Patent ID: 8721419

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: one or more input devices; one or more display devices configured to display a poker wagering game; one or more processors; and one or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the gaming system to: receive, via at least one of the one or more input devices, a player input indicating a selection of at least one challenge from a plurality of challenges, each challenge including a challenge condition that must be achieved within a predetermined number of future plays of the poker wagering game; for each future play of the poker wagering game, deal a plurality of playing cards and accept a second player selection via at least one of the one or more input devices to form a user-playable poker hand and determine a basic award based on a poker ranking of the user-playable poker hand; in response to the challenge condition of the selected challenge being achieved within the predetermined number of future plays, award a special award; and unlocking an additional challenge in response to the challenge condition of the selected challenge being achieved, wherein the additional challenge is different from the plurality of challenges and has a different degree of difficulty than the at least one challenge.