US20070176366A1

US20070176366A1 - Casino game with multiple wagers

Info

Publication number: US20070176366A1
Application number: US11/371,630
Authority: US
Inventors: Kevin Jones
Original assignee: HARD 9 ENTERPRISES Inc
Current assignee: HARD 9 ENTERPRISES Inc
Priority date: 2006-01-30
Filing date: 2006-03-09
Publication date: 2007-08-02

Abstract

A casino game which can combine games of blackjack and poker. A player's blackjack hand can be resolved. A player's poker hand can also be made from the player's blackjack cards by dealing additional cards (if necessary) so that the player has five cards. The player can be paid on a poker wager for the player's cards only. A dealer's poker hand can also be made from the dealer's blackjack cards by dealing additional cards (if necessary) so that the dealer has five cards. A further poker wager can be resolved by pitting the player's poker hand against the dealer's poker hand.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit to provisional application No. 60/763,459, filed on Jan. 30, 2006, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present inventive concept relates to a casino table game, and more particularly, to a casino table game that combines elements of blackjack and poker into a single game.
2. Description of the Related Art
Casino games are currently a billion dollar industry. Blackjack is currently a popular table game, although its popularity has been recently decreasing. The decrease in popularity of blackjack may in part be due to the rising popularity of variations of poker, which can be played in a casino either in a poker room or on the casino floor using games like “Three Card poker.” which can be played in a casino either in a poker room or on the casino floor using games like “Three Card poker.”
What is needed is a game which can combine aspects of poker with blackjack in order to provide a more popular variation of blackjack which can also be more profitable for the casinos as well.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an aspect of the present invention to provide exciting variations of blackjack that can be played in casinos.
The above aspects can be obtained by a method that includes (a) receiving a blackjack wager, a player hand only poker wager, and a player vs. dealer poker wager from the player; (b) dealing player cards and dealer cards; (c) resolving a game of blackjack using the player cards and the dealer cards and resolving the blackjack wager accordingly, wherein the player is not allowed to split any pair; (d) if the player cards do not comprise five cards, then dealing additional player cards so that the player cards comprise five cards; (e) forming a player poker hand using the player cards; and (f) resolving the player only poker hand wager using the player poker hand.
The above aspects can also be obtained by a method that includes (a) receiving a blackjack wager, and a player vs. dealer poker wager from the player; (b) dealing player cards and dealer cards; (c) resolving a game of blackjack using the player cards and the dealer cards and resolving the blackjack wager accordingly; (d) if the player cards do not comprise five cards, then dealing additional player cards so that the player cards comprise five cards; (e) if the dealer cards do not comprise five cards, then dealing additional dealer cards so that the dealer cards comprise five cards; (f) forming a dealer poker hand using the dealer's cards; and (g) resolving the player vs. dealer poker wager using the player poker hand and the dealer poker hand, wherein the player vs. poker wager pays more than 1:1 for some ranks.
The above aspects can also be obtained by a computer readable storage medium to control a computer to perform (a) receiving a blackjack wager, a player hand only poker wager, and a player vs. dealer poker wager from the player; (b) dealing player cards and dealer cards; (c) resolving a game of blackjack using the player cards and the dealer cards and resolving the blackjack wager accordingly, wherein the player is not allowed to split any pair; (d) if the player cards do not comprise five cards, then dealing additional player cards so that the player cards comprise five cards; (e) forming a player poker hand using the player cards; and (f) resolving the player only poker hand wager using the player poker hand.
These together with other aspects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of implementing a blackjack/poker combination game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary table layout to implement a blackjack/poker combination game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3A is an exemplary first state of a sample game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3B is an exemplary second state of a sample game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3C is an exemplary third state of a sample game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3D is an exemplary fourth state of a sample game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3E is an exemplary fifth state of a sample game, according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram of hardware that can be used to implement an electronic embodiment;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
The present general inventive concept relates to a method, system, and computer readable storage which allows a casino to offer to player(s) a blackjack game which can also accommodate wager(s) on poker hands as well.
This can be accomplished by offering a player three wagers (the player may be required to play all three (or a particular two or a particular one) or he may play any combination of the three wagers at the player's option). The first wager can be on a blackjack game, the second wager can be on a player hand only poker wager, and a third wager can be on a player vs. dealer poker wager.
The first blackjack wager can be resolved by dealing a blackjack game as known in the art (conventional or special rules can be used). One rule set for blackjack that can be used is: dealer stands on soft 17; late surrender is allowed of one half the player's wager after the dealer has checked for blackjack; double down on any first two cards; insurance pays 2:1; splitting is not allowed at all, and blackjack pays 3:2.
After the blackjack wager/game is resolved, the player's blackjack cards can be used to form a poker hand. This can be done by dealing additional cards to the player's cards used to make the player's blackjack hand (if the player does not have at least 5 cards) so that the player has 5 cards which can be used to form a poker hand. The player's second wager (the player hand only poker wager) can then be paid according to a paytable based on the player's poker hand.
In order to resolve the player vs. dealer poker wager, the dealer can then deal himself or herself additional cards if the dealer does not have five cards. The dealer's five cards can then be used to form a poker hand. There can be (although not required) a dealer qualification, in other words the dealer may need to have a minimum hand to qualify (e.g. king high). If the dealer does not have a minimum hand, then the player vs. dealer poker wager can push.
If the dealer qualifies (e.g. the dealer has a minimum hand), then the player poker hand can be compared to the dealer poker hand. The better hand can win. Thus, if the dealer has a better hand than the player, the player loses his third player vs. dealer poker wager. If the player's hand (the same player's poker hand used in the second player hand only poker wager) is better than the dealers then the player wins the player vs. dealer poker wager. The player may win even money on this wager or possibly a paytable payout depending on a rank of the player's hand. For example, a hand of four of a kind may pay 20:1.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of implementing a blackjack/poker combination game, according to an embodiment.
The method can start with operation 100, wherein the house can receive wager(s) from the player. This can be any combination of a blackjack wager, a player only poker hand wager, and a player vs. dealer poker wager. The house may allow the player to play any combination of these three bets or may require some or all of them (e.g. the blackjack bet may be required and playing either or both of the other wagers can be optional).
Form operation 100, the method can proceed to operation 102, wherein the dealer deals the player cards and the dealer cards. Typically, these will be for the blackjack hand, thus the dealer will deal two cards to each player and two cards (typically one face down and one face up) to the dealer.
From operation 102, the method can proceed to operation 104, wherein the dealer can then resolve the blackjack hands of the player (or all of the players at the table). This can be done by allowing the player to play out his or her hand (e.g. hit, stand, etc.) and resolving the dealer's hand as well (by drawing cards according to predetermined rules such as the dealer draws until he or she reaches a point total of 17). Once both the player and dealer have finished playing their hands, the blackjack wager can be paid or taken depending upon whether the player has won or lost (e.g. the party with the higher point total without having exceeded 21 wins).
It is noted that FIG. 1 assumes that the player has placed all three wagers (the blackjack wager, the player only poker wager, and the player vs. dealer poker wager). Appropriate parts of the method can be skipped if they are not necessary to resolve wagers.
From operation 104, the method can proceed to operation 106, which determines whether the player has at least five cards. The player needs five cards to form a poker hand, so if the player does not have five cards then the dealer can continuously deal cards to the player until the player has received five cards. For example, if the player was originally dealt a King and a nine in operation 102, the player would typically stay and thus would need three more cards.
If the determination in operation 106 determines that the player does not have five cards, then the method can proceed to operation 108, which deals additional player cards so that the player has five cards to form a player poker hand. The method can then proceed to operation 110.
If the determination in operation 106 determines that the player has at least five cards, then no additional cards are needed and the method can proceed to operation 110. If the player happens to have more than five cards (this is unlikely but is possible if the player has hit many times) then the first five cards can typically be used for the player poker hand.
From either operation 106 or 108, the method can proceed to operation 110, which resolves the player only poker hand wager. This can be resolves by using the five card player poker hand formed by cards dealt in operation 102, 104 and possibly 108, to see if this hand forms a predetermined poker hand rank. Table I illustrates an exemplary paytable (two different schedules, either can be used) of payouts for different hand ranks.

TABLE I

hand rank	option A	option B

royal flush	1000:1	1000:1
five of a kind	100:1	100:1
straight flush	50:1	30:1
four of a kind	20:1	20:1
full house	8:1	10:1
flush	8:1	7:1
straight	8:1	5:1
three of a kind	4:1	3:1
two pair	2:1	2:1
pairs 9, 9 to A, A	1:1	1:1
anything else	loses	loses

From operation 110, the method can proceed to operation 112, which determines if the dealer has at least 5 cards. The dealer would have initially dealt himself or herself two cards, but would typically have to continue hitting until the dealer's point total is 17 or greater. Thus the dealer may already have at least five cards. On the other hand, the dealer can initially be dealt a point total over 16 (e.g. dealt a 20) in which case the dealer would only have two cards.
If the determination in operation 112 determines that the dealer does not have at least five cards, then the method can proceed to operation 114, wherein the dealer deals additional cards to himself or herself so that the dealer has five cards to form a dealer poker hand. The method can then proceed to operation 116.
If the determination in operation 112 determines that the dealer already has at least five cards, then the method can proceed to operation 116. If the dealer happens to have more than five cards, the dealer can typically use only the first (or last) five cards dealt.
From either operation 112 or 114, the method can proceed to operation 116 which determines if the dealer qualifies. In an embodiment, there may be no dealer qualifier, in which operations 116 or 118 are not present and the method can proceed instead to operation 120. Having a dealer qualifier can serve to increase the payouts of winning hands by reducing a number of times the player will win.
Whether the dealer qualifies can be determined by a predetermined set of rules. For example, one such qualifier rule can be if the dealer's poker hand is a rank of at least king high. Thus if the dealer's poker hand contains a rank of king or higher (e.g. a pair, three of a kind, etc.) then the dealer would be considered to have qualified.
If the determination in operation 116 determines that the dealer does not qualify, then the method can proceed to operation 118, wherein the player vs. dealer poker hand wager (also can be called stud poker hand wager) pushes. Thus, the player does not win or lose his or her player vs. dealer poker wager but the original player vs. dealer poker wager is returned to the player.
If the determination in operation 116 determines that the dealer does qualify, the method can proceed to operation 120 which determines who has the higher hand (the player using the player's poker hand or the dealer using the dealer's poker hand). If the dealer's poker hand is the higher hand, then the method can proceed to operation 122, wherein the dealer wins and thus the player loses his or her player vs. dealer poker wager.
If the player has the higher hand (e.g. the player's poker hand is a higher rank than then dealer's poker hand), then the method can proceed to operation 124, wherein the player wins his or her player vs. dealer poker wager. The player can win even money on this wager or a multiple of his or her original player vs. dealer poker wager depending on the rank of the player's poker hand. Table II below illustrates an exemplary paytable for ranks and their payouts. Note that the player must have a rank higher than the dealer in order to win this bet, so for example if the player has a five of a kind but the dealer has a royal flush then the player would lose instead of getting paid 40:1 (using option A). Note that in Table II some hands pay more than even money, and in a further embodiment all winning hands can pay more than even money.

TABLE II

hand rank	option A	option B

royal straight flush	50:1	30:1
five of a kind	40:1	20:1
straight flush	30:1	15:1
four of a kind	25:1	10:1
full house	7:1	7:1
flush	7:1	5:1
straight	7:1	3:1
three of a kind	2:1	2:1
all others	1:1	1:1

FIG. 2 is an exemplary table layout to implement a blackjack/poker combination game, according to an embodiment.
The table layout illustrated in FIG. 2 can accommodate the dealer and six players, although any number of players can be accommodated. The dealer's cards area 208 is where the dealer deals himself or herself cards.
A player's cards area 200 is where cards for player two (from the left) can be dealt (although cards can of course be dealt anywhere on the ABLE). A player vs. dealer betting circle 202 (labeled “poker”), a player only poker hand wager betting circle 204 (labeled “side bet”), and a blackjack wager betting circle 206. In an embodiment the player may be required to bet equal amounts on both the player vs. dealer wager and the blackjack wager while the player only poker hand wager can be optional. In an alternative embodiment, any of the three wagers can be required or optional, and may not have to be equal amounts.
An example round of an embodiment will now be presented. In this example, the player has placed all three wagers and has bet $5 on each wager.
FIG. 3A is an exemplary first state of a sample game, according to an embodiment.
First, a standard blackjack hand is dealt. The player in this case is dealt 15 while the dealer's up-card is a jack. This can be considered the “initial deal.”
FIG. 3B is an exemplary second state of a sample game, according to an embodiment.
The player's blackjack hand can then be resolved, as known in the art (with modifications as described herein). This is done by allowing the player to hit/stand (and possibly double/split) as the player wishes (or until he/she goes over 21). In this example the player has hit a 6 for a point total of 21.
FIG. 3C is an exemplary third state of a sample game, according to an embodiment.
The dealer's blackjack hand can then be resolved according to house rules, typically until the dealer achieves a point total of 17 or greater. In this example the dealer uncovers the hole card which is a king, for a point total of 20.
Now the blackjack hand can be resolved. The player's point total of 21 beats the dealer's point total of 20, thus the player (HAS WON EVEN ON MONEY) his or her blackjack wager (e.g. the player gets paid $5 off his or her original $5 wager).
FIG. 3D is an exemplary fourth state of a sample game, according to an embodiment.
Now the player hand only poker wager can be resolved. Since the player does not have five cards in order to form a poker wager, the dealer deals the player two additional cards so that the player has five cards. In this example the player receives a six and a ten. The player's poker hand rank is two pair (since the player has a pair of tens and a pair of sixes). Thus, the player would be paid for two pair according to the paytable being used.
FIG. 3E is an exemplary fifth state of a sample game, according to an embodiment.
Now the player vs. dealer wager can be resolved. Since the dealer's hand does not comprise five cards the dealer now deals himself three additional cards, a queen, a nine, and an ace. The dealer has an ace high.
The player's two pair beats the dealer's ace high. Thus the player wins on the player vs. dealer wager.
Thus, in this example, the player has won all three wagers.
FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram of hardware that can be used to implement an electronic embodiment.
A processing unit 404 can be connected to an output unit 400 (e.g. a CRT, LCD, etc.), an input unit 402 (e.g. a touch screen, keyboard, buttons, etc.), a network connection 406 (e.g. connection to a casino server or the Internet or other communication network), a ROM 408, a RAM 410, and a cash acceptance unit 412 (which can accept cash or other methods of payment to place wagers).
Any embodiments described herein can be played with a standard deck of cards or any type of special deck (e.g. a Spanish deck, etc.) The game can also be played with a single deck or multiple decks (e.g. 1-8 decks or more). Standard rules of blackjack can be used as well as any known variation of blackjack. Further, the order of any of the operations described herein can be performed in any order and wagers can be placed/resolved in any order. Any embodiments herein can also be played in electronic form and programs and/or data for such can be stored on any type of computer readable storage medium (e.g. CD-ROM, DVD, disk, etc.)
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method to resolve wagers placed by a player, the method comprising:

receiving a blackjack wager, a player hand only poker wager, and a player vs. dealer poker wager from the player;

dealing player cards and dealer cards;

resolving a game of blackjack using the player cards and the dealer cards and resolving the blackjack wager accordingly, wherein the player is not allowed to split any pair;

if the player cards do not comprise five cards, then dealing additional player cards so that the player cards comprise five cards;

forming a player poker hand using the player cards; and

resolving the player only poker hand wager using the player poker hand.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

if the dealer cards do not comprise five cards, then dealing additional dealer cards so that the dealer cards comprise five cards;

forming a dealer poker hand using the dealer's cards; and

resolving the player vs. dealer poker wager using the player poker hand and the dealer poker hand.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the dealer poker hand is not a predetermined rank, then the dealer vs. player poker wager pushes.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the predetermined rank is a king high.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the game is played with a eight decks.

6. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the blackjack wager and the player vs. dealer poker wager are mandatory while the player only poker hand wager is optional.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the blackjack wager and the player vs. dealer poker wager must be equal amounts.

8. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the player vs. dealer poker wager pays more than 1:1 on some ranks.

9. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the player vs. dealer poker wagers more than 1:1 on all ranks.

10. A method to resolve wagers placed by a player, the method comprising:

receiving a blackjack wager, and a player vs. dealer poker wager from the player;

dealing player cards and dealer cards;

resolving a game of blackjack using the player cards and the dealer cards and resolving the blackjack wager accordingly;

forming a dealer poker hand using the dealer's cards; and

resolving the player vs. dealer poker wager using the player poker hand and the dealer poker hand, wherein the player vs. poker wager pays more than 1:1 for some ranks.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein if the dealer poker hand is not a predetermined rank, then the dealer vs. player poker wager pushes.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the predetermined rank is a king high.

13. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the game is played with eight decks.

14. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the blackjack wager and the player vs. dealer poker wager must be equal amounts.

15. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the player vs. dealer poker wager pays more than 1:1 on all ranks.

16. A computer readable storage medium to control a computer to resolve wagers placed by a player, the storage medium controlling a computer to perform:

dealing player cards and dealer cards;

forming a player poker hand using the player cards; and

resolving the player only poker hand wager using the player poker hand.