Patent ID: 7748714

Claim:
A method of controlling an electronic gaming system, the electronic gaming system having a display device and a processor operatively coupled to the display device and configured to display a card game, the method comprising: executing a plurality of computer-readable instructions by the processor, the execution resulting in, for each and every play of the card game: performance of a plurality of steps for said play of the card game regardless of the cards dealt to each of a live player and two or more virtual players, the steps including: (a) accepting a player wager in the form of a blind wager; (b) dealing and displaying to the live player two hole cards to form a live player hand; and (c) dealing and displaying to each of the two or more virtual players a virtual player hand, wherein all game play decisions for each of the virtual players are made by the processor; (d) offering the live player an option to place a subsequent wager; (e) after the live player elects whether or not to place the subsequent wager, (i) requiring at least one of the virtual players to fold, and (ii) requiring at least a different one of the virtual players to either call or raise the blind wager and any subsequent wager by the live player, the determination of which virtual player to fold being based on pre-established criteria and in response to the play decisions controlled by the processor; (f) after the at least one virtual player folds and is eliminated from the play of the card game: (i) causing the display device to display five face-up common cards; and (ii) offering the live player an option to place one or more subsequent wagers in a pre-established manner; (g) causing the display device to display the live player's final hand by the display device; (h) comparing the live player's final hand against each remaining virtual player's hand, wherein the hands are formed using the best five cards selected from the two hole cards and the five common cards; and (i) paying the live player an award based on the rank of the live player's final poker hand.