Patent ID: 7824255

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: deal 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; deal a second set of cards to a second player of the poker game; determine, 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 perform the one first action on behalf of the first player; determine, based on the set of game rules and based on the second set of cards, one second action; determine a size of a pot based on the one first action and based on the one second action; determine a first poker ranking based on at least the first set of cards; determine a second poker ranking based on at least the second set of cards; determine 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 determine 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 require 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 human 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.