Amusement devices: games – Card or tile games – cards or tiles therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-19
2004-11-02
Layno, Benjamin (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: games
Card or tile games, cards or tiles therefor
C273S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06811153
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to gambling games. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods for improved play of Chinese Pai Gow (tiles), Pai Gow Poker and Three Card Poker.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pai Gow tiles and Pai Gow Poker are two well known gambling games that may be banked by a casino or a player. The player has to arrange their tiles or cards into a high hand and a low hand. The low hand must not be of a higher ranking than the high hand. The dealer or banker also arranges his tiles or cards into a high hand which will be compared to the player's high hand, and a low hand which will be compared to the player's low hand. In the event of a “copy” where the low hands tie or the high hands tie (are of the same rank), the dealer wins the tie. The player must win both the high and low hands to win their bet. If one hand loses and the other hand wins, it is a push. The player is charged a five percent commission on their winning hand.
Pai Gow Poker is a game which is played with a single deck of cards with or without the use of a joker. A game of Pai Gow Poker begins with the players making a wager. A dealer shuffles the deck of cards. Three dice are rolled to determine the distribution of the hands. A hand of seven cards is dealt to each player and the dealer. Each player organizes his or her seven cards into a two-card low hand and a five-card high hand. The low hand must not have a higher ranking than the high hand according to the conventional ranking of poker. If the hands are incorrectly arranged, the player automatically loses. The player positions his cards on the playing surface with the two-card low hand in front of the five-card high hand.
The dealer reveals his cards and likewise organizes the seven cards into a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand. Wagers are resolved by comparing the rank of the player's high hand and low hand to the dealer's high hand and low hand, respectively. If the players high and low hands outrank the dealer's high and low hands, respectively, the player wins and is paid even money, less a five percent commission to the casino. If the dealer's high and low hands outrank or tie the player's high and low hands, respectively, the dealer collects the player's wager. If one, but not both, of the player's hands outrank the one of the dealer's hands, the game is a push and the wager is neither collected nor paid.
The game of Pai Gow tiles is played with a set of thirty-two Chinese Pai Gow tiles. It begins with the players making a wager. A dealer shuffles the set of tiles and arranges them into eight stacks of four tiles each. Three dice are rolled to determine the distribution of the hands. A hand of four tiles is dealt to each player and the dealer. Each player organizes his or her four tiles into a two-tile low hand and a two-tile high hand. The low hand must not have a higher ranking than the high hand according to the conventional ranking of Pai Gow. If the hands are incorrectly arranged, the player automatically loses. The player positions his tiles on the playing surface with the two-tile low hand in front of the two-tile high hand.
The dealer reveals his tiles and likewise organizes the four tiles into a two-tile high hand and a two-tile low hand. Wagers are resolved by comparing the rank of the player's high hand and low hand to the dealer's high hand and low hand, respectively. If the player's high and low hands outrank the dealer's high and low hands, respectively, the player wins and is paid even money, less a five percent commission to the casino. If the dealer's high and low hands outrank or tie the player's high and low hands, respectively, the dealer collects the player's wager. If one, but not both, of the player's hands outrank the one of the dealer's hands, the game is a push.
Three Card Poker, as disclosed in Webb, U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,774, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, is a three-card poker game played with a single deck of cards. The player makes an ante bet before the hand is dealt. The player and dealer each will get three cards face down. After looking at the cards, the player has the option to fold and forfeit the ante bet or to stay in the game by putting up a Play bet equal to the ante. After all players have made their decision, the dealer turns his hand over and checks to see if his hand is Queen-high or better. If not, the dealer does not qualify to play against all player hands so all players are paid even money on the ante and the Play bet is a push. If the dealer does qualify, then the dealer hand is compared with the player hand and whoever has the higher 3-card poker ranking wins the hand. If the player hand is a straight or better, the ante bet is paid odds automatically regardless of the dealer hand. In the event of a tie, the ante and the Play bet push. In addition to the ante bet, the player also can make an optional Pair Plus bet which is played against a predetermined pay table. If the player's own hand is one pair or better, the Pair Plus bet is paid odds according to the predetermined pay table.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,472, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes an improved game of Pai Gow tiles in which a player can make an optional bonus wager. If the player is dealt one of several predetermined hands such as Wong, Gong and pairs, the player is paid odds according to a pay table.
Franklin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,486 describes an improved game of Pai Gow Poker in which a player is permitted to make a jackpot wager along with the mandatory Pai Gow Poker wager, with the player winning the jackpot wager when he is dealt a predetermined seven card jackpot holding such as a pair low hand and straight or better high hand. The odds increase in view of the rarity of the seven card hands, up to, for example, 50,000:1 for five aces and a pair.
Another known modification of the Pai Gow Poker game is called Fortune Pai Gow Poker, where the player has the option to make a bonus bet. This bonus bet is won at predetermined odds if the player has any five cards which can form a straight or better (with the odds increasing for increasingly ranked hands). In addition, if a player makes a bonus bet of at least $5, that player can additionally win a predetermined “envy bonus” if any other player has any five cards which form a poker rank of four of a kind or higher.
Evers, et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,424 describes a modified game of Pai Gow Poker which reduces the number of pushes and pays odds if the player hand has a predetermined poker ranking. For a winning outcome, the player's high and low hands must outrank the corresponding dealer high and low hands. A push is declared if the player's high hand (i) outranks the corresponding dealer's high hand and (ii) has at least a pair of Jacks, and the dealer's low hand outranks the player's low hand. All other outcomes are declared losing outcomes for the player. As a further feature, should the outcome be (i) a player win and (ii) the player's high hand be of a predetermined qualifying holding, the player is paid a higher amount according to a predetermined payout schedule.
While such games are entertaining and useful in the gaming industry to increase interest and betting, games with still more betting options are desirable. For example, all traditional casino games allow the player to bet that they will be dealt a premium hand and be paid higher odds the better their hand is. None of the games offer a bet on the dealer hand being a bad hand. While players love to be dealt a good hand, they also love to see the dealer get a poor hand so they can beat the dealer easily. Therefore, a game can be more fun if the player can bet that the dealer will be dealt a bad hand and get paid for that. The worse the dealer hand is, the more the player is paid. In such cases the player will typically win their wager as well as a dealer “bad hand” wager.
Anderson & Morishita, LLC
Layno Benjamin
Morishita Robert Ryan
LandOfFree
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