Patent ID: 8192266

Claim:
A method for conducting a wagering game for a player in accordance with the rules of a base game defining a winning hand, comprising: conducting, by a gaming device, a game hand for said player comprising: (a) receiving a wager from said player; (b) selecting game indicia to be dealt to said player by selecting a respective value of each indicia with reference to an available inventory of indicia and a respective suit of each indicia without reference to the available inventory of indicia; (c) dealing the game indicia to said player, and decreasing the available inventory of indicia having a same value as each of the respective values of the indicia dealt in the game hand and indicia dealt in previous game hands, if any; (d) conducting said game hand for said player to completion according to said base game and resolving said wager based at least in part on whether said game hand forms a winning hand; (e) decreasing an inventory of available indicia having a same value as each of the dealt indicia and all game indicia dealt in previous game hands, if any, for play in a subsequent game hand; and (f) displaying at least one of: the available inventory of said game indicia that have been decreased in availability or winning hands eliminated as a result of said decreased availability; conducting, by the gaming device, at least one additional sequential game hand of steps (a)-(f) using said inventory of said game indicia until a restoration event, said restoration event including at least a manual restoration event; and upon a restoration event, restoring, by the gaming device, the inventory of indicia.