Patent ID: 7533886

Claim:
A method of playing a wagering game including a dealer and at least one player in which only four-card poker hands compete on each wager comprising: (a). providing at least one standard deck of 52 playing cards; (b). providing a published ranking of winning four-card poker hands; (c). providing a predetermined pay scale for winning four-card poker hands; (d). providing a dealer and at least one player; (e). commencing the game by having at least one player make certain initial wagers selected from the following; (1) a first wager against the dealer, and (2) a separate voluntary wager against a predetermined pay scale; (f). dealing at least four cards to each player; (g). dealing at least four cards to the dealer; (h). said player continuing play of the game by placing a third support wager in support of its first wager against the dealer; (i). comparing the players best four-card hand formed from all cards received by the player as the at least four cards against the dealer's best four-card hand formed from all cards received by the dealer as the at least four cards and excluding all extra cards dealt to determine the relative ranking therebetween; (j). paying the players first wager against the dealer and player's third support wager if the player's four-card poker hand rank outranks the dealer's four-card poker hand rank; (k). paying the player's separate voluntary wager against the predetermined pay scale if the player's four-card poker hand has achieved a rank at least as high as at least one ranking from said published ranking; (l). taking the player's separate voluntary wager against the predetermined pay scale if the player's best four-card poker rank fails to achieve at least the minimum four-card poker ranking from said published ranking; (m). taking the player's first wager against the dealer and third support wager if the dealer's four-card poker hand outranks the player's four-card poker hand; and (n). returning the player's first wager against the dealer and third support wager if said player's four-card poker hand has the same ranking four-card poker hand as the four-card poker hand of the dealer; wherein the at least one player is provided with an opportunity to place an additional bad beat wager including the further steps of: 1) providing a pre-determined published ranking of winning bad beat hands, 2) permitting the at least one player to place an additional wager against said pre-determined published ranking of winning bad beat hands, and 3) providing that the at least one player may win said additional wager even in the event the at least one player's hand is outranked by the dealer's hand so long as the at least one player's hand appears on the pre-determined published ranking of winning bad beat hands.