Patent ID: 8684830

Claim:
A gaming device adapted to facilitate the play of table games in a table game tournament format, the gaming device comprising: an outer housing; a controller located within or about the outer housing and adapted to facilitate the play of a table game tournament by a player thereat, wherein said controller is further adapted to facilitate the provision of current tournament information to the player at the gaming device upon a demand from the player, continuously in automated fashion, or both; one or more input components coupled to the controller and adapted to accept input from the player regarding the play of the table game tournament; one or more display components coupled to the controller and adapted to provide output to the player regarding the play of the table game tournament; and a communication interface coupled to the controller and adapted to facilitate communications between the controller and an outside gaming network, wherein the outside gaming network includes at least a plurality of functionally similar gaming devices and one or more gaming tables having live dealer that host table games for the table game tournament, wherein said gaming device is adapted to permit the player to play in the table game tournament asynchronously with respect to other players also playing in the table game tournament; and the table game tournament is provided across a plurality of gaming tables and comprises a defined time period, and tournament players are permitted to play at their own pace at any of the plurality of gaming tables at any time during the defined time period according to the choices of the tournament players.