Methods of administering wagering games involving payouts for equally-ranked hands

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016019753-A1
Application number	US-201414333301-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 16, 2014
Priority date	Jul 16, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods of administering wagering games may involve accepting a player's ante wager. Cards may be dealt to the player and a dealer and arranged into high and low hands. The ante wager may be collected when one of the high and low player hands is of the same rank as a corresponding one of the high and low dealer hands and the other of the high and low player hands is of a different rank than the corresponding other of the high and low dealer hands. A payout on the ante wager may be paid when each of the high and low player hands is of the same rank as each of the corresponding high and low dealer hands, respectively.

First claim

1 . A method of administering a wagering game, comprising:
accepting an ante wager from a player to play a wagering game against a dealer by receiving a physical, monetarily valuable wagering element in a designated area on a surface of a gaming table; dealing cards from a set of randomized, physical cards comprising at least one deck of at least 52 standard playing cards to the player and to the dealer; accepting the player's arrangement of the cards dealt to the player into a high player hand and a low player hand or arranging the cards dealt to the player into a high player hand and a low player hand; arranging the cards dealt to the dealer into a high dealer hand and a low dealer hand; resolving the ante wager by comparing the high player hand to the high dealer hand and the low player hand to the low dealer hand; collecting an amount of the ante wager when one of the high player hand and the low player hand is of the same rank as a corresponding one of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, and the other of the high player hand and the low player hand is of a different rank than a corresponding other of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, by retrieving each wagering element associated with the ante wager of the player from the surface of the gaming table; and paying a payout on the ante wager to the player when the high player hand is of a same rank as the high dealer hand and the low player hand is of the same rank as the low dealer hand by transferring at least one additional physical, monetarily valuable wagering element to the player.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
paying a payout on the ante wager to the player when the high player hand outranks the high dealer hand and the low player hand outranks the low dealer hand by transferring at least one additional physical, monetarily valuable wagering element to the player; returning the amount of the ante wager to the player when one of the high player hand and the low player hand outranks a corresponding one of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, and the other of the high player hand and the low player hand is outranked by a corresponding other of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, by physically transferring all wagering elements associated with the ante wager to the player; and collecting the amount of the ante wager when the high player hand is outranked by the high dealer hand and the low player hand is outranked by the low dealer hand by retrieving all wagering elements associated with the ante wager of the player from the surface of the gaming table.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
returning the amount of the ante wager to the player when one of the high player hand and the low player hand outranks a corresponding one of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, and the other of the high player hand and the low player hand is composed of cards of the same rank as cards of a corresponding other of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, even though the hands are of the same rank by physically transferring all wagering elements associated with the ante wager to the player; and collecting the amount of the ante wager when the high player hand is composed of cards of the same rank as cards of the high dealer hand even though the hands are of the same rank and the low player hand is outranked by the low dealer hand or when the high player hand is outranked by the high dealer hand and the low player hand is composed of cards of the same rank as cards of the low dealer hand even though the hands are of the same rank by retrieving all wagering elements associated with the ante wager of the player from the surface of the gaming table.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
returning the amount of the ante wager to the player when one of the high player hand and the low player hand outranks a corresponding one of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, and the other of the high player hand and the low player hand is composed of cards of the same rank as cards of a corresponding other of the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand, respectively, even though the hands are of the same rank by physically transferring all wagering elements associated with the ante wager to the player; and returning the amount of the ante wager to the player when the high player hand is composed of cards of the same rank as cards of the high dealer hand even though the hands are of the same rank and the low player hand is outranked by the low dealer hand; when the high player hand is outranked by the high dealer hand and the low player hand is composed of cards of the same rank as cards of the low dealer hand even though the hands are of the same rank by physically transferring all wagering elements associated with the ante wager to the player.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein dealing the cards from the set of randomized, physical cards comprising at least one deck of at least 52 standard playing cards to the player and to the dealer comprises dealing the cards from a set of randomized, physical cards further including a wild card and further comprising paying a payout on the ante wager to the player when one of the high player hand and the low player hand includes the wild card by transferring at least one additional physical, monetarily valuable wagering element to the player.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
accepting the player's arrangement of the cards dealt to the player into the high player hand and the low player hand or arranging the cards dealt to the player into the high player hand and the low player hand comprises accepting the player's arrangement of the cards into a high player hand of no more than three cards and a low player hand of no more than three cards or arranging the cards into a high player hand of no more than three cards and a low player hand of no more than three cards; and arranging the cards dealt to the dealer into the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand comprises arranging the cards into a high dealer hand of no more than three cards and a low dealer hand of no more than three cards.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
dealing the cards to the player and to the dealer comprises dealing four cards to each of the player and the dealer; accepting the player's arrangement of the cards dealt to the player into the high player hand and the low player hand or arranging the cards dealt to the player into the high player hand and the low player hand comprises accepting the player's arrangement of the cards into a two-card high player hand and a two-card low player hand or arranging the cards into a two-card high player hand and a two-card low player hand; and arranging the cards dealt to the dealer into the high dealer hand and the low dealer hand comprises arranging the cards into a two-card high dealer hand and a two-card low dealer hand.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving from the player one of the cards dealt to the player before accepting the player's arrangement of the cards into the high player hand and the low player hand or arranging the cards into the high player hand and the low player hand; and dealing a replacement card from the set of randomized, physical cards to the player.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accepting a side wager from the player to play a side wagering game against a pay table by receiving another physical, monetarily valuable wagering element in another designated area on the surface of the gaming table; resolving the side wager by comparing all the cards dealt to the player to the pay table

Assignees

• Bally Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Snow Roger M

Classifications

• G07F17/3293

  Card games, e.g. poker, canasta, black jack · CPC title

• G07F17/3244 Primary

  Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes · CPC title

• A63F1/00 Primary

  Card games · CPC title

• A63F2001/005

  Poker · CPC title

• G07F17/322

  Casino tables, e.g. tables having integrated screens, chip detection means · CPC title