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  Poker gameUSPTO Application #: 20060125180Title: Poker game Abstract: A shared-card poker game provides each player with two faced-down personal cards and one-faced up personal card. Rounds of betting are conducted, and shared community cards are dealt faced-up in front of the players. To determine the winner of a hand, each player creates the best 5-card poker hand using three of the available community cards and two of his personal cards. Then the 5-card hands are compared, and the 5-card hand of highest rank is declared the winner. (end of abstract) Agent: Patrick I. Larose - St. Paul, MN, US Inventor: Patrick I. LaRose USPTO Applicaton #: 20060125180 - Class: 273292000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Amusement Devices: Games, Card Or Tile Games, Cards Or Tiles Therefor The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060125180. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The field of the invention relates to a game of poker played with a deck of playing cards. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Poker has surged in popularity in recent years, and particularly the form of poker called Texas Hold'em. Other, less popular forms of the game have also seen a rise in popularity. Such games include Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, Omaha Hold'em, and Omaha Hi/Lo. [0003] Texas Hold'em [0004] In Texas Hold'em (usually called simply "Hold'em"), the player to the immediate left of the player designated as the dealer places a forced bet known as the "small blind," and the player to the immediate left of the small blind places a forced bet known as the "big blind." The big blind is larger than the small blind and is typically twice the size thereof. These blinds are posted by the designated players as a substitute for antes by all players and are used to initiate the betting action. [0005] Referring to FIG. 1, the game play of Hold'em is as follows: [0006] 1. Each player is dealt two cards faced down, called their "hole cards." [0007] 2. A round of betting ensues, beginning with the player immediately to the left of the big blind, who is said to be "under the gun." [0008] 3. Three community cards, called "the flop," are placed face up in front of the players. [0009] 4. Another round of betting ensues beginning with the player to the immediate left of the dealer. [0010] 5. A fourth community card, called "the turn" or "fourth street," is placed face up. [0011] 6. Another round of betting ensues just as after the flop. [0012] 7. A fifth community card, called "the river" or "fifth street," is placed faced up. [0013] 8. The last round of betting ensues just as after the flop. [0014] After the last round of betting, those players still in the hand (i.e. those players who have not folded) compare their holdings in what is called "the showdown." The players utilize any 5-card combination of the community cards and their two hole cards to create their best possible poker hand. The best hand wins all of the previously placed bets, which have been placed together on the table in a pile known as "the pot." In the case of a tie, the pot is split amongst those players tying for the best hand. [0015] There are various betting structures, the most common of which is "No Limit," which allows a player to bet any arbitrary amount above and including a minimum amount (usually the big blind) up to the amount of the player's stake at the table. Other forms of Hold'em include "Pot Limit," where the maximum bet is the size of the pot, and "Limit" or "Fixed Limit" where there is a rigid betting structure and the size of the bets are predetermined. [0016] Stud and Stud Hi/Lo [0017] In Stud, each player first antes a small amount into the pot. [0018] Referring to FIG. 2, the game play of Stud is as follows: [0019] 1. Each player is dealt three cards--two faced down, and one faced up. [0020] 2. The player having the smallest card face up is then forced to commence the action by placing either a "bring-in" bet or a standard bet, wherein the standard bet is larger than the bring-in bet. A round of betting then ensues as the other players decide to call, fold, or raise. [0021] 3. Each player then receives another card face up, sometimes called "fourth street." [0022] 4. A round of betting then commences with the player having the highest-ranking faced-up cards. [0023] 5. Each player then receives another card face up, sometimes called "fifth street." [0024] 6. A round of betting then commences with the player having the highest-ranking faced-up cards. [0025] 7. Each player then receives another card face up, sometimes called "sixth street." [0026] 8. A round of betting then commences with the player having the highest-ranking faced-up cards. [0027] 9. Each player receives a seventh card faced down, known as "the river" or "seventh street." [0028] 10. Another round of betting ensues as previously, and the players remaining in the hand show-down their hands to determine the winner. [0029] In conventional Stud, the player with the highest 5-card poker hand out of his seven cards wins the pot. In the case of a tie, the players tying for the highest hand split the pot. [0030] In Stud Hi/Lo, the pot is split between the player(s) having the highest hand and the player(s) having the lowest hand. A player may utilize different 5-card combinations for each of his high and low hands. However, there are usually conditions as to what qualifies as a low hand. Typically, a player must have five different cards of rank 8 or lower (with Aces considered to be low) to have a qualifying low hand. Also, with low hands, straights and flushes are usually disregarded. If there is no qualifying low hand, then the player with the highest hand wins the entire pot. [0031] Unlike Hold'em, both forms of Stud are almost exclusively played with a fixed betting structure. [0032] Omaha Hold'em and Omaha Hi/Lo [0033] Omaha Hold'em (usually called simply "Omaha") is played in exactly the same manner as Hold'em except for two important differences: (1) in Omaha, each player is dealt four cards face down, rather than only two as in Hold'em; and (2) in Omaha, each player must use exactly two of his hole cards and three of the community cards to make his poker hand. This process is illustrated in FIG. 3. [0034] While Omaha is less popular than Hold'em, it is a preferred game amongst many players because it is a "high action" game, and the pots are generally much larger on average than Hold'em pots. Omaha is generally played with a pot-limit betting structure; however, it may sometimes be played with a fixed betting structure. [0035] Omaha Hi/Lo is a form of Omaha that is akin to Stud Hi/Lo in that the pot is split amongst the highest and the lowest hands, where the "8 or better" is the typical constraint for a qualifying low hand. A player may utilize different hole and community cards to make each of his high and low hands, however, he may only use exactly two of his hole cards and three of the community cards to make each hand. Omaha Hi/Lo is generally played with either a fixed limit or pot limit betting structure, although it is sometimes played with a no limit structure. [0036] Super Hold'em [0037] Super Hold'em, shown in FIG. 4, is another form of poker similar to Hold'em, albeit seldom-played. It is identical to Hold'em, except that each player receives three cards face down instead of two. The game play is identical to Hold'em, but provides players with much stronger hands on average due to the extra card. [0038] U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,983 [0039] U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,983, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses another form of poker that is identical to Hold'em, except that instead of a river community card, each player receives a concealed river card. This would seem to allow a player to hold a more deceptive hand since more cards are concealed and would also create more uncertainty after the river because the players would not realistically know exactly what the best possible hand is. For example, any two suited community cards that have 3 gaps or less would create the possibility of a player holding a straight flush. In addition, any player after the river could be holding four-of-a-kind. In this form of poker, as well as Super Hold'em, it is very hard to know "where you're at" on the river since each player has three concealed cards, all of which may be utilized in the making of a 5-card poker hand. [0040] Hold'em, Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo are by far the most popular poker games today. Each form of poker exhibits unique nuances and characteristics that lend it to certain strategies. Their rules foster certain styles of play and attract those types of players. For example, Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo are "high action" games that usually have large pots and very large bets "on the come" (i.e. hands that are not made but would be helped by a large number of cards to come). Stud and especially Texas Hold'em place a high importance on the strength of starting hands and lend them to a patient but aggressive style of play. However, No Limit Texas Hold'em allows a player to bluff more easily than Stud or Fixed Limit Hold'em because the player can place a very large bet in order to "scare" other players out of the hand. Hold'em is also driven by mathematical odds, because it is relatively easy for player to calculate the odds of successfully drawing out on another player or of having another player successfully draw out on him. In Omaha and Stud, it is much more difficult to ascertain the mathematical odds in any given situation, and therefore, these games do not rely on pure math as much. Continue reading... Full patent description for Poker game Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Poker game 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 Poker game or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Modified playing cards and method of use Next Patent Application: Card holder and marking guide Industry Class: Amusement devices: games ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Poker game patent info. 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