Patent ID: 8905404

Claim:
A method of operating a gaming machine for playing a playing card wagering game comprising: providing a gaming machine; providing a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions and executed by a processor to perform the steps of: causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions stored in at least one memory device to operate with at least one input device to receive a first wager and a second wager, the wagers being of equal value, from a player for a play of a game; after receiving the wagers, causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to determine a plurality of playing cards for an initial player hand and an initial dealer hand for said play of the game from a virtual deck of playing cards; causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to operate with at least one display device to display the plurality of cards of the initial player hand and the initial dealer hand face up; causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to operate with the at least one input device to receive an optional request from the player for at least one player draw card from the virtual deck of playing cards; causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to operate with the at least one display device to display the at least one player draw card face-up into the initial player hand from the virtual deck of playing cards; causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to operate with the at least one display device to display at least one dealer draw card face-up in the initial dealer hand from the virtual deck of playing cards; causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to determine whether the initial player's hand and the at least one player draw card hand beats the initial dealer's hand and the at least one dealer draw card according to both a highest poker hand and also according to a 31 point blackjack hand; causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to determine any awards to be provided to the player based on the comparison to the dealer hand and according to a pay table; and causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions stored in the at least one memory device to cause any determined awards to be provided to the player.