Patent Publication Number: US-2012038104-A1

Title: CrAAcker Poker

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Continuation-in-Part of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/854,502, filed on Aug. 11, 2010, titled “HOLD′EM CASINO GAME,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to a card game. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a house-banked Hold&#39;Em card game. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Texas Hold&#39;Em is a generally known card game. Conventionally, two cards are dealt to each player sitting at a table and five cards are dealt for use by all the players. The player with the best standard five-card poker hand wins the game. 
     While conventional Texas Hold&#39;Em is a simple and fun game with many opportunities to place bets, the game does not lend itself to a house banked casino game. A conventional poker games, the casino makes money by taking a rake (a percentage of the bets) or charges a fee based on the time a player is sitting at the table. This type of game has limited public appeal. Therefore, casinos maintain few poker tables and these few tables are typically populated by skilled, advanced, players—further limiting the appeal to the general population. 
     While there have been many attempts to modify conventional Texas Hold&#39;Em as a house-banked Texas Hold&#39;Em game for casino play, unfortunately, these games are complicated and have failed to entice the general population to play. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a house-banked Texas Hold&#39;Em game for casino play that is capable of overcoming the disadvantages described herein at least to some extent. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The foregoing needs are met, to a great extent, by the present invention, wherein in some embodiments house-banked Texas Hold&#39;Em game for casino play is provided. 
     An embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of playing a house-banked casino card game. In this method, a preset known Hold&#39;Em hand is exposed. A collection of X unknown hands are dealt. A wager from a player is received for one of two main choices; preset exposed hand or a collection of random individual hands; X−1 unknown hands to be precise. X−1 unknown hands are to be referred as table hands. The X th  unknown hand is referred as house edge hand. There are optional bonus wagers which must be placed before the start of the hand. Once all bets are placed, one of the table hand is exposed. Five community cards are flopped. Based on the rules of Texas Hold&#39;Em, the best five card hand is made. This is repeated for all table hands, using the same community cards. At least three of the community cards must be used in determining the best five card poker hand. A winning hand is determined between the preset exposed hand and the table hands based upon a relative ranking of the preset exposed hand and a relative ranking of the table hand. If any of the table hands result in the highest hand, then the player betting on the table hands wins. If a player bets on the preset exposed hand, then the player must also beat the best five card hand made by the house edge hand to win. The player is paid in response to the player wagering on the winning hand. Bonus bets are paid according to house odds based upon the relative rankings preset by the house. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a game table. The game table includes a dealer area and a plurality of player areas. The dealer area includes an exposed preset hand area to receive a pair of aces, a table hand area, house edge hand area, and a community card area. The table hand area is configured to receive one or more unexposed random hands. The house edge hand area is leftmost with respect to the dealer and next to the unexposed random hands area. The house edge hand will have the long edge of the player cards perpendicular to the dealer while all other hands will have the cards will have the short edge of the cards perpendicular to the dealer at the start of the game. The community card area is configured to receive a set of community cards. 
     Yet again another embodiment of the present invention pertains to a method of playing a house-banked casino card game. In this method, players may bet on exposed preset hand or a set of table hands. A wager is received from a player for either preset exposed hand or the collection of random table hands. A first table hand of the set of table hands is displayed. A set of community cards is displayed. Using these same community cards, the best five card poker hand is made by the preset hand and the random hands. Using the same community cards, this is repeated for each table hands. The player is paid in response to the player wagering on the winning hand. If a player bets on the preset hand, then the player must also beat the house edge hand to win. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
     As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a top view of a game table suitable for use with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of playing a house-banked poker game. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention provides, in some embodiments, a house-banked Texas Hold&#39;Em game for casino play, a game table suitable for playing the game, and a method of playing the game. In general, the game involves betting on the outcome between a predetermined or exposed preset hand and one or more unknown, random hands or ‘table hands’. The following descriptions of the game are made by way of example. However, the particulars of the game may be modified to increase interest and/or excitement of the game players and/or modify the odds of the player or the house winning the game and all such modifications are within the scope and spirit of the various embodiments of the invention. 
     The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a game table  10  suitable for use with an embodiment of the invention includes a dealer area  12  and a plurality of player areas  14 . The dealer area  12  includes a exposed preset hand area  16 , a table hand area  18 , a community card area  20 , and a house edge hand area  24 . 
     The exposed preset hand area  16  is configured to receive a exposed preset hand. The table hand area  18  is configured to receive one or more table hand(s). The community card area  20  is configured to receive a set of community cards that are combined with the exposed preset hand and the table hand(s) to make the respective poker hands that are compared to determine a winning hand. As described herein, the players may wager upon either the exposed preset hand or the table hand(s). The house edge hand area  24  is configured to receive one or more house edge hands that gives the dealer (i.e., the house) an advantage. In this regard, the house edge hand is similar to the green spots on a roulette wheel or the rule that the house wins ties in Pai Gow. The community card area  20  includes a flop area  26 , a turn area  28 , and a river area  30 . Optionally, the plurality of player areas  14  include dividing lines  32  configured to partition the individual player areas from one another. 
     The player areas  14  include a exposed preset hand wagering area  38  and an table hands wagering area  40 . Disposed within the exposed preset hand wagering area  38 , each player area  14  includes a player exposed preset hand wager area  42 . Disposed within the table hands wagering area  40 , each player area  14  includes a table hands wagering area  44 . In a particular example shown in  FIG. 1 , the game table  10  includes 7 player areas  14 . However, in other examples the game table  10  includes one or more player areas  14 . Specific examples include 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 or more player areas  14 . 
     The player exposed preset hand wager area  42  and the table hands wagering area  44  include a game wager area  46 . The game wager area  46  is configured to receive a wager from the player. Area  48  is the preset hand bonus area; area  49  is table hands bonus area; area  50  is house edge hand bonus area. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the invention shown in  FIG. 2 , a game may be initiated once all the players have placed all wagers (play wagers and, optionally, bonus wagers). In general, the game play cards may be disposed upon the game table  10  prior to wagering or may be dealt out in a particular order after the wagers are placed. Regardless of when the cards are dealt, initially, only the exposed preset hand is shown or otherwise displayed in the exposed preset hand area  16 . For the purposes of this disclosure, the term, “display” and its derivatives is defined as dealing out—face up, showing, otherwise providing a face value of a card, and the like. In some particular embodiments, the exposed preset hand may be any possible two card hand. When using a standard or conventional 52-card deck of cards and given a Texas Hold&#39;Em-style 2-card hand, there are 1326 possible hands or starting hands (52×51/2=1326). While any one of these may be a suitable exposed preset hand, traditionally, suits have no relative value in poker-type games so, there are 169 (13×13=169) nonequivalent hands. There are 13 pocket pairs, 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands. Again, while any of these hands may be utilized, in the particular examples that follow this more general example, play will be described using a few hands that are relatively desirable. Furthermore, in other embodiments, the exposed preset and/or table hands may include one, two, three, four, or more cards and all of these embodiments are within the scope and spirit of the invention. 
     In various embodiments, the rest of the playing cards may be dealt out, face down, or selected cards may be dealt out, face up, in a particular sequence or order. In some embodiments, the order that the cards are shown may follow the conventional method followed in Texas Hold&#39;Em play. For example, one or more table hands may be turned over or dealt, face up, in the table hand area  18 . Thereafter, three cards may be turned over or dealt out, face up, in the flop area  26 . These first three cards are traditionally known as the “flop”. Optionally, additional bets may be placed after the flop. Following the flop, a card may be burned (e.g., removed from the top of the deck and placed on the bottom of the deck) and an additional card is turned over or dealt, face up, in the turn area  28 . This additional card is traditionally known as the “turn”. Optionally, additional bets may be placed after the turn. Following the turn, a card may be burned and a final card is turned over or dealt, face up, in the river area  30 . This final card is traditionally known as the “river”. As in general accordance with Hold&#39;Em play rules, the flop, turn and river make up the community cards and the community cards are combined with the exposed preset hand and/or each of the table hands to make the best 5-card hand. 
     The best 5-card hand made from the combined exposed preset hand and the community cards is compared to the one or more of the table hand(s) disposed in the table hand area  18  combined with the community cards. This is repeated one at a time until all table edge hand is revealed. Players betting on the preset exposed hand must also beat the house edge hand. The winning hand is determined based upon a relative ranking of the best 5-card hand made from the combination of the exposed preset hand and the community cards and a relative ranking of the table hands combined with the community cards. The determination of winning hand may be based upon a conventional poker ranking of the hands. A particular example of a suitable conventional poker ranking, from best to worst, is as follows: 1) straight flush; 2) four of a kind; 3) full house; 4) flush; 5) straight; 6) three of a kind; 7) two pair; 8) one pair; and 9) high card. 
     The number of table hands may be modulated based on a variety of factors. Examples of suitable factors includes: odds of beating the best 5-card hand made from the combination of the exposed preset hand and the community cards; adjustments to make game play more interesting/exciting; empirical data; and the like. Ties may be considered as a push, with the wagers being left on the table for the next game. All winning wagers preferably pay at least 1 to 1. The house advantage may be adjusted by setting rules for resolving wagers when the player hand rank and the house edge hand rank are equal. For example, certain ties may be resolved as a win for the player, while other ties may be resolved as a push or a dealer win. Alternatively, all ties may be resolved as a win for the player or as a win for the dealer in order to create playing enjoyment and/or the preferred house advantage. 
     If one or more players have placed a wager on the exposed preset hand winning, the house edge hand is turned over or dealt out, face up, in the house edge hand area  24 . If the best 5-card hand made from the combination of the house edge hand and the community cards is better than the best 5-card hand made from the combination of the exposed preset hand and the community cards, then the house edge hand wins. In this manner, the house is provided with the ability to maintain an advantage regardless of whether the player wagers on the exposed preset hand or the table hands. In other embodiments, in addition to or rather than a house edge hand being utilized to create a house advantage, a commission may be paid to the house. For example, if a player wagers on the exposed preset hand and wins, a commission is taken from the winnings. In yet another example, one or more pre-determined winning hands may be considered a push (tie game) rather than a win for the player or the house. In yet another example, the payout may be modified for a certain winning combinations. Any one or more of these methods may be used by the house to create an edge or advantage for the casino, or to create more play. 
     In a particular embodiment, the exposed preset hand is a pair of aces. The following is a particular set of rules suitable for use with this embodiment. This specific embodiment is named Ace CrAAckers. As shown in  FIG. 2 , prior to beginning a game, a pair of aces is placed, face up, in the exposed preset hand area  16 , four 2-card hands are dealt, face down, in the table hand area  18 , and one 2-card hand is dealt, face down, in the house edge hand area. For the purpose of this disclosure, the exposed preset hand may be called the “Aces”, the table hands may be called the “CrAAckers”, and the house edge hand may be called the “cAArrot”. Each player may wager on the Aces winning or the CrAAckers winning. A game is initiated once all the players have placed all wagers (play wagers and, optionally, bonus wagers). All bets are considered “all-in” with no further betting rounds. A first hand of the table hands (first CrAAcker) is turned face up. The flop is dealt, face up, in the flop area  26 . Following the flop, a card is burned and the turn is dealt, face up, in the turn area  28 . Following the turn, a card is burned and the river is dealt, face up, in the river area  30 . The Aces hand (e.g., best 5-card hand made from the combination of the Aces and the community cards) is compared to the first CrAAcker (e.g., best 5-card hand made from the combination of the CrAAcker and the community cards). All hands must use at least three of the community cards. Using the same community cards, all table hands are revealed one at a time. If any of the CrAAckers makes a better five card poker hand than the best five card poker hand made by Aces and the community cards, then the players betting on CrAAckers win. Any bet placed on Aces must beat all CrAAcker hands and the best five card poker hand made by the cAArrot hand. Ties are considered as a tie, with the wagers being left on the table for the next game. 
     In addition to the poker rankings, there are few exceptions to Ace CrAAckers embodiment. Players betting on CrAAckers cannot lose if the best hand made by Aces is Aces Full. Players betting on Aces can win with Aces Full. Also, player betting on CrAAckers will be paid 5:1 if any one of the table hands make quads or better, regardless of this hand beating the Aces hand. 
     In addition to the standard wagers, players may bet on bonus wagers. Bonus wager may be placed independent of the standard wagers being placed. Bonus wagers are Aces Bonus. Aces Bonus pays 500:1 for Royal Flush; 50:1 for straight flush; 20:1 for quad Aces; 6:1 for Aces Full; 3:1 for a flush; 1:1 for Trip Aces. CrAAcker Bonus pays 500:1 for Royal Flush; 40:1 for straight flush; 15:1 for Quads; 5:1 for Full House; 2:1 fora flush. “cAArrot” Bonus pays 30:1 for tying Aces; 4:1 for beating Aces; Push for losing to Aces Full. Additionally, if multiple hands qualify for the bonus payout, only the highest payout will be paid. 
     In a second particular embodiment, the exposed preset hand is a pair of aces. The following is a particular set of rules for a game called, “Poly CrAAckers.” The following is a particular set of rules suitable for use with this embodiment. Prior to beginning a game, a pair of aces is placed, face up, in the exposed preset hand area  16 , two 3-card hands are dealt, face down, in the table hand area  18 , and one 2-card hand is dealt, face down, in the house edge hand area. For the purpose of this disclosure, the exposed preset hand may be called the “Aces”, the table hands may be called the “CrAAckers”, and the house edge hand may be called the “cAArrot”. Each player may wager on the Aces winning or the CrAAckers winning. A game is initiated once all the players have placed all wagers (play wagers and, optionally, bonus wagers). All bets are considered “all-in” with no further betting rounds. A first hand of the table hands (first CrAAcker) is turned face up. The flop is dealt, face up, in the flop area  26 . Following the flop, a card is burned and the turn is dealt, face up, in the turn area  28 . Following the turn, a card is burned and the river is dealt, face up, in the river area  30 . The best Aces hand and CrAAcker hands are determined. The Aces hand is compared to the first CrAAcker. All hands must use at least three of the community cards. This is repeated for the second table hand using the same community cards. If any of the CrAAckers makes a better five card poker hand than the best five card poker hand made by Aces and the community cards, then the players betting on CrAAckers win. Any bet placed on Aces must beat all CrAAcker hands and the best five card poker hand made by the cAArrot hand. Ties are considered as a tie, with the wagers being left on the table for the next game. There is one exception to the game. If any of the CrAAcker hands makes quads or better, then players betting on CrAAckers are paid 5:1 regardless of this hand beating Aces. 
     In addition to the standard wagers, players may bet on bonus wagers. Bonus wager may be placed independent of the standard wagers being placed. Bonus wagers are Aces Bonus. Aces Bonus pays 500:1 for Royal Flush; 50:1 for straight flush; 20:1 for quad Aces; 6:1 for Aces Full; 3:1 for a flush; 1:1 for Trip Aces. CrAAcker Bonus pays 500:1 for Royal Flush; 40:1 for straight flush; 15:1 for Quads; 4:1 for Full House; 2:1 for a flush. “cAArrot” Bonus pays 15:1 for tying Aces; 5:1 for beating Aces. Additionally, if multiple hands qualify for the bonus payout, only the highest payout will be paid. 
     It is to be understood that while the game is described as being played in-person, with standard poker cards, the game need not be played in-person and the game need not be played with poker cards. Rather, the game may be played on a computing device and/or on the internet. In addition, the game may be played with any suitable card set or suitable equivalent. Examples of suitable equivalent include dice, chips, game pieces, video or digital representations of cards, chips, shapes, and the like. Embodiments of the invention can be presented in a wide variety and forms of media such as, but not limited to, single player slot video machines, multi-player slot video machines, electronic games and devices, lottery terminals, scratch-card formats, software, as well as in-flight, home and Internet entertainment. In addition, the various embodiments of the invention can be readily implemented as a computer program product (e.g., floppy disk, compact disc, etc.) comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having control logic recorded therein and configured to be executed on a computing device. For example, computer readable instructions can be loaded or fixed in a tangible medium such as the memory of a computer and executed by a central processing unit (CPU) to perform the operations described herein.