Patent ID: 8651931

Claim:
A method of playing two or more hands of video poker using a single deck of playing cards from which cards are distributed and into which certain cards are returned for play, the method being performed on an electronic gaming machine (“EGM”) including a processor for controlling the EGM and executing a random number generator (“RNG”) program, a memory for storing a control program and the RNG program, and a display, comprising: executing the RNG program on the processor to select a random set of at least three cards from the deck to be displayed on the display and representing a first dealt poker hand; allowing a player to select which cards from the first dealt poker hand to hold or discard; discarding zero or more discard cards selected by the player from the first dealt poker hand and removing the discard cards from the first dealt poker hand; executing the RNG program on the processor to select one or more draw cards to be dealt from a group of cards remaining in the deck into a first completed poker hand to replace the discarded cards on the display; determining whether the first completed poker hand includes a winning combination; and returning zero or more played cards from one or both of the first dealt poker hand and the first completed poker hand to the deck for availability in either one or both of the draw and at least one additional hand wherein any card previously discarded and returned to the deck may not be dealt into the same hand into which it was previously dealt.