Patent ID: 8641515

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one controller; and a plurality of groups of gaming machines, each group including a plurality of gaming machines and each gaming machine including at least one display device and at least one input device, wherein each gaming machine is configured to communicate with the at least one controller, and wherein said at least one controller and said gaming machines are configured for each group of gaming machines for play of a table tournament to: (a) display a total number of tournament credits for each player of one of the gaming machines of said group; (b) enable a first player of a first one of the gaming machines of said group to place at least one wager for a tournament game using the first player's total number of tournament credits; (c) sequentially enable the players of each of the other gaming machines of said group to place wagers for the tournament game using their respective total numbers of tournament credits; (d) at any time until wagering is closed for the tournament game, for each of the gaming machines of said group, enable the player of said gaming machine to place a wager that is not indicated to the players of the other gaming machines of said group; (e) simultaneously determine and display a same tournament game outcome for each of the players of the gaming machines of said group; (f) for each of the players of the gaming machines of said group, determine a number of tournament credits based at least in part on any wagers placed by said player and said tournament game outcome and add said determined number of tournament credits to said player's total number of tournament credits; (g) display tournament rankings of the players of the gaming machines of said group, wherein said tournament rankings are based on the total number of tournament credits of each of the players; and (h) repeat (b) to (g) a predetermined number of times for each of the players of the gaming machines of said group with tournament credits remaining, wherein players of gaming machines of different groups may place wagers simultaneously.