Patent Publication Number: US-2007099686-A1

Title: Poker press

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/261,784, filed Oct. 2, 2002, pending, and a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/030,285, filed Jan. 7, 2005, pending. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/261,784 is a CIP of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/589,202, filed Jun. 8, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,145. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/030,285 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/281,113, filed Oct. 28, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,733; which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 09/845,312, filed May 1, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,719; which is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/464,778, filed Dec. 16, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,867; which is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/118,067, filed Jul. 17, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,719; which is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/889,919, filed Jul. 10, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,641; which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/504,023, filed Jul. 19, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,774. The entire contents of all of the above-identified applications/patents are hereby incorporated by reference in this application. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
      (NOT APPLICABLE)  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The invention relates to casino games and, more particularly, to a Blackjack variation that includes a bet press feature and a proposition wager without requiring modifications to conventional Blackjack rules.  
      A variation of Blackjack has been previously invented called Blackjack Press. The concept of pressing a bet is a common concept in casino games and relates to increasing the total wager amount. The game requires a player to place two wagers in a Blackjack game to receive a separate hand for each wager. This in itself is not a new idea as many Blackjack players choose to do this if casino rules allow.  
      At Blackjack Press a third wager is placed. After the first two cards to each Blackjack hand and the dealer face up card are dealt, the player chooses which of the two Blackjack hands to press by adding the third wager to one of the first wager and the second wager. This naturally creates positive equity for the player so a method of compensating the house must apply.  
      The initial version of Press has rules that state that if all four cards in the player initial hands are the same color, then the Press bet is lost. In addition, the rules of Blackjack are changed to allow only a 1 to 1 payoff on a Blackjack (i.e., a two-card total of twenty-one), rather than 3 to 2 as in conventional Blackjack rules. It can be seen therefore that a player that is not making a Press bet is losing out on Blackjack equity and should not play Blackjack only at a Blackjack Press table.  
      Also, a player that had a small Blackjack bet but a large Press bet would have an advantage over the house. Therefore, the game must be operated with a bet level relationship between each of the wagers. The easiest method of doing this is to require that all three wagers are equal. An alternative would be to allow the two Blackjack wagers to be different, with the Press wager being exactly half of the total of the Blackjack wagers. (This has a similar impact to all bets being equal.) An alternative method would be to allow the Press bet to be equal the total Blackjack wagers, but this would require a further change in Blackjack rules to provide extra compensation to the house.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It would be desirable to include a Press option at Blackjack but to avoid the flaws inherent in Blackjack Press. Firstly, no change to the Blackjack rules is preferable, so providing the advantage that a player can sit and play regular Blackjack, albeit two hands rather than one. Secondly, an optional Press bet rather than a mandatory Press bet is preferable, so allowing a player that wants to just play Blackjack to learn the Press by watching or to miss the Press when not wanting to play Press. Thirdly, no bet size relationship between the Press and Blackjack bets is preferable as this allows players to choose to bet either the Press for lower than or higher than the Blackjack bets.  
      In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of playing a casino game includes the steps of (a) receiving from a player a first Blackjack wager for a first Blackjack hand and a second Blackjack wager for a second Blackjack hand; (b) receiving a press wager from the player; (c) receiving a proposition wager from the player; (d) dealing a first 2-card Blackjack hand and a second 2-card Blackjack hand to the player and dealing at least one non-player card; (e) after step (d), the player attributing the press wager to a player-selected one of the first Blackjack hand and the second Blackjack hand; (f) forming a 5-card hand including cards from the two 2-card hands dealt to the player and the at least one non-player card; (g) resolving the proposition wager according to a Poker rank of the 5-card hand; and (h) continuing with a Blackjack game based on the first and second Blackjack hands.  
      Prior to step (e), the method may include dealing a 2-card Blackjack hand to a dealer, consisting of a revealed card and a concealed card, wherein the revealed card is the non-player card. Alternatively, the non-player card is a community card.  
      In a preferred operating mode, if the player places the press wager, the proposition wager is compulsory, and otherwise, the press wager and the proposition wager are optional. Steps (b) and (c) may be practiced by requiring a predetermined relationship between the press wager and the proposition wager.  
      Step (g) may be practiced by paying a payout on a payscale based on the Poker rank of the 5-card hand. In this context, step (g) may be practiced by paying a payout if the Poker rank of the 5-card hand is two-pair or better. Alternatively, step (g) may be practiced by paying a payout if the Poker rank of the 5-card hand is three of a kind or better.  
      In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of creating a casino game including a plurality of game components includes the steps of (a) defining a first game component having playing rules that are consistent with a traditional casino game and including a playing mode without a house advantage; (b) defining a second game component including a playing mode with sufficient house advantage to compensate for the first game component without a house advantage; and (c) requiring players to participate in both game components in order to participate in the game, wherein the first game component is played without altering the playing rules of the traditional casino game. The traditional casino game may be one of Blackjack, Poker, Baccarat, Pai Gow, Roulette, and Craps.  
      In still another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of playing a casino game includes the steps of (a) receiving from a player a first hand wager for a first hand and a second hand wager for a second hand; (b) receiving a press wager from the player; (c) receiving a proposition wager from the player; (d) dealing the first hand and the second hand as part of a primary game, each of the first and second hands including at least one card, and dealing at least one non-player card; (e) after step (d), the player attributing the press wager to a player-selected one of the first hand and the second hand; (f) forming a combined hand including cards from the first and second hands dealt to the player and the at least one non-player card; (g) resolving the proposition wager based on the combined hand; and (h) continuing with the primary game with the first and second hands. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which  FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary table layout for the game method according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      A preferred embodiment of the invention is used in connection with a casino-type Blackjack style table and one or more standard decks of 52 playing cards.  FIG. 1  illustrates a playing surface (layout)  10  of the table which includes a primary betting area  12  for each of a plurality of players, which in this embodiment is five players. The primary betting area  12  includes two wager areas  13  for the placement of a Blackjack wager on each of two hands. The playing surface  10  also includes a Press wager betting area  14  and a Poker wager betting area  15 . In addition, the playing surface  10  includes a dealer area  16 , displays of a predetermined payoff scale  20 , and displays of predetermined game rules  18 . As would be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art, the predetermined payoff scales and game rules used in a particular embodiment can be based on the teachings of the invention and well known gaming principles and casino specific requirements. Other wager areas and/or information can be displayed on the playing surface  10 , such as promotional markings or the like.  
      In order to obviate the disadvantages of Blackjack Press, it is desirable to provide a game component with sufficient house advantage to compensate for the player advantage in having the ability to press a Blackjack wager after seeing cards. Game components from the present Applicant&#39;s prior patents are useful in this regard. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,145 including one wager (playing mode) on which there is a high house advantage, thereby enabling another wager (playing mode) with no house advantage. Additionally, the high house advantage wager is preferably a 5-card Poker pay scale wager based on a 5-card hand comprising the first two cards in each of the two player hands and a non-player card such as the dealer face up card or a community card. This concept is identified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,274. The contents of each of these prior patents are hereby incorporated by reference.  
      In order to play Poker Press Blackjack, each player is required to place a Blackjack wager at each of the wager areas  13  for two Blackjack hands. (Whether these wagers must be equal or not is a matter for each operator to choose based on their normal rules for playing two hands.) Each player then optionally places two additional wagers, being a Press wager at wager area  14  and a proposition wager, such as a 5-card Poker wager, at wager area  15 . These wager amounts are preferably equal to each other but do not have to have a size relationship with the Blackjack wagers  13 . Alternative embodiments could allow a specific relationship other than equal, such as the Press wager  14  may be a maximum of double the Poker wager  15 .  
      After dealing two 2-card Blackjack hands to each player and a dealer hand to the dealer, each player has the ability to place or attribute the Press wager on the desired one of the two Blackjack hands and add it to the wager on that hand. The 5-card Poker wager  15  is resolved by taking losing wagers and paying winning wagers on a payscale based on a 5-card hand consisting of the first two cards in each of the two player hands and a non-player card such as the dealer face up card or a community card. Preferably, a preferred minimum winning hand rank for the 5-card hand is Two Pair. In an alternative embodiment, the rank could be Three of a Kind.  
      The Blackjack game then proceeds as in traditional Blackjack.  
      Of course, the game rules and methodology are exemplary, and those of ordinary skill in the art may contemplate slight variations that fall within the scope of the description herein. For example, a methodology for creating a casino game may more broadly entail defining a first game component having playing rules that are consistent with a traditional casino game and including a playing mode without a house advantage, and defining a second game component including a playing mode with sufficient house advantage to compensate for the first game component without a house advantage. In this context, players would be required to participate in both game components in order to participate in the game. Significantly, the first game component is played without altering the playing rules of the traditional casino game. This methodology is applicable to any traditional casino game, including without limitation, Blackjack, Poker, Baccarat, Pai Gow, Roulette, Craps and the like. Of course, other variations may also be contemplated including variations in the number of initial cards in each hand, the number of cards making up a combined hand for the proposition wager, primary game rules, payscales and the like.  
      As would be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art, the invention can be embodied 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 invention can be readily implemented as a computer program product (e.g., floppy disk, compact disc, etc.) comprising a computer readable medium having control logic recorded therein to implement the features of the invention as described. Control logic can be loaded into the memory of a computer and executed by a central processing unit (CPU) to perform the operations described herein.  
      An exemplary apparatus configured for playing the game according to the invention may include a display, a player interface, and circuitry for effecting game play and including structure for receiving wagers and dealing hands according to the rules of the game. The processing circuit effects game play according to game rules and resolves wagers based on a comparison of the player hand to a computer dealer hand as well as a payout scale.  
      With the game according to the present invention, a Press option is provided in a Blackjack game that avoids the flaws inherent in prior art Blackjack Press.  
      While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.