U.S. patent application number 12/642805 was filed with the patent office on 2011-06-23 for video poker game with multiple initial hands.
Invention is credited to Michael Shackleford.
Application Number | 20110151956 12/642805 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44151854 |
Filed Date | 2011-06-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110151956 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Shackleford; Michael |
June 23, 2011 |
Video Poker Game with Multiple Initial Hands
Abstract
A video poker machine that displays multiple initial hands. A
player is presented with two or more initial poker hands and can
choose which of these initial hands to play. The hands that are not
chosen are discarded, and the hand that is chosen can be played to
completion. Depending on the rank of the final hand, the player can
win an award.
Inventors: |
Shackleford; Michael; (Las
Vegas, NV) |
Family ID: |
44151854 |
Appl. No.: |
12/642805 |
Filed: |
December 19, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/13 ;
463/25 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 17/32 20130101;
G07F 17/3293 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/13 ;
463/25 |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/24 20060101
A63F009/24 |
Claims
1. A method to play a wagering game, the method comprising:
executing instructions on a processor on a digital computer to
perform the following operations: receiving a wager from the
player; dealing and displaying at least two initial hands;
receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand out of the
at least two initial hands; receiving a selection of hold cards out
of the selected hand; receiving an indication from the player to
draw, and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a
final hand; and awarding any earned awards to the player based on a
rank of the final hand.
2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the player receives no
payout on the hands that are not the selected hand.
3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the at least
two initial hands are dealt from separate decks.
4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein all of the at least
two initial hands are all dealt from a same deck, and cards from
the hand(s) not selected as the selected hand are put back into the
same deck and shuffled before the replacing.
5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the wager requires at
least one additional coin, wherein the additional coin is not
reflected in the awarding.
6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least two
initial hands comprises exactly two initial hands.
7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least two
initial hands comprises exactly three initial hands.
8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a number of the at
least two initial hands varies and is determined randomly.
9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a number of the at
least two initial hands is determined randomly and will be A hands
X % of the time and B hands Y % of the time, wherein A and B are
different values.
10. A method to play a wagering game, the method comprising:
executing instructions on a processor on a digital computer to
perform the following operations: receiving a wager from the
player; dealing and displaying at least two initial hands;
receiving a selection of hold cards; receiving, from the player, a
choice of a selected hand out of the at least two initial hands,
and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a final
hand; and awarding any earned awards to the player based on a rank
of the final hand.
11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the player receives
no payout on the hands that are not the selected hand.
12. An apparatus to play a wagering game, the apparatus comprising:
a processing unit programmed to execute pre-stored instructions to
perform the following operations: receiving a wager from the
player; dealing and displaying at least two initial hands;
receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand out of the
at least two initial hands; receiving a selection of hold cards out
of the selected hand; receiving an indication from the player to
draw, and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a
final hand; awarding any earned awards to the player based on a
rank of the final hand; and an output unit to display results of
the processing unit.
13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the player
receives no payout on the hands that are not the selected hand.
14. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the at
least two initial hands are dealt from separate decks.
15. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein all of the at
least two initial hands are all dealt from a same deck, and cards
from the hand(s) not selected as the selected hand are put back
into the same deck and shuffled before the replacing.
16. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the wager
requires at least one additional coin, wherein the additional coin
is not reflected in the awarding.
17. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least two
initial hands comprises exactly two initial hands.
18. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least two
initial hands comprises exactly three initial hands.
19. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein a number of the
at least two initial hands varies and is determined randomly.
20. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein a number of the
at least two initial hands is determined randomly and will be A
hands X % of the time and B hands Y % of the time, wherein A and B
are different values.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present general inventive concept is directed to a
method, apparatus, and computer readable storage medium for a video
poker game allowing for multiple initial hands.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Video Poker is a popular wagering game, although the game
has become somewhat dated. Casinos are always looking for new and
exciting variations of the game in order to attract and retain
players.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] It is an aspect of the present invention to provide an
improvement over video poker machines.
[0006] The above aspects can be obtained by a gaming machine that
includes (a) executing instructions on a processor on a digital
computer to perform the following operations: (b) receiving a wager
from the player; (c) dealing and displaying at least two initial
hands; (d) receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand
out of the at least two initial hands; (e) receiving a selection of
hold cards out of the selected hand; (f) receiving an indication
from the player to draw, and replacing non-hold cards in the
selected hand to form a final hand; and (g) awarding any earned
awards to the player based on a rank of the final hand.
[0007] These together with other aspects and advantages which will
be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and
operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed,
reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part
hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] Further features and advantages of the present invention, as
well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the
present invention, will become apparent and more readily
appreciated from the following description of the preferred
embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of
which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is drawing illustrating one type of a video poker
machine that can be used to implement the present inventive
concept, according to an embodiment;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method to
implement a video poker game, according to an embodiment;
[0011] FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a second
exemplary method to implement a video poker game, according to an
embodiment;
[0012] FIG. 4A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a first
phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 4B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a
second phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 5A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a third
phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 5B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a
fourth phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 6 is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a final
phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;
[0017] FIG. 7A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an
alternative second phase of an exemplary game, according to an
embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 7B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an
alternative final phase of an exemplary game, according to an
embodiment; and
[0019] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a sample physical
hardware configuration that can be used to implement the methods
described herein, according to an embodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] Reference will now be made in detail to the presently
preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are
illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference
numerals refer to like elements throughout.
[0021] The general inventive concept relates to a game involving
video poker. Video poker is a well known game in the art, for
example see U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,014, which is incorporated by
reference here in its entirety.
[0022] Methods of the current inventive concept provide a video
poker game that initially offers a player multiple hands to choose
from. The player will select one hand to play out of the multiple
hands and the remaining hands will be out of play. The one hand
selected will then be the hand that the player can play out, e.g.,
select hold cards, and then draw (replace the non-hold cards) to
form a final hand, which then can be paid to the player as a
winning hand if the final hand is a winning rank.
[0023] FIG. 1 is drawing illustrating one type of a video poker
machine that can be used to implement the present inventive
concept, according to an embodiment.
[0024] An electronic video poker machine of the kind illustrated
can be used to implement the present invention, although other
electronic machines can be used as well, such as table-top models,
downloadable client-server units, personal computers running
software implementing the present methods, a remote client running
software on an online casino, etc.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method to
implement a video poker game, according to an embodiment.
[0026] The method can begin with operation 200, which receives an
initial wager. This can be done as known in the art. For example, a
player can initially cash in with cash or a ticket/voucher, and
credit the credit meter with a number of credits. These credits can
be wagered on each game by pressing buttons on the video poker
machine.
[0027] From operation 200, the method proceeds to operation 202,
which displays and deals at least two initial hands of five cards
face up to the player. The cards are dealt from a standard virtual
deck of cards, although non-standard decks can be used as well such
as a deck with wild cards (jokers), etc. Typically, each hand is
dealt from a separate deck, although in another embodiment a same
deck can be used to deal all of the cards displayed.
[0028] For example, operation 202 can deal two rows of five cards
each, each row being a separate hand. Alternatively, three hands
can be dealt, or any number of hands (e.g., 2-15 hands). The player
will view the hands dealt and decide which of the hands the player
thinks is the best hand to continue playing. The player will then
continue to play the preferred hand and the remaining hands will be
discarded, with no payouts made on them.
[0029] From operation 202, the method proceeds to operation 204,
which receives a selection from the player of which hand to play.
The player can select which hand to play (the selected hand) by for
example, pressing a respective button alongside the selected hand.
Once the player has selected the selected hand, the remaining hands
can be erased (or faded) from the display, having no further
function in the game. All of the cards in the remaining hands (not
the selected hand) are now "dead cards." When the initial hand is
selected, the dead cards are typically put back into the deck (in
random positions) used for the draw so that the viewing of these
cards in the initial hands has no effect on the draw for the
selected hand.
[0030] From operation 204, the method proceeds to operation 206,
which allows the player to select hold cards in the selected hand.
The player can select hold cards by touching individual card(s) (on
a touch screen device) that the player wishes to hold (designating
them as hold cards). The player may also use buttons, a keyboard,
mouse, etc., to indicate his or her choice of hold cards. If a hold
card is touched (or selected), then it becomes a non-held card
(discard), i.e., its hold card status is removed. The player can
continue to select hold cards until the player presses a "draw"
button which instructs the machine to draw.
[0031] From operation 206, the method proceeds to operation 208,
which determines if the player has pushed the draw button yet. If
not, the method returns to operation 206, which allows the player
to continue to select hold cards. In other words, this can be
considered a "loop" as the machine is waiting for the player to
press the draw button while allowing the player to also select the
player's selected hold cards. If the player wishes to hold all of
the dealt cards, the player should select all cards as hold cards
and draw (press the draw button).
[0032] If the determination in operation 208 determines that the
player has drawn (by pressing or clicking a draw button), then the
method proceeds to operation 210, which draws (replaces the
non-hold cards in the selected hand). The cards which are not
designated by the player as hold cards are non-hold cards (or
discards). The discards are replaced with newly dealt cards from
the deck to form a final hand.
[0033] In the embodiment where each of the at least two hands dealt
(in operation 202) are dealt from a same deck, then all of the
cards in the hands which were not the selected hand (the dead
cards) should typically be put back into the deck before the draw.
This is to avoid confusing the player by having him try to remember
all of the cards that have been dealt out of the deck, making the
optimal strategy of the game extremely difficult.
[0034] From operation 210, the method proceeds to operation 212,
which determines a rank of the final hand. This can be done by
comparing cards in the final hand to a paytable of ranks to
determine the respective rank. If the rank of the final hand does
not meet a minimum paying rank, then the hand can be considered to
have the rank of "losing hand."
[0035] From operation 212, the method proceeds to operation 214,
which determines whether the final hand is a winning rank. If not,
then the method proceeds to operation 218, wherein the game
ends.
[0036] If in operation 214, the method determines that the final
hand is a winning rank, then the method proceeds to operation 216,
which pays an award to the player. The award is determined based on
the actual rank of the final hand and the amount of coins bet for
the initial wager (in operation 200).
[0037] FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a second
exemplary method to implement a video poker game, according to an
embodiment. The method illustrated in FIG. 3 is similar to that in
FIG. 2, but the methodology used to select the selected hand and
hold cards is slightly different.
[0038] Operations 300-302 and 312-318 of FIG. 3 correspond to
operations 200-202 and 212-218 of FIG. 2, thus for descriptions of
these operations in FIG. 3 please see the respective descriptions
for FIG. 2. However, in operation 304, the player can select hold
cards in any of the initial hands dealt in operation 302. Each of
the initial hands can have a draw button associated with it.
[0039] From operation 304, the method proceeds to operation 306,
which determines whether any of the draw buttons have been pressed.
If not, the method returns to operation 304, which allows the
player to continue to select hold cards.
[0040] If in operation 306 a draw button has been pressed, then the
method proceeds to operation 310. The hand associated with the draw
button pressed becomes the selected hand, and all remaining hands
can be erased. Then, a draw is conducted in the selected hand, as
the game replaces the non-hold cards in the selected hand with
newly dealt cards to form a final hand.
[0041] The operation illustrated in FIG. 3 requires one less action
by the player then in FIG. 2. In the method illustrated in FIG. 2,
the player chooses the selected hand, selects the hold cards, and
then draws. In the method illustrated in FIG. 3, the player selects
the hold cards, then chooses the selected hand which automatically
also draws for the selected hand. See FIGS. 7A-7B for an
illustration of FIG. 3.
[0042] FIG. 4A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a first
phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.
[0043] The player indicates (via buttons) how much the player
wishes to bet. In this figure, the player bets 9 coins and then
presses the "deal" button to begin the game (operation 200).
[0044] FIG. 4B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a
second phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.
[0045] After the player presses the "deal" button in FIG. 4A, the
video poker machine then deals (operation 202) three hands (in this
embodiment, although other numbers of hands can be dealt as well).
The player will inspect each of the hands and decide which of the
hands the player wishes to play. Optimally, the player should
choose the hand that has the highest expected value.
[0046] It is noted that in this embodiment, each hand is dealt from
a separate deck. This is apparent because the same card
(three-clubs) appears in both the second and the third hand. In an
alternate embodiment, all hands can be dealt from the same deck
(but then when a hand is selected as the selected hand, the cards
from the unused hands will be put back into the deck and
shuffled).
[0047] In view of the three hands, the player should optimally pick
the third hand. The first (top) hand has a relatively low expected
value since the correct play would be to only hold the ace high.
The second hand is better in that the player would optimally hold
the low pair of fives. The third hand is best because the player
would optimally hold the low pair of threes. The third hand is
better than the second hand because according to the paytable being
used (displayed), four 2s-4s with a kicker of 5 to king pays 400,
while four 5s-king pays 255. Therefore, the third hand (bottom)
would have a slightly higher expected value than the second
(middle) hand.
[0048] The player is not required to play optimal strategy and can
choose any hand to play he or she wishes. In this example, the
player presses (operation 204) the "select 2" button because the
player (erroneously) decides to play the second (middle hand).
[0049] FIG. 5A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a third
phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.
[0050] After the player presses the "select 2" button in FIG. 4B,
the game now removes the unselected hands (the top and bottom) so
that the player can select hold cards in the selected hand
(operation 206) in order to play out the selected hand. The player
can touch individual cards (or indicate cards in another manner
such as a keyboard or mouse) to give cards "hold" status as hold
cards.
[0051] FIG. 5B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a
fourth phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.
[0052] From FIG. 5A, the player has decided to hold both 5's, the
hold cards being indicated by the "hold" indicator. The player now
presses ("yes" in operation 208) the "draw" button to indicate that
he or she is done selecting hold cards and is ready to replace the
non-held cards (discards).
[0053] FIG. 6 is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a final
phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.
[0054] After the player presses the "draw" button in FIG. 5B, the
game now replaces the non-held cards with newly dealt cards from
the deck (operation 210). In this case, the draw cards are
five-spades, two-clubs, ace-diamonds, to form a final hand of three
of a kind (three 5's). Three of a kind pays 15 coins for nine coins
bet (according to the active paytable), thus the player is paid
(operation 216) 15 coins which is added to the player's credit
meter (marked "credits"). The game is now over.
[0055] FIGS. 4-6 illustrated the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2.
Alternatively, the flow of the game can be accomplished as
illustrated in FIG. 3. FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate the embodiment
illustrated in FIG. 3
[0056] FIG. 7A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an
alternative second phase of an exemplary game, according to an
embodiment.
[0057] Operations 300-302 have been performed, and now the player
can select his or her hold cards in operation 304. Note that each
hand has a respective draw button, hand 1 (the top hand) has a
"draw 1" button, hand 2 (the middle hand) has a "draw 2" button,
and hand 3 (the bottom hand) has a "draw 3" button. Pushing the
respective draw button will both select that hand as the selected
hand but also draw as well. So before pressing any of the draw
buttons, the player will select his or her hold cards. The player
can even select hold cards across different hands, as the player is
free to experiment with playing each hand in different manners
until the player has decided which hand he or she wants to select
and how to play that hand.
[0058] Once the player has selected which of the initial hands the
player wishes to select as the selected hand, and the player has
also selected the hold cards for that hand, then the player will
press the respective draw button for the selected hand. In this
example, the player decides to press the "draw 3" button ("yes" in
operation 306).
[0059] FIG. 7B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an
alternative final phase of an exemplary game, according to an
embodiment.
[0060] After the player has pressed the "draw 3" button in FIG. 7A,
the game now removes the unselected hands (the top (first) and
middle (second) hand) and implements a draw in the selected third
(bottom) hand. The game replaces the non-hold cards with new cards
dealt from the deck (operation 310), which are: 10-spades.
3-diamonds, 3-spades, to form a final hand of four 3's. According
to the active paytable, four 3's with a kicker of 10 pays 400.
[0061] Allowing the player to choose a selected hand out of a
number of initial hands provides the player a large advantage,
which would typically need to be offset by the house or casino that
offers the game. Table I below illustrates a sample "double double
bonus" paytable for one coin, although of course any type of video
poker game/paytable can be used with the methods described herein.
Payouts for other amounts of coins bet can be determined simply by
multiplying the respective payout for a hand by the number of coins
bet.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE I Hand payout one coin payout for five coins
ROYAL FLUSH 800 4000 STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 250 4 ACES + 2-4 400 2000 4
2-4 + A-4 160 800 4 ACES + 5-K 160 800 4 2-4 + 5-K 80 400 4 5-K 50
250 FULL HOUSE 9 45 FLUSH 6 30 STRAIGHT 4 20 3 OF A KIND 3 15 TWO
PAIR 1 5 JACKS OR BETTER 1 5 NOTHING 0 0
[0062] Table II below illustrates a number of initial hands offered
to the player (in operation 202) and the average expected return to
the player (assuming that the player plays optimally) using the
paytable in Table I.
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE II Number of initial hands Return 1 0.989808 2
1.384570 3 1.693661 4 1.953827 5 2.182449
[0063] For example, a single hand the double double bonus paytable
in Table I has a player return of 98.9808% (this is a standard game
since it only offers one initial hand). To offer two initial hands
to the player gives the player an expected return of 138.4570%,
giving the player a huge advantage. To offer five initial hands to
the player gives the player an expected return of 218.2449%.
[0064] In order to offer a profitable game for the casino, the
casino can offset the player advantage in numerous ways. One way is
that the game can offer the player a reduced (or depressed)
paytable. The game can require extra coins. For example, a two
initial hand game can require the player to bet 7 coins for a
payout using Table I on 5 coins (thus the player is betting two
extra coins). Table III below illustrates numerous different
initial hands offered, their base return (see Table II), a number
of coins bet for a 5 coin payout, and the total return of the
configuration. For example, the first row in table III represents a
standard video poker game with one initial hand with 5 coins bet
which pays at 5 times the paytable in Table I (e.g., pays as if 5
coins were bet). The second row represents a video poker game which
offers the player two initial hands, requires the player to bet 7
coins and pays the player at 5 times the paytable in Table I (e.g.,
pays as if 5 coins were bet). Thus, the player is essentially
betting two extra coins (instead of betting 5 coins which is a
common wager amount, the player bets 7 coins) for the advantage of
choosing between two initial hands even though the payout is as if
the player bet 5 coins. In the second row of Table III the return
for this configuration is 98.898%.
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE III Hands offered Base return Coins bet Total
return 1 .989808 5 2 1.38457 7 0.98898 2 1.38457 8 0.86536 3
1.693661 9 0.94092 4 1.953827 10 0.97691
[0065] The returns in Table III may be too low as the party that
offers the game (the casino, game producer, etc.) may wish to raise
(or perhaps lower) the total return. This can be done by modifying
some of the payouts on the paytable which will in turn affect the
total return of the game.
[0066] Table IV below illustrates four different possible paytables
that deviate from Table I. For example, the first column is a
paytable for a game which offers two initial hands and takes
(player bets) 7 coins, the second column is a paytable for a game
which offers two initial hands and takes (player bets) 8 coins, the
third column is a paytable for a game which offers three initial
hands and takes (player bets) 9 coins, and the fourth column is a
paytable for a game which offers four initial hands and takes
(player bets) 10 coins.
TABLE-US-00004 TABLE IV 2 hands/ 2 hands/ 3 hand/ 4 hand/ Hand 7
coins 8 coins 9 coins 10 coins ROYAL FL 4000 4000 4000 4000 STRT.
FL 250 270 255 250 4 ACES + 2-4 2000 2000 2000 2000 4 2-4 + A-4 800
800 800 800 4 ACES + 5-K 800 800 800 800 4 2-4 + 5-K 400 400 400
400 4 5-K 255 270 255 260 FULL HSE. 45 90 60 45 FLUSH 30 40 35 35
STRAIGHT 20 20 20 20 3 OF A KIND 15 15 15 15 TWO PAIR 5 5 5 5
JACKS+ 5 5 5 5 NOTHING 0 0 0 0 RETURN 99.082% 99.097% 99.125%
99.163%
[0067] Another method that can be used to adjust the total returns
in Table III is to offer a random multiplier. The random multiplier
can be triggered at random and can multiply all awards to the
player by a particular amount, thereby increasing the total return.
Table V below illustrates
TABLE-US-00005 TABLE V Coins bet hands base return average
multiplier total return 5 1 .989808 1 98.98% 7 2 1.38457 1.002
99.10% 8 2 1.38457 1.146 99.17% 9 3 1.693661 1.055 99.27% 10 4
1.953827 1.017 99.35%
[0068] For example, in Table V, the first row represents a standard
video poker game with only one initial hand offered to the player.
In the second row, the player bets 7 coins for a 5 coin payout
while receiving two initial hands (see Table III). Multiplying
every win by 1.002 will increase the player return from 98.898%
(from Table III) to 99.10%, which may be more desirable to the game
distributors. However, it is not practical to multiply every award
the player earns by 1.002, as this may result in odd award amounts
as well as this would be tantamount to a paytable multiplied by
1.002, but then the payouts on the paytable would have fractions of
a coin in them, which is not desirable.
[0069] Instead, a multiplier of 1.002 can be achieved by triggering
a random multiplier which could be triggered based on a 1/500
probability for each new game, and upon triggering of the
multiplier the award will be multiplied 2. The player can be
notified of the multiplier at any point in time, such as the start
of the game, or upon the awarding of an award. Of course other,
more complex multiplier schemes can be used as well, with different
multipliers and different probabilities for achieving each.
[0070] As a further mechanism for raising the total return of a
particular game, the game can award an extra win at random. Table
VI below illustrates the different games described above and an
average bonus that can be awarded in order to increase the total
return (from Table III).
TABLE-US-00006 TABLE VI Coins bet hands base return average bonus
total return 5 1 98.9808% 0 98.98% 7 2 138.457% 0.002 99.10% 8 2
138.457% 0.126 99.14% 9 3 169.3661% 0.052 99.29% 10 4 195.3827%
0.017 99.39%
[0071] The first row represents the standard video poker game with
only one initial hand. The second row represents the 7 coin bet/5
coin payout with 2 initial hands which from Table III has a 98.898%
return (this is equivalent to 0.98898). To raise this return to
99.10%, an average bonus of 0.002 can be given per game. To avoid
giving a tiny bonus on each game, a larger bonus can be awarded
randomly that averages out to an addition of 0.002 each game. For
example, one out of 500 games (determined randomly) can receive a
random 2*7 (since 7 coins are bet)=14 coins, although since the
player has already bet 7 coins the player will receive 7 free
coins. These free coins can either be used to augment the current
bet, augment the next bet, or just increase the player's credit
meter. Thus, in other words, when a random trigger occurs (e.g.,
with a probability of X %), the player can receive Y free coins in
order to augment a particular game's overall mathematical return.
The free coins can be awarded at the start or end of any game.
[0072] As a further way to increase a particular game's
mathematical return, the game can award additional free initial
hands (in operation 202). Table VII shows a number of coins bet in
the left column and for each number of coins bet a probability for
the player receiving a particular number of initial hands. For
example, with 5 coins bet, the player will receive one initial hand
100% of the time, for a standard game of video poker. With 7 coins
bet, the player will receive two initial hands 99% of the time and
three initial hands 1% of the time. This game is similar to the 7
coin game in Table III (which has a return of 98.898%) but 1% of
the time (determined randomly), the player will receive three
initial hands (instead of two) which bumps of the return of the
game (expected value) to 99.12%. in addition to splitting the
distribution between two different numbers of initial hands, more
than two numbers of initial hands can be used as well (e.g., a game
can offer 2, 3, or 5 initial hands depending on a random
determination, or any other combination).
TABLE-US-00007 TABLE VII coins # of initial hands bet 1 2 3 4 5
expected value 5 100% 98.98% 6 49.5% 50.5% 99.10% 7 99.0% 1.0%
99.12% 8 34.5% 65.5% 99.19% 9 64.5% 35.5% 99.22% 10 86.0% 14.0%
99.29%
[0073] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a sample physical
hardware configuration that can be used to implement the methods
described herein, according to an embodiment.
[0074] A processing unit 803 can be a microprocessor and associated
structure (bus, cache, etc.) The processing unit is capable of
executing programmed instructions which are pre-coded and stored
that will implement the methods described herein. The processing
unit is connected to an output device 800 (e.g., LCD, speaker,
touch-screen, etc), an input device 801 (keyboard, touch-screen,
mouse, buttons, etc), and a network connection 802 (e.g. a
connection to a WAN, LAN, Internet, etc.) The processing unit is
also connected to a ROM 807, a RAM 808, and a storage device 805
(e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, hard disk, EPROM, or any other storage device).
A computer readable storage medium 806 can be read by the storage
device 805 and can store programs to implement methods described
herein. The processing unit 803 is also connected to a bill
acceptor/cashout mechanism 804, which can receive cash deposits or
tickets from the player to credit the player's credit mater and can
also make payments to the player when the player cashes out by
issuing physical coins or a ticket redeemable for cash. Cashing out
can also be accomplished playing an online version using an
electronic payment mechanism (electronic funds transfer) or by
sending a physical payment (e.g., check) to the player.
[0075] The methods described herein are intended to be played in
legal establishments which can allow the player to wager credits
which are directly redeemable for real money (cash or coin).
[0076] It is also noted that any and/or all of the above
embodiments, configurations, variations of the present invention
described above can mixed and matched and used in any combination
with one another. This also includes any prior document
incorporated by reference, and any feature described herein can
also be applied to any such documents.
[0077] Moreover, any description of a component or embodiment
herein also includes hardware, software, and configurations which
already exist in the prior art and may be necessary to the
operation of such component(s) or embodiment(s).
[0078] Further, the operations described herein can be performed in
any sensible order. Any operations not required for proper
operation can be optional. Further, all methods described herein
can also be stored on a computer readable storage to control a
computer.
[0079] The many features and advantages of the invention are
apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended
by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of
the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the
invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will
readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to
limit the invention to the exact construction and operation
illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable
modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within
the scope of the invention.
* * * * *