Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-13
2003-06-24
Martin-Wallace, Valencia (Department: 3714)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
C463S047000, C273S14900R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06582301
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHT AUTHORIZATION
While portions of disclosure herein contain material subject to copyright protection, the copyright owner does not object to the facsimile reproduction of such material as it appears in the files of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to card game monitoring and display devices and systems, and more particularly to a system including a shoe to hold game cards that enables card values to be identified by an integral scanner as the cards are dealt one-by-one from the shoe when the game rules permit withdrawing a card from the shoe. Resulting information is coupled to an associated computer system and software that can control a mechanical barrier to prevent removal of a card from the shoe when it would be contrary to game rules. Further, the invention can limit the number of cards dispensed per game rules, and can provide card delivery information, player and dealer game information and player statistic information, and that permits remote bettors to wage on the card game using a transmission communication medium that can include the internet. The card game is played on a table that includes dealer-input devices and display devices to help expedite game play and provide the dealer with data relevant to the players and to the likelihood of any cheating.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Card dispensing shoes for dealing or delivering cards in casino card games are known in the art. Without limitation, such card games of chance include 21 or Blackjack, Baccarat, Carribean Stud, Let It Ride, and Poker. The shoe is placed near a dealer's station on a card game table, and at least one deck of cards is placed in an opening at the shoe top during the play of a particular card game. Cards are placed face down in the shoe, and only the back side of the top card in the deck is observable while the cards are in the shoe. The dealer feeds cards for delivery to players at the table by manually engaging and forcing the top card of the deck through a card outlet at the front of the shoe. The dealer pulls the top card from the deck and it is delivered or dealt to a game player or game hand. A series of cards is thus delivered, one-by-one, to the players at the card game table until each player or game hand has the requisite number of cards for playing the game. The shoe remains in view of the dealer and game players, and, absent cheating, neither dealer nor any player is aware of any of the cards value.
Cards for Carribean Stud and Let it Ride are normally dealt from an automatic shuffler or card dispenser (a electronic/mechanical device that physically resembles standard type manual card dispensing shoes). The cards are dealt one-by-one until the requisite number of cards for a game hand are dealt into a tray or receptacle adjacent the mouth of the automatic shuffler or card dispenser. The dealer then removes each game hand from the receptacle and delivers cards in a sequence per game rules to game player(s) and to the dealer, as the player's or the dealer's game hand for the current game round.
Card dispensing shoes for Baccarat differ somewhat in that Baccarat shoes have a removable fitted cover. The cover protects cards in the card chute from access by the game player(s), or by the game-designated banker, presently in possession of the shoe. Such shoes contain and secure the game deck before removal and delivery of cards comprising the player hand and bank hand, for each game round dealt.
Baccarat is vulnerable to cheating in that many people may come in contact with the playing cards. During Mini-Baccarat, the dealer acts as Banker and players normally do not touch the cards. But in traditional Baccarat, the game player dealing the Player and Bank hands from the shoe for a game round is designated as the Banker. During the game, other game players and the dealer(s) also handle the cards comprising the dealt Player and Bank hands, and thus the game is vulnerable to various forms of cheating by players and unscrupulous casino employees. Prior art shoes do not, for example, provide a mechanical block to preclude removing cards from a shoe during times that the rules of the game being played do not allow card removal. A skillful person able to handle the shoe may be able to slightly slide the top card out of the shoe sufficiently to determine suit or value, and then quickly return the card into the shoe, without being observed by others at the game table. A player's a priori knowledge of what the top card (not yet dealt) will be can provide a statistical advantage in placing a large bet.
The high betting limits associated with Baccarat games attracts professional card cheats and can tempt unscrupulous players and employees to cheat. Casinos lose tens of millions of dollars annually due to individual cheaters or teams of co-conspirators. Known methods of cheating in Baccarat include the Banker inadvertently or surreptitiously exposing the top card of the deck to be dealt the Player hand first card as the first of two cards that will comprise the original Player hand before final wagers have been made by the game players for an upcoming game round. This advance knowledge will permit a player to wager statically relatively confidently since the value of the top card is illicitly known. Cheat methods also include the Banker and/or game players switching cards dealt from the shoe designated, per game rules, for delivery to the Player hand, for cards designated for delivery to the Bank hand, and visa versa. Cheat methods also include switching cards derived from a source other than the shoe for cards designated for delivery to the Player and/or Bank hands. These illicit activities can allow the Banker and/or confederates to place very high wagers, based upon their prior knowledge of the value of the cards switched or the cards to be dealt to the Player and/or Bank hands from the shoe.
Yet other cheating methods include the Banker covertly altering the delivery sequence of the cards dealt from the shoe. For example, the first card dealt from the shoe, contrary to game rules, is “misdealt” to the Banker instead of the Player hand. This action allows players with knowledge of the “misdeal” to make extremely high wagers without risk of actual loss. This is because casino Baccarat games are routinely video tape recorded and stored for typically at least five days. Thus, a player, with knowledge of “misdeal” whose bets turned out badly will challenge the dealer for a misdeal, and will demand that the video tapes be consulted to resolve the issue. Once the video tapes confirm the misdeal, the subsequent bets would be set aside. If necessary, a losing player can ask the Nevada Gaming Control Board to investigate and after confirming the misdeal, order reimbursement of all losses. Of course had the bets turned out favorably, the player(s) would never challenged the “misdeal”.
Yet another Baccarat cheating scheme involves illicitly gaining prior knowledge of the top card of the deck to be dealt to the Player, or of the value of yet unexposed card(s) comprising the Player or Bank hands. Should opportunity or distraction (perhaps created by a cohort) permit, a cheating player may stealthily change or move his/her wager to from Player to Bank, or vice versa. In other cheating schemes, unscrupulous employees cooperate with players and steal new and unopened decks of cards from a casino's card inventory, open and illicitly mark the backs of the stolen decks of cards, and then reseal the marked decks, which are returned to the casino's Baccarat card inventory. When eventually the marked cards are brought into play, the employee notifies the co-conspirators who enter into the game play, with a secret ability to read the values on the marked cards, including an ability to read what the first card to be dealt to the Player hand will be.
Using a randomly shuffled Baccarat deck that comprises eight standard fifty-two-card decks of playing cards, a Baccarat player theoret
Hotaling II John M.
Martin-Wallace Valencia
Smart Shoes, Inc.
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