Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-12
2001-04-24
Wong, Steven (Department: 3711)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
C463S020000, C273S292000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220960
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to the entertainment industry and game business. More specifically, it relates to a game of chance that can be played in a casino version or a cardroom version. It covers a method and an apparatus for selecting a joker card in a poker game.
A five-card stud poker game has fascinated the public for years. A wide network of poker clubs and numerous poker tournaments is convincing testimony to its popularity. The number of poker game versions runs into dozens and is continuing to grow. Five card stud, Seven card stud poker, Draw poker, Texas hold'em—all these and other modified versions use the same basic priority or rank order of winning poker hands.
Till quite recently poker was exclusively a club game, i.e. a game in which the players play among themselves. It was practiced in cardrooms and casinos where the house provided facilities for the game and, if necessary, a croupier. The house only collected a commission of each player's winning to compensate the house for providing the service to the players and did not participate in the game.
For this reason, despite its obvious popularity, the poker game was for a long time unable to receive status and rise to the rank of a casino table game adapted for game houses and casinos in which the players could play against an impersonal party, the house or the casino, rather than against their fellow player.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,553 proved a veritable revolution in the game industry as it offered a poker game variant acceptable to a casino. The game which came to be known as Carribean Stud Poker practically spread throughout the world. Its later modifications are Oasis Stud Poker (the European version of Carribean Stud), Let it Ride (based on Texas hol'em), Three Card Poker, and others.
In order to heighten the players' interest in the game, attempts were made to change some poker rules and, wherever possible, to increase odds. Specifically, the practice of exchanging one, two and more cards for an additional wager in Oasis Stud Poker proved to be a very effective innovation. In some casinos players may “buy” an extra card for the croupier when the player has a very good combination, and the croupier does not qualify. This modification approximates Draw Poker.
One would expect that the next step along this line would be to include an extra playing card (the so-called joker card) in the 52-card deck which would increase the number of game combinations, add to the thrill of the game and bring it as close as possible to the classic version in which the highest rank combination is not Royal Flush, but a Five of a Kind. Yet no casino in the world could accept this innovation for one very simple reason: the introduction of an extra card in the deck as a joker would immediately make the game very vulnerable to all sorts of cheating. A marked joker card capable of increasing the rank of any available combination may prove to be ruinous to the casino or poker club owners.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for selecting a joker card in a poker game whereby the introduction of said joker card does not jeopardize the poker game safety.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for selecting a joker card whereby the number of game combinations increases and the game approximates the classic poker version with a possibility of the Five of a Kind combination.
According to the invention, these objects are accomplished by a method of selecting a joker card for a poker game comprising the steps of:
(a) all players anteing a first bet means;
(b) a croupier dealing a certain number of cards to the players;
(c) one of the players selecting a joker card for a given hand by picking out at random one of the elements from a plurality of elements, each corresponding to one of the cards in the deck;
(d) each player viewing his hand and deciding whether to continue playing or to fold depending on the game combination available to him and the possibility of the random-selected joker card to increase the rank of his game combination;
(e) each player either folding or remaining to continue the game;
(f) each remaining player assessing the remaining players' game combinations on the basis of the established priority or rank order of winning poker hands;
(g) each remaining player estimating his gain in the case of a winning hand, assessing the possibility of getting a new game combination of the highest rank (Five of a Kind), and paying his bet in the case of a losing hand.
The step of one of the players selecting a joker card which is preferably accomplished with the help of electronic means comprises the following substeps:
a) formation of a plurality of (N+M) elements consisting of subplurality N of elements n
ij
where N=52, i=1 . . . 13, j=1 .. . 4, and subplurality M of additional elements, where M is an integral number equal to or exceeding zero, each element n
ij
of subplurality N representing the code of a definite card of a 52-card deck characterized by sign (i) corresponding to one of the nominal values of 13 cards and sign (j) corresponding to one of the four card suits, and each additional element of subplurality M representing the code of the textual data block assuring personal priority of the croupier or any of the players;
(b) random selection of one of the elements of plurality (N+M); and
(c) presentation on the display of the result of said selection for a given hand.
The step of selecting a joker card for a given hand preferably includes a presentation to the players of the joker card on an electronic indicator in the form of a graphic image of the card symbol corresponding to random-selected code n
ij
, or in the form of a textual data block corresponding to one of the deck cards.
Besides, the step of the assessment of the remaining players' game combinations is preferably based on the use of the following priority or rank order of winning poker hands as a criterion: Five of a Kind, Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and includes transformation of the joker+One Pair game combination into the Three of a Kind combination for a pair of cards from two twos to two sevens, and into the Two Pair game combination for a pair of cards from two eights and higher, where the joker card forms a second pair with the higher card of the remaining two cards.
The objects of the present invention indicated above are also accomplished by the provision of an apparatus (facilities) for selection of a joker card in poker game, said facilities comprising a gaming table, an electronic selection device arranged on the gaming table, a Stop button designed for inserting an instruction into the electronic selection device to write the code and indicate the selected card, and a Start button designed for inserting an instruction into the electronic selection device to clear the indication of the previously selected card and write the code of the new card.
The electronic selection device preferably comprises a master clock pulse oscillator; a counter with switchable feedbacks said counter being connected through its clock pulse input to the master clock pulse oscillator output; an address register whose digit inputs are connected respectively to the digit outputs of the counter with switchable feedbacks; a read-only memory for storage of codes corresponding to deck cards, the inputs of said read-only memory being connected to the address register digit outputs; a receiving register whose digit inputs are connected to the read-only memory data outputs; a code conversion and indication unit whose inputs are connected to the receiving register digit outputs; a counter scaling factor selector switch with switchable feedbacks; a control code shaping circuit whose inputs are connected to the scaling factor selector switch of the counter with switchable feedbacks and whose
Collins D
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
Wong Steven
LandOfFree
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