Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-02
2001-03-27
Martin-Wallace, Valencia (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
C273S293000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206780
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the general field of casino gaming and, more particularly, relates to playing a poker game on a video poker machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Poker is the most frequently played card game in the United States. Moreover, poker has a gambling aspect whereby a player is permitted to wager that he holds a poker hand that is superior to poker hands held by all other players in the game. Without the gambling aspect, poker would be one of the least frequently played card games.
What is arguably the earliest form of poker was played with a deck of twenty cards during the 1830's on Mississippi river boats. Currently, there are approximately 100 variations of poker, most of which are played with a conventional deck of 52 cards. Typically, the number of players in a poker game is from two to eight.
An invariant feature of almost all Poker games is that a poker hand is comprised of five cards. The value of the hand is determined by its rank. The player with the highest ranking hand is usually the winner. The rankings of poker hands, in descending order, are given as:
ROYAL FLUSH, (Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit);
STRAIGHT FLUSH, (five cards in sequence in any suit, i.e. Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, of the same suit);
FOUR OF A KIND, (four Aces is highest);
FULL HOUSE, (THREE OF A KIND plus a PAIR, i.e., 10, 10, 10, King King);
FLUSH (Five cards of the same suit);
STRAIGHT (five cards in sequence but of different suits, i.e., (Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7);
THREE OF A KIND (Three cards of the same rank, i.e., three Aces);
TWO PAIRS (i.e., two Kings and two 10's);
ONE PAIR (two 5's); and
NO PAIR
A form of poker, known as video poker, is frequently played in a casino on a video poker machine. When video poker is played, there is no need for a dealer, a table, cheques, cards and a plethora of other items that are used in playing traditional poker. Therefore, video poker utilizes little of the casino's infrastructure. Because little of the casino's infrastructure is used, video poker is favored by the casino. It should be understood that at any given time only one player plays a given video poker machine.
The video poker machine typically includes a video display apparatus that is mounted within a console that has a coin slot and a control panel. At the start of the video poker game, a player deposits one or more coins into the coin slot.
When the coins are deposited, the player depresses a draw/deal pushbutton. In response to the depression of the draw/deal pushbutton, the apparatus provides a video display of five cards of an initial poker hand that are randomly selected from a standard deck of fifty two cards.
The player has an option of causing the apparatus to provide a video representation of an exchange of any or all of the five cards for randomly selected cards from the deck, thereby forming a video image of a final poker hand. The machine makes a payout based upon the rank of the final poker hand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a video poker game that captures the interest of a gaming patron.
According to a first specific embodiment, in response to money being deposited into a gaming machine, the machine provides a video display of an image of five cards that are randomly selected from a standard deck of fifty two cards. A five card stud payout is made to a player when the five cards are a stud poker hand that has a rank that is higher than a predetermined rank. The player has an option of causing the machine to provide a video representation of an exchange of any or all of the five cards for randomly selected cards from the deck, whereby the machine provides a video display of an image of a draw poker hand. A five card draw payout is made to the player when the draw poker hand has a rank that is higher than a predetermined rank. The player causes the machine to provide a video display of an image of seven cards; the draw poker hand augmented by two randomly selected cards from the deck. A seven card stud payout is made based upon the highest ranking five card poker hand that can be formed from the seven cards.
In a second specific embodiment, the player does not have the option of causing the video representation of the exchange. The machine provides a video display of an image of seven cards; the stud poker hand augmented by two randomly selected cards from the deck. The five and seven card stud payouts are made as in the first embodiment.
In a third specific embodiment, neither the five card stud hand nor the five card draw hand are augmented. The five card draw and five card stud payouts are made as in the first embodiment.
The invention combines the most interesting aspects of five card stud poker, five card draw poker and seven card stud poker, thereby providing a video poker game that is more likely to capture the interest of a gaming patron than video poker games of the prior art.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention should be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4743022 (1988-05-01), Wood
patent: 5725216 (1998-03-01), Jones
patent: 5882259 (1999-03-01), Holmes, Jr.
Kasick Julie
Martin-Wallace Valencia
Weiss Leonard
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