Patent ID: 7704144

Claim:
A method for establishing player rank in a wagering tournament, said method comprising: (a) offering a first wagering game at a first location to a plurality of first location players, said first location including a first gaming table, a plurality of first wagering token receiving player zones on the first gaming table, and a first wager zone on the first gaming table, each of said first wagering token receiving player zones configured to receive a plurality of wagering tokens when said wagering tokens are not being wagered, said first wager zone configured to receive a plurality of the wagering tokens when said wagering tokens are being wagered, the first wagering game being part of the tournament; (b) detecting any wagering tokens in each first wagering token receiving player zone; (c) detecting any wagering tokens in the first wager zone; (d) offering a second wagering game at a second location to a plurality of second location players, said second location including a second gaming table, a plurality of second wagering token receiving player zones on the second gaming table, and a second wager zone on the second gaming table, each of said second wagering token receiving player zones configured to receive a plurality of the wagering tokens when said wagering tokens are not being wagered, said second wager zone configured to receive a plurality of the wagering tokens when said wagering tokens are being wagered, the second wagering game being part of the tournament; (e) detecting any wagering tokens in each second wagering token receiving player zone; (f) detecting any wagering tokens in the second wager zone; (g) during play of the tournament, for each first wagering token receiving player zone, if (i) no wagering tokens are detected in said first wagering token receiving player zone, and (ii) no wagering tokens are detected in said first wager zone, causing a deletion system processor to create a time stamped game event for said first wagering token receiving player zone; (h) during play of the tournament, for each second wagering token receiving player zone, if (A) no wagering tokens are detected in said second wagering token receiving player zone, and (B) no wagering tokens are detected in said second wager zone, causing the deletion system processor to create a time stamped game event for said second wagering token receiving player zone; and (i) providing the time stamped game events to a processor, wherein the processor determines a player rank for said tournament based on the time stamped game events.