| Four card poker game with variable wager -> Monitor Keywords |
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  Four card poker game with variable wagerRelated Patent Categories: Amusement Devices: Games, Card Or Tile Games, Cards Or Tiles ThereforThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070024005. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/152,325 filed May 20, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to the field of games, card games, wagering card games and especially poker-type casino wagering games. [0004] 2. Background of the Art [0005] The present invention generally relates to a card game that can be played in a casino or in a card room. More particularly, it relates to a modified version of a stud poker game. [0006] As a leisure time activity, poker and other card games have been popular for many years. The capital requirements for playing poker and other table card games are very low. All that are needed are one or more decks of cards, a playing surface and a few participants. Five card poker is a game that most people know how to play and many games have been developed using the same basic priority or rank order of winning poker hands: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and high card(s) in hand. [0007] For some time, it had been difficult to adapt the rules of poker into a casino table game in which each player plays against the house, rather than against other players. Although club-type games with players wagering against each other have been popular, it was desirable for a game to be played where the house received a more direct payback from the game. In a conventional poker game, a number of players (greater than one) are each dealt a poker hand by one player (or the house dealer who does not play in the game) who acts as the dealer. The player with the highest ranking hand based on the established priority ranking of poker hands wins. Each player in turn deals a hand as the game continues. It is usually essential to have wagering steps in the game to maintain the interest and excitement of the game. In the absence of wagering, there is little to commend the play of poker. [0008] Many places, both within and without the United States, have legalized gaming. Poker is one of the games of chance offered in both casinos and card rooms. In a conventional card room poker game, the house provides a dealer, the playing cards, the table and chairs, but the house does not play a hand. The house collects a nominal percentage of each player's bet ("the rake") that compensates the house for providing the facilities to the players. Alternatively, the house may charge each player a set amount per hand or for a specified length of time of play. Each player is competing not against the house, but against all the other players with the highest hand winning the total of all the wagers made on that hand. [0009] Many people do not like to play card room poker because each player is competing against his fellow players, not against the house. Many people would rather attempt to win money from an impersonal source, the house or the casino, rather than from their fellow players with whom they may be acquainted. Card room poker also tends to not offer any bonus payments for particularly good hands, although bonuses are sometimes paid for highest hands in tournaments or for specific combinations of hands at poker tables (e.g., a losing hand of at least a full house). While a Royal Flush is a rare occurrence and generates a thrill for any poker player, the player collects the same total wager that he would have collected if the hand was won with a Three-of-a-Kind. [0010] In the past fifteen years, a number of card games have been introduced to provide poker-type card games as house-banked casino table games. These games have focused on a number of elements in providing excitement and staying power for the games. The games must be quickly understood by players. The rules must be simple and clear. The resolution of wagers by the dealer must be easily accomplished. The reading of hands by a dealer must not be complex. In addition, the games must provide a high enough hit frequency to appeal to players, yet allow the house to retain a profitable portion of the wagers. These needs have limited the number of successful games that have been designed and successfully introduced into the casino gaming market. [0011] Among the successful games are Let It Ride Bonus.RTM. poker, Three Card Poker.RTM. game and Caribbean Stud.RTM. poker. These games have each achieved a high level of commercial success with different formats and attributes. [0012] Let It Ride Bonus.RTM. stud poker is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,081. In this game, the player makes a wager in three parts, three cards are dealt to each player (there may be only a single player), and two common cards are dealt face down in front of the dealer. The player examines his/her three cards, evaluates the likelihood of a ranked hand (e.g., at least a pair of tens) being achieved with those three cards and the as yet unseen common cards. The player, based on judgment of that likelihood, may elect to withdraw the first of the three-part wager or keep the wager at risk. Upon the player making that decision, and withdrawing or allowing the first wager to remain at risk, a first of the common cards is turned face up. The player then can make another decision with regard to the play of the hand and whether there is a changed potential for a ranked hand. A second portion of the three-part wager is then withdrawn or allowed to remain at risk. After this decision, the last common card is exposed, and the rank of each player's hand, including the common cards, is evaluated. Payments are made to each player based on only the rank of hand achieved and the number of wagers left on the table from the original three-part wager. As noted, at least one wager must remain, as only two parts can have been withdrawn. Wagers are paid off at rates (or odds), for example, of 1:1 for pairs of at least 10's, 2:1 for two pairs, 3:1 for three-of-a-kind, 5:1 for straights, 7:1 for flushes, 12 for full houses, 50:1 for four-of-a-kind, 250:1 for straight flushes, and 1000:1 for Royal Flushes. The specific payout odds can be varied and often casinos choose payout tables that help them achieve a desired percentage hold. Side bonus wagers may also be placed in which ranked hands over three-of-a-kind receive fixed or progressive bonuses, such as $25,000 for a Royal Flush. The bonus payouts and hand combinations are typically displayed on a payout table on the table surface. [0013] The Three Card Poker.RTM. game (e.g., as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,774) deals three cards to each player and three cards to the dealer, all face down. Initially one or two optional wagers may be made by the player. One such wager is for the "Pair Plus" bonus bet, a bet on achieving a winning combination included in a payout table. Another wager is the game ante on which the player competes against the dealer. The Pair Plus bet in one example of the invention is a wager that the three card hand will have a rank of at least one pair or more. The hand is paid off in multiples of the bet depending upon the rank of the hand, with up to 40:1 or more paid out for three-of-a-kind. In the ante wager, if the player wants to compete against the dealer's hand (after viewing the rank of the player's hand), an additional wager equal to one or two times the ante must be placed by the player. The dealer's hand is then exposed. If the dealer does not have a hand of at least a certain qualifying rank (e.g., at least Queen high), the dealer's hand is not in play. If the player has not made the additional wager, the ante is collected by the dealer at some point in the play of the game. If the player has made the additional wager, the ante is paid off to the player if the dealer's hand has not qualified or if the dealer's hand is not as high a rank as the player's hand. If the dealer's hand has qualified, and the dealer's hand is higher than the player's hand, then the ante and the additional wager are collected by the house. If the dealer's hand qualifies (e.g., at least Queen high) and is lower than the player's hand rank, both the ante and additional wager are paid off, with multiples payable to the ante wager for certain high ranking hands (e.g., straights, flushes, straight flushes, three-of-a-kind, etc.). The ranking of the various poker hands is different than in five card poker games. [0014] In Caribbean Stud.RTM. poker, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,533, a player makes an initial ante wager, and five cards are dealt to each player and to a dealer. The dealer exposes one of the five cards to influence the player. The player decides if the dealt player hand is of sufficient rank to compete against the dealer's hand. The player may fold the player's hand at that time, or continue the game by placing an additional wager (referred to as the "Bet") that is usually required to be twice the value of the ante. The dealer's hand qualifies for active play against the Bet with a rank of at least Ace-King. If the dealer qualifies, the rank of the players'hands are compared with the rank of the dealer's hand. Players with hands of higher rank than the dealer's hand win both the ante and the Bet. Players with hands of lower rank than the dealer's hand lose both the ante and the Bet. If an initial side bet (often referred to as the Jackpot side bet) has been made by the player, ranked hands of particularly high values (e.g., at least a Flush) are paid absolute bonus amounts or may be paid out of a progressive jackpot. This bonus side bet is paid whether or not the player's hand rank exceeds the rank of the dealer's hand. [0015] U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,827 describes another poker-type casino table card game. This game may be played at a table with as many as seven players competing against a dealer. The play of the game is fairly complex, with each player having both multiple hands and utilization of a dealer's card. One method of play is to provide each player with three cards, and the dealer is provided with four cards. The dealer's play of cards is predetermined, while the players may select their desired holding. Player's hands are competing directly against the dealer's hand in each of the hands made by the player and the dealer. [0016] It is always desirable to explore alternative games for play in the field of gaming tables to provide players with varied experiences and alternatives to known games. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0017] A casino table poker game is played with poker hands of players competing against a poker hand of a dealer. A player enters the game by placing one or both of a Bonus Bet (also referred to as an Aces-Up wager) for competition against a pay table and an Ante for direct competition against the dealer. The player is dealt more cards than needed to form a poker hand. The dealer is also provided with more than the required number of cards, from which a number of cards are selected for the dealer's hand to play. The player is provided with bonus payouts (e.g., multiple returns) on the Aces-Up bet for ranked hands or a pair of Aces or better. The players'hands also compete directly against the rank of the dealer's hand if an additional play bet is placed to supplement the ante. The additional play bet may be varied by the player to be 1.times., 2.times., 3.times., 4.times. or 5.times. the amount of the ante. Bonuses may also be paid on the Aces-Up or ante wager with unusually high ranking player's hands (such as a straight flush or four of a kind), whether or not the rank of the player's hand exceeds the rank of the dealer's hand. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES [0018] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a gaming table layout suitable for play of the game of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0019] A casino table card game is played on a table by at least one player and a dealer. The dealer usually represents the house or the casino in the play of the game. As shown in FIG. 1, wagering areas 10 are provided for each player, and card receiving areas 12 are available for each of the players and the dealer. The wagering area may include three distinct wagering zones for each player comprising a Bonus wager area 14 (e.g., the Aces-Up wager), an Ante area 16, and a Bet area 18. To initiate play of the game, at least one (and usually only one) deck of standard or variant playing cards is provided. In other forms of the game, multiple intermixed decks of cards, decks with wild cards or special decks (i.e. decks with certain cards removed) are used. Each player who wishes to enter the play of the game makes at least one wager selected from the Bonus Bet (or Aces-Up bet) and the Ante. One or both of these wagers may be made. The player may also play the hand blind (also referred to as the "House Way") by placing both an Ante and an additional Game Bet (referred to in FIG. 1 as the "Play Bet"). After placement of the at least one wager, each player who has made an at least one wager is provided with a number of cards, preferably five, from which to select a best four-card poker hand. The cards may be dealt as a complete set of five cards or in portions of one or more cards. At about the same time, the dealer is dealt a number of cards exceeding four. In one example of the invention, six cards are dealt. One or more additional cards can be dealt to the player, the dealer or both. Continue reading... Full patent description for Four card poker game with variable wager Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Four card poker game with variable wager patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Four card poker game with variable wager or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Multi-functional prepaid telephone card Next Patent Application: Drop turn target Industry Class: Amusement devices: games ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Four card poker game with variable wager patent info. 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