Patent ID: 7758410

Claim:
A method of conducting a wagering game, comprising: receiving a wager from a player to play the game via a wager input device; providing a plurality of symbol-bearing objects to form a first user-playable hand via a processor; providing the ability to discard, via player selection, one or more of the provided symbol-bearing objects from the first user-playable hand; collecting the discarded symbol-bearing objects exclusively for use in a best-possible hand for the player; replacing each of the discarded symbol-bearing objects with a replacement symbol-bearing object to form a second user-playable hand; awarding the player a payoff based on a ranking of the second user-playable hand in response to the second user-playable hand meeting a predetermined criterion; forming the best-possible hand from a combination of the plurality of the symbol-bearing objects of the second user-playable hand and the collected, discarded symbol-bearing objects; and awarding a bonus payoff based on a ranking of the best-possible hand in response to the best-possible hand meeting a predetermined criterion.