Patent ID: 7654894

Claim:
A method, comprising: dealing, by a processor of a computing device, a first set of cards displayed on a video screen to a first player of a poker game, wherein the first player is a person; dealing, by the processor, second set of cards to a second player of the poker game; determining, by the processor, and based on a set of game rules and based on the first set of cards, one first action, wherein the one first action consists of one of (a) a bet, (b) a raise, (c) a call, (d) a check, and (e) a fold; automatically performing, by the processor, the one first action on behalf of the first player; determining, by the processor, and based on the set of game rules and based on the second set of cards, one second action; determining, by the processor, a size of a pot based on the one first action and based on the one second action; determining, by the processor, a first poker ranking based on at least the first set of cards; determining, by the processor, a second poker ranking based on at least the second set of cards; determining, by the processor, a winning player of the poker game from amongst the first and second players based on the first poker ranking and based on the second poker ranking; and determining, by the processor, an amount to be awarded to the winning player, wherein the amount is based on the size of the pot; and wherein the set of game rules requires a particular human player of the poker game to bet in a particular set of circumstances, the particular set of circumstances comprising at least one of the following: (a) a poker ranking of the particular human player's cards is above a first threshold ranking, (b) the particular human player has more than a predetermined probability of achieving an eventual poker ranking of the particular player's cards above a second threshold ranking, (c) the particular human player has a possibility of achieving a predetermined particular poker hand with the particular human player's cards, and (d) the particular human player's cards comprise one or more predetermined cards.