Patent ID: 7223171

Claim:
A single user video gaming apparatus for playing a game of chance involving a plurality of items selectable by the single user wherein when the game of video poker begins, each item has at least one characteristic that is unknown to the user, the apparatus comprising: selection means for allowing the single user to select at least one item from the plurality of items for inclusion in a set of selected items, wherein for a duration of the game of chance the plurality of items is a predetermined subset of a set of items where the subset contains less than all but at least a minimum number of items in the set that is statistically certain to contain at least one winning combination, wherein at least one other of the plurality of items thereafter occupies a set of non-selected items and thereby is no longer in play in the game of video poker; and revealing means for revealing to the single user the unknown characteristic of at least one item in the set of selected items and the unknown characteristic of at least one item in the set of non-selected items to thereby demonstrate to the single user that the plurality of items of the subset did, in fact, contain the at least one winning combination.