the simulated player.
The following provides a discussion of the game of poker.
Poker Basics
There are a large number of poker variations. However, certain basic concepts apply to most types of poker.
Poker hands generally consist of five cards from a 52 card deck. There are 2,598,960 different hands. The hands are linearly ordered in strength or “rank.” There are nine general categories of hands, ranked as shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Ranking by Categories
Rank
Name
Example
1
Straight flush
J
10
9
8
7
2
Four of a kind
K
K
K
K
9
3
Full house
J
J
J
3
3
4
Flush
A
10
9
5
2
5
Straight
6
5
4
3
2
6
Three of a kind
10
10
10
9
7
7
Two pair
A
A
4
4
9
8
One pair
9
9
K
8
6
9
No pair
3
5
6
J
Q
Within each category, hands are ranked according to the rank of individual cards, with an ace being the highest card and a 2 being the lowest card. There is no difference in rank between the four suits of cards. Table 2 shows the ranking of some example hands within the two pair category. Because the suits of the individual cards do not matter for two pair hands (the suits become relevant only for flushes and straight flushes, since all cards in these hands must be of the same suit), no suits are shown in Table 2.
TABLE 2
Relative Ranking of Some Two Pair Hands
Highest
AAKKQ
AAKKJ
AAKK10
AAKK9
* * *
AAQQ2
AAJJK
AAJJQ
* * *
JJ223
101099A
101099K
* * *
33226
33225
Lowest
33224
All hands can be ranked in a linear ranking from highest to lowest. Because suits are all of the same value, however, there are multiple hands that have identical rankings. For example, there are four equivalent hands for each type of straight flush, four of a kind, or flush, there are over a hundred equivalent hands for each two pair variation, and there are over 1000 equivalent hands for each type of no-pair hand. Accordingly, although there are over 2,000,000 possible hands, there are significantly fewer possible rankings.
Poker is characterized by rounds of card dealing and betting. Numerous variations of poker exist, including “five card draw,” “five card stud,” “seven card stud,” “hold'em,” and “Omaha.” The variations generally differ in the manner in which cards are dealt and in the manner in which bets are placed. Various criteria may also be used to determine the winning hand, including highest ranking hand wins, lowest ranking hand wins (“low-ball”), and high and low hands each win half (“high-low”).
Typically, a game starts when each player has placed an initial bet, called the “ante,” into the “pot.” The term “pot” refers to the total accumulation of bets made during a game. Each player that has “anted” is dealt an initial set of cards. The number of cards depends on the particular variation of poker being played. In five card draw, each player is initially dealt five cards.
After the deal, the players have the opportunity to place bets. If a player places a bet, that bet must be matched (“called”) or “raised” by each player that wants to remain in the game. A player who does not match a bet drops out of the game or “folds.” A round of betting ends when either every player but one had folded, or when the highest bet or raise has been called by each remaining player such that each remaining player has paid the same amount into the pot during the round.
Each game may have several “rounds” of betting. If two or more players remain after a round of betting, either more cards are dealt, or there is a “showdown,” depending on the game variation being played. A “showdown” occurs when two or more players remain in a game after the last round of betting for a game has been completed. A player wins a game of poker (also sometimes called a “hand of poker”) either by having the highest ranking hand when a “showdown” occurs, or by being the last remaining player in the game after all other players have dropped out, or “folded.” At a showdown, each player displays the player's hand to the other players. The player showing the hand with the highest ranking wins the pot.
FIG. 1
illustrates the sequence of events that occur in a game of five card draw poker. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the game begins with each player paying an ante into the pot at step
100
. At step
105
, each player is dealt five cards by one of the players who is referred to as the dealer. Players take turns being the dealer.
After each player has been dealt the initial set of five cards, the first round of betting occurs at step
110
. In a round of betting, each player is successively given the opportunity to either “pass” (i.e. to place no bet, allowed only if no one has previously placed a bet during the round), to “call” (i.e. to pay an amount into the pot equal to the total amount paid by the immediately preceding bettor), to “raise” (i.e. to pay an amount into the pot greater than the amount paid by the immediately preceding bettor), or to “fold” (i.e. to not pay anything into the pot and thereby to drop out of the game). The betting sequence typically starts with the player to the immediate left of the dealer, and then progresses in a clockwise direction.
FIG. 2
illustrates an example of a first round of betting that may occur at step
110
of FIG.
1
. In the example of
FIG. 2
there are three players: player A
200
, player B
205
, and player C
210
. Player A is the dealer. In
FIG. 2
, the cards dealt to each player are shown under the player's name. Thus, after the deal, player A's hand is AA762, player B's hand is KK225, and player C's hand is JJ843.
Since player B is the player to the immediate left of the dealer (player A), player B opens the betting round. Player B may pass (bet nothing), or place a bet. Player B's hand contains two pairs, which player B considers to be a good first round hand. Accordingly, as shown in
FIG. 2
, player B bets one “bet” at step
215
. In this example, betting “one bet” means that the bettor bets the maximum betting limit allowed by the rules of the particular variation of poker game being played. Two types of betting are “limit” betting and “pot limit” betting. In limit betting, the maximum betting limit is a predetermined amount. For example, a betting limit may be $2. In pot limit betting, the maximum amount that a player may bet is the total amount in the pot at the time the bet is made, including the amount, if any, that the bettor would need to put into the pot if the bettor were calling. Other types of betting are not limit betting, and spread limit betting, in which bets are allowed within a certain range (e.g. $2-$8).
After player B has bet, it
Hesse Michael
Hundal Hein
Miers Darrell
Reitzen Robert
Rommerdahl Bill
Gamecraft, Inc.
Sager Mark A.
The Hecker Law Group
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