Abstract:
The present invention relates to a method for playing a game in which game pieces are dealt by the dealer to one or more players. Hands are dealt to the players and the dealer. The dealer is dealt one card face up and one card face down, referred to as in the hole. If the dealer is dealt a face card face up, the dealer exposes the card in the hole thereby showing the faces of both cards. The interest in the game is improved since the dealer only shows the hole card with a face card up, as opposed to always showing the hole card. The player forms a final player hand and the dealer forms a final dealer hand according to the conventional rules of Blackjack. Optionally, the dealer acts according to a predetermined set of house rules.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates generally to a method and system for conducting a Blackjack style game using playing cards or electronic systems and in particular to a method and system for playing a two face Blackjack type game in which anytime a dealer has a ten value card face up the dealer exposes the card in the hole thereby showing the faces of both cards. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    In conventional Blackjack or “21” a dealer deals two cards to players and two cards to himself. The two cards to the players can be dealt face up or face down. Conventionally, one of the dealer&#39;s cards are dealt face up and the other card is dealt face down, referred to as the “hole” card. The rules of conventional Blackjack are well known in the art and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,981. 
         [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,486 describes a method of playing a card game using a card number subtracting technique in which cards of the playing deck are assigned numerical point values. Eights, nines and tens are removed from the standard deck to establish a deck of forty cards. Each numbered card is assigned its point value. Each ace is assigned a value of one. Each face card is assigned a value of zero. Two cards are initially dealt to each player with each player having the option of receiving a third card. If a third card is dealt, one of the cards is discarded. The hands are compared to determine a winning hand as the hand in which the point value difference between the two cards in the hand is closest to zero. 
         [0006]    It is desirable to provide a game for enhancing a player&#39;s interest and wagering options. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The present invention relates to a method for playing a game in which game pieces are dealt by the dealer to one or more players. The game pieces can be selected from a deck or decks of conventional cards. In one embodiment, a modified deck or decks consisting essentially of four cards each of Ace, deuce, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, Jack, Queen, and King is used. 
         [0008]    The present invention can be considered an improved method for conducting a card game according to the conventional rules of Blackjack, or a game such as Spanish Twenty-One which is based upon the conventional rules of Blackjack. In such an embodiment, the game includes the player making an initial game wager. Hands are dealt to the players and the dealer. The dealer is dealt one card face up and one card face down, referred to as in the hole. If the dealer is dealt a face card face up, the dealer exposes the card in the hole thereby showing the faces of both cards. The interest in the game is improved since the dealer only shows the hole card with a face card up, as opposed to always showing the hole card. It is most interesting to players to see the hole card after a dealer has been dealt a face card. The player forms a final player hand and the dealer forms a final dealer hand according to the conventional rules of Blackjack. Optionally, the dealer acts according to a predetermined set of house rules. 
         [0009]    In one embodiment, the player has the option of surrendering the initial hand and receiving half of their wager back with the house collecting the other half In an alternate embodiment, a player can have the additional option of splitting or doubling down according to the conventional rules of Blackjack in forming the player&#39;s final hand or hands. For example, doubling down can be used with any hand sum or total value of the cards of nine or higher. In one embodiment, if the player splits or doubles down, the player places an additional split wager or double down wager up to the amount of the game wager. 
         [0010]    A reward is issued to the player on the player&#39;s game wager if the final player hand outranks the final dealer hand according to the conventional rules of Blackjack. Conversely, the player&#39;s game wager is collected if the final dealer hand outranks the final player hand according to the conventional rules of Blackjack. For example, a Blackjack for the player shall pay even money or shall pay six to five odds. In one embodiment, the dealer hits on a soft seventeen. 
         [0011]    The present invention may also be embodied in a device, such as a gaming machine or general purpose computer executing software instructions. Such a device includes a data processor communicating with a display, an input device, a wager receiver, and a data structure. The data structure stores data representing playing cards, optionally a modified deck of playing cards, a set of house rules, and instructions executable by the data processor for conducting a game method. 
         [0012]    The game method executed by the data processor includes receiving a signal from the wager receiver in response to receipt of a game wager from the player. In response to these signals, an two cards are dealt to the player to form an initial player hand and two cards are dealt dealer to form an initial dealer hand. The dealer is dealt one card face up and one card face down, referred to as in the hole. If the dealer is dealt a face card face up, the dealer exposes the card in the hole thereby showing the faces of both cards. 
         [0013]    If the initial player hand forms an automatic winning outcome, a reward is issued to the player and play by the player is terminated. Otherwise the player forms a final player hand by opting through the input device to receive additional cards or stand on the initial player hand. In one embodiment, the player has the option to surrender the initial hand and receive half of their wager back with the house collecting the other half. In alternate embodiments, the player may have to option to split or double down when forming the final player hand or, in the case of one or more splits, final player hands. 
         [0014]    The initial dealer hand is revealed at the display and a final dealer hand is formed according to the house rules. Wagers are resolved by issuing a reward to the player on the player&#39;s game wager if the final player hand is closer to a predetermined target value than the final dealer hand is or collecting the player&#39;s game wager if the final dealer hand is closer to a predetermined target value than the final player hand is. 
         [0015]    The invention will be more fully described by reference to the following drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a flow diagram of a method of playing a game in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a method of playing a game with an alternate embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a method of playing a game with an alternate embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of a betting board in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of a device for playing a game in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    Reference will now be made in greater detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a flow diagram of a method for playing a game  10 . In block  11 , each of the players of the game places a game wager. In block  12 , each of the players of the game are dealt game pieces. For example, the game pieces can be from one or more conventional deck of cards or a subset thereof which deck or decks of cards can be shuffled together. In one embodiment, the cards having a ten value are removed from each of the decks such that each deck includes 48 cards including four aces, four twos, four threes, four fours, four fives, four sixes, four sevens, four eights, four nines, four jacks, four queens and four kings. Face cards are assigned a value of ten. In an alternate embodiment, four ten value cards can be removed from each deck in which the ten value cards can also include face cards. In a preferred embodiment, one or more initial cards are dealt to each player face up. For example, two initial cards can be dealt to each player. 
         [0023]    In block  14 , game pieces are dealt to the dealer. In a preferred embodiment, two cards are dealt to the dealer in which the first card is dealt face down, referred to as the hole card and the second card is dealt face up. In an alternate embodiment, block  14  can be performed before block  12  such that one or more game pieces are dealt to the dealer first before game pieces are dealt to the players. 
         [0024]    In block  16 , the dealers hand is reviewed. When the dealer hand includes a card face up having a value of ten, for example if a face card is dealt to the dealer, the dealer turns the hole card face up to expose the value of the hole card. In block  17 , it is determined if the dealer&#39;s hand has an automatic winning holding. For example, if the game played is Blackjack, the dealer automatically wins if the dealer&#39;s initial player hand is a natural twenty-one, i.e., a ten value card such as a face card of a Jack, Queen or King in combination with an Ace. The dealer having a natural twenty-one collects the game wager from each player who does not also have a natural twenty-one and play by the players is terminated. 
         [0025]    In block  18 , it is determined if each players initial hand has an automatic winning holding. For example, if the game played is Blackjack, the player automatically wins if the players initial player hand is a natural twenty-one, i.e., a ten value card such as face card of a Jack, Queen or King in combination with an Ace. The player obtaining an automatically winning hand shall be rewarded according to wager rules, for example as described below. The player can be rewarded a payout based on the amount of the game wager. In one embodiment, a player dealt a Blackjack is rewarded a payout of even money (1 to 1). Accordingly, if a player made a game wager of 10 units, the player is rewarded 10 units upon being dealt a Blackjack. In an alternate embodiment, a player dealt a Blackjack is rewarded a payout of six to five. In an alternate embodiment, Blackjack is rewarded a payout of three to two. Play is terminated for the player with the automatically winning hand. In one embodiment, block  18  can be performed before block  17 . 
         [0026]    If the player does not have an automatically winning hand, the player forms a final player hand by hitting, i.e., receiving additional playing cards, or standing, i.e., making final the cards held by the player at that time, in block  19 . In an embodiment of the invention, the goal of the game is to obtain a hand closer to a predetermined target value than the dealer&#39;s hand is. For example, in an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a conventional Blackjack game, the goal for the player is to obtain a hand sum closer to twenty-one than the dealer&#39;s hand sum is, without exceeding twenty-one as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,549,642 hereby incorporated by reference into this application. If the player&#39;s hand exceeds a target sum, for example twenty-one, the player busts and the player&#39;s game wager is collected. 
         [0027]    In block  20 , after each of the players have formed a final hand, the dealer forms a final dealer hand by hitting, i.e., receiving additional playing cards, or standing, i.e., making final the cards held by the dealer at that time. In one embodiment, the dealer hits on a soft seventeen, for example a value of seventeen with any combination of an ace and a six. In block  21 , each final player hand and the dealer final hand is compared to a target value. The player is rewarded in block  22  based on the player&#39;s game wager if the final player hand is closer to the target value than the final dealer hand is. Similarly, the player may be rewarded in block  22  if the dealer exceeded the target value and the player did not. For example, in an optional embodiment applied to Blackjack, a player with a final player hand sum of 19 would be rewarded if the dealer had a final dealer hand sum of 18 or less, or 22 or more. Optionally, the player would push if the dealer and player have the same hand sum. The player&#39;s game wager would be collected in block  24  if the final dealer hand is closer to the target value than the final player hand is. Thus, in the example above in which the final player hand sum is 19, a push occurs if the final dealer hand sum is 19 and the player&#39;s game wager would be collected if the final dealer hand sum is 20 or 21. 
         [0028]    In one embodiment, the dealer is allowed to “push” on a total of 22 or more, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,435,172, hereby incorporated by reference into this application. For example, the dealer can push on one designated total between 22-26. 
         [0029]    In the event of a player win, the player is rewarded based on the game wager. For example, if a player places a 10 unit game wager, a winning player hand results in a payout on the wager of 10 units. In one embodiment, the payout is even money; thus, in the example, a winning player would be paid 10 units. 
         [0030]    In an alternate embodiment, method for playing a game  30  various options are included for providing additional interest, as shown in  FIG. 2 . In block  31 , when it is determined that the dealer does not have an automatic winning hand, each of the players have the option of surrendering the initial cards which were dealt. In this option, a player surrendering the cards dealt will receive back half of the wager placed in block  11  and the house will collect the other half of the wager. 
         [0031]    In block  33 , before each of the final player hands are formed, a player will have the option of placing a double down wager on the initial cards dealt, i.e., two cards, with any hand sum. In a double down, the player places a double down wager less than or equal to the game wager. For example, in such an embodiment, assuming the game wager is 10 units, a player could place a double down wager of 10 or fewer units. In exchange for such a double down wager, the player is dealt one, and only one, additional card. 
         [0032]    In block  35 , before each of the final player hands are formed a player will have the option of splitting the player&#39;s hand. Splitting involves the player holding a pair in his initial player hand placing an additional split wager, in this case an amount up to the game wager, and playing each of the cards of the pair as a separate hand. In an optional embodiment, the player is required to place an additional split wager equal to the game wager. For example, suppose a player who placed a game wager of 10 units is dealt a pair of 8. If the player wishes wish to split the pair, the player places a split wager of 10 units and is then allowed to use the first 8 and the second  8  as the bases for separate hands. In a further optional embodiment, the player may be permitted to re-split a player hand a limited number of times if the player again obtains a pair after a split. In a preferred embodiment, the player may re-split twice for a total of four hands. Thereafter, blocks  20 - 24  (not shown) are preformed, as described above. 
         [0033]    In an alternate embodiment, method for playing a game  40  various options are included for providing additional interest, as shown in  FIG. 3 . In block  43 , before each of the final player hands are formed, a player will have the option of placing a double down wager on the initial cards dealt, i.e. two cards, on any total value of the cards of the hand being nine or higher. In a double down, the player places a double down wager less than or equal to the game wager. For example, in such an embodiment, assuming the game wager is 10 units, a player could place a double down wager of 10 or fewer units. In exchange for such a double down wager, the player is dealt one, and only one, additional card. 
         [0034]    Betting can take place using betting board  100 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . Betting board  100  can be a gaming table. Players can place game wagers in one of positions  101   a - 101   n . A dealer places game pieces on betting board  100  in one of positions  102   a - 102   n . In one embodiment, dealer board  100  is mechanically and/or electronically activated. Alternatively, dealer board  100  can be a video display and game pieces are randomly selected and displayed on the video display. In one embodiment, the game is played in a casino. Alternatively the game can be played on a video machine or over the Internet. 
         [0035]    The present method could also be applied to device  200  for conducting a game for a player, as shown in  FIG. 5 . As discussed above, in such an embodiment, the dealer may be live or represented by the game device. It is further noted that the game device could be a specific use game device, such as a video card machine, or could be a general purpose computer programmed to conduct the present game. 
         [0036]    Device according to the present invention includes data processor  202 . Data processor  202  can take any form. Data processor  202  communicates with a display  204 , optionally through a display controller. Display  204  could be any form including cathode ray tube (“CRT”), liquid crystal display (“LCD”), plasma, or the like. Data processor  202  also communicates with a wager receiver  208 . Wager receiver  208  could be any means for receiving a wager or wager data. For example, wager receiver  208  could receive coins; bills; tokens; encoded vouchers, tickets, or script; account data, such as banking or credit card data; or any other form of data or media representing a wager. Data processor  202  also communicates with an input device  206 . Input device  206  could include any device usable by the player to input information or make selections, such as buttons, a keypad or keyboard, a touchscreen, or any other input device. 
         [0037]    Data structure  209  communicating with data processor  202  stores electronic representations of playing cards (optionally with a full or modified deck constitution as discussed above), a set of house rules including pay outs, and instructions executable by the data processor for conducting a game method, as described in a method for playing a game  10 ,  30  and  40 . Data structure  202  could be any structure storing data including any type of optical, magnetic, flash, electrical, or electronic memory, in any form, such as random access memory (“RAM”), read-only memory (“ROM”), or any of the many variations thereon. It is also noted that each of these elements, i.e., data processor  202 , data structure  209 , display  204 , input device  206 , and wager receiver  208 , need not be physically proximate but may be remote from one another and, in such an embodiment, could communicate via computer network, telephone line, wireless communication, or the like. 
         [0038]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-3  and  5 , in conducting the game method, data processor  202  receives a signal from wager receiver  208  indicating the placing of a game wager by the player, in block  11 . In response to this signal, data processor  202  randomly selects and “deals” an initial player hand and an initial dealer hand for the dealer or assigns the cards to the appropriate hand as described in blocks  12  and  14 . The cards of the initial player hand are exposed at the display  204  as is optionally one card of the initial dealer hand. Block  16  is performed by data processor  202 , such that if the dealer hand has a face card up the hole card will be displayed at display  204 . Block  17  is performed by data processor  202  to determine if the dealer has an automatic winning hand, in the case of Blackjack such a hand would be a natural twenty-one, the player&#39;s game wager is collected and play by the player is terminated. Block  18  is performed by data processor  202  to determine if the player has an automatic wining hand and if the player has an automatically winning hand, the player is rewarded, optionally at even money or at 6 to 5, and play by the player is terminated. Otherwise, blocks  18 - 21  are performed by data processor  202 , and a final player hand is formed by inputting the player&#39;s selection to hit or stand through the input device  206 . In one embodiment, the player may additionally have the option to split or double down in one or more of blocks  33 - 35  and  43  by placing at the wager receiver  208  a wager equal, or less than or equal, respectively, to the game wager. The final dealer hand is formed by data processor  202  according to the stored house rules. The final dealer hand and final player hand are compared in block  21  by data processor  202  to the predetermined target value, twenty-one in the case of Blackjack, and the player is rewarded in block  22  performed by data processor  202  on his game wager if the player&#39;s hand sum is closer to the target than the dealer&#39;s hand sum is, or if the dealer busts. Conversely, if the dealer&#39;s hand sum is closer to the target than the player&#39;s hand sum is, in block  24  performed by data processor  202  or, as discussed above, the player busts, the player loses his game wager. 
         [0039]    It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative of only a few of the many possible specific embodiments, which can represent applications of the principles of the invention. Numerous and varied other arrangements can be readily devised in accordance with these principles by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.