Patent ID: 8449362

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one input device; at least one display device; at least one processor; and at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one input device and the at least one display device to, for a play of a poker game: (a) receive a wager from a player; (b) receive an additional wager from the player; (c) after receiving the wager and the additional wager from the player: (i) generate and display a first hand of a plurality of playing cards from a first set of playing cards; (ii) generate and display a second hand of a plurality of playing cards from a second set of playing cards; (iii) determine whether any of the displayed playing cards in the first hand of displayed playing cards match any of the displayed playing cards in the second hand of displayed playing cards; and (iv) if any of the displayed playing cards in the first hand of displayed playing cards match any of the displayed playing cards in the second hand of displayed playing cards, for each of the displayed playing cards in the first hand of displayed playing cards that matches one of the displayed playing cards in the second hand of displayed playing cards, change said matched displayed playing card in the first hand of displayed playing cards to a wild playing card and display an indication that said matched displayed playing card in the first hand of displayed playing cards has been changed to the wild playing card; (d) after changing any displayed playing cards in the first hand of displayed playing cards that match one of the displayed playing cards in the second hand of displayed playing cards to the wild playing card, enable the player to select zero, one, or a plurality of the displayed playing cards in the first hand of displayed playing cards to discard; (e) discard any selected displayed playing cards from the first hand of displayed playing cards; (f) replace any discarded playing cards with replacement playing cards from the playing cards remaining in the first set of playing cards to form a final hand of playing cards and display the final hand of playing cards, wherein, if any of the displayed playing cards in the final hand of displayed playing cards matches one of the displayed playing cards in the second hand of displayed playing cards, the at least one processor does not change the matched displayed playing cards in the final hand of displayed playing cards to the wild playing card; (g) determine and display any award associated with the displayed playing cards in the final hand of displayed playing cards; and (h) provide any determined award to the player.