text: 1. Field of Invention
  This invention relates generally to card games and methods therefor and, more particularly, to a poker-type card game with mutually exclusive advantages for a dealer and at least one player.
  2. Description of Prior Art
  Casino poker games have been popular since the late 1980's when the games “Carribean Stud” (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,553 to Suttle, et al in 1989), “Double Down Stud” (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,413 to Fulton in 1992), and “Let It Ride” (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,081 to Breeding in 1994) were introduced. Later, “Three Card Poker” (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,774 to Webb in 1997), was also introduced. These are the four most popular casino poker games today.
  While these four games enjoy the most commercial success, at least a hundred new casino poker games have been patented since the 1980's. Described below are eight of these new games that provide insight into the broad categories into which these new games fit.
  The first, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,308 to Herrmann in 1999, combines poker with a game of blackjack. This game is from a group of games that blend poker with some other familiar casino game. A second game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,529 to de Keller in 1999, is from a group that uses competition among players for a Pot award. A third game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,823 to Webb in 2001, is from a group using wild cards. A fourth game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,646 also to Webb in 2002, is from a group in which the player competes against a hand dealt to a dealer or the house. A fifth game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,768 to Caputo in 2003, is from a group in which the player's final poker hand is compared to a group of winning hands in a pay table to determine awards. A sixth game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,456 to Gajor in 2002, is from a group in which the physical arrangement of cards on the playing surface determines winning combinations. A seventh game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,715 to Friedman in 2002, is from a group which involve draw poker—as opposed to stud poker which is far more common for casino poker games. Finally, an eighth game, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,130 to Jones and Suttle in 2000, is from a group that disclose only elements of a game—as opposed to complete games. This particular patent describes progressive jackpot payouts to players holding select poker hands.
  As mentioned above, there are more than 100 new poker-based game patents, some of which combine elements of the aforementioned eight types. However, these eight encompass the major new Prior Art in casino poker games, and these eight will be discussed again below.
  One reason for these new games is that inventors are trying to overcome a fundamental problem with the four well established games, “Double Down Stud”, “Caribbean Stud”, “Let It Ride” and “Three Card Poker”. This problem is that these games do not supply high-quality hands frequently enough to hold most player's interest. High-quality hands are defined here as Straight's, Flush's, Full House's, Four's of a Kind, Straight Flush's and Royal Flush's. These are the hands that every poker player covets, and getting one of these hands provides a player with a heightened level of enjoyment. One example of a high-quality hand is a five-card Royal Flush, the highest of all poker hands. In five-card stud, it occurs, on average, once in 649,740 hands—an exceedingly rare event. Another example is Four of a Kind which, although less rare, occurs on-average once in every 4165 hands. Overall, a high-quality hand of some kind occurs in these five-card stud games only once in every 133 hands dealt, or about once in every three hours of table play in a casino. This frequency is not great enough to hold the interest of many recreational gamblers. For this reason, many newly-patented games feature higher award frequencies to hold players' interest. As will be shown, however, the rarity of high-quality hands is not the only deficiency in these four well established games.
  In the game “Let It Ride” (U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,081 to Breeding), lack of high-quality hands causes players to encounter losing streaks which, while mathematically predictable, can be very discouraging, and lead to a player quitting the game. Overall, a player will lose 76% of all “Let It Ride” hands. This loss rate is due to: (1) the rarity of high-quality hands; and (2) the inventor's selection of which hands would receive awards. For example, Breeding could have increased the win rate by paying awards for pairs that are lower than a Pair Of 10's, which is the lowest hand that he selected for award payouts. With only a 24% win rate, the main attraction of this game is a player's option to double or triple the basic bet after seeing a partial hand that is already a winner or looks promising. Therefore, the main drawbacks of the game “Let It Ride” are: (1) the rarity of high-quality hands; and (2) a low 24% win rate due, in part, to Breeding's paytable selection.
  In the game “Caribbean Stud” (U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,553 to Suttle et al), a player will, on average, lose about 65% of all hands, an improvement over 76% for “Let It Ride”. However, over 40% of the “Caribbean Stud” player's awards are greatly reduced because the dealer's hand is said to not ‘qualify’. The dealer must have a hand of Ace-King or higher in order for the player to receive maximum winning hand awards. The dealer not ‘qualifying’ is a historic source of player dissatisfaction with this game, since a player with a high-quality hand is unhappy to find it is awarded only a fraction of its value because the dealer's hand did not ‘qualify’. Additionally, expert strategy dictates that the player will fold over 47% of all hands and simply lose his/her Ante to the house. Folding and losing one's Ante on over 47% of the hands makes this game even more discouraging. To summarize, drawbacks of “Caribbean Stud” are: (1) the requirement for the dealer's hand to ‘qualify’; (2) expert strategy suggests the player fold over 47% of all hands and simply surrender the Ante wager to the house; and (3) the rarity of high-quality poker hands.
  Both “Let It Ride” and “Caribbean Stud” have introduced an entertaining one-dollar optional side wager that can pay very high jackpot awards, in the $100,000 range, for a five-card Royal Flush. This award is possible because the odds of a Five-Card Royal Flush are 649,740-to-1. Other high-quality hands also receive jackpot awards. While this popular option adds more suspense to these games, “Let It Ride” and “Caribbean Stud” still suffer the drawbacks noted above.
  In the game “Double Down Stud” (U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,413 to Suttle), high-quality hands occur at exactly the same rate as “Let It Ride” and “Caribbean Stud”—only 0.75%, or once every 133 hands. This low frequency does not attract many players. Also, a player will lose an average of 66% of all hands, which is about the same as “Caribbean Stud” but an improvement over “Let It Ride”. The loss rate is improved over “Let It Ride” because Suttle's paytable starts at a pair of 7's (vs. Breeding's pair of 10's). The attraction of this game is a player's option to double the basic bet after seeing the first four cards out of a five-card hand. “Double Down Stud” does not offer a side wager with the very high awards for rare hands, as is with “Let It Ride” and “Caribbean Stud”. To summarize, drawbacks of “Double Down Stud” are: (1) the rarity of high-quality hands; and (2) the lack of a side wager with very high payoffs for rare poker hands.
  In the game “Three Card Poker” (U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,774 to Webb), there are two independent wagering propositions. The first, designated “Pair Plus”, is based solely on the poker value of the three cards dealt to the player. This wager involves absolutely no player skill or decision-making and the player will, on average, lose 74% of these wagers. This is virtually the same disadvantage suffered by “Let It Ride”. Additionally, the no-skill aspect of this proposition discourages players who like games requiring player decisions.
  The second proposition, designated “Ante/Play”, pits the player's three cards against the dealer's three cards in a showdown. The player wins if his/her hand is higher than the dealer's hand. Similar to “Caribbean Stud”, the “Ante/Play” proposition requires the dealer's hand to ‘qualify’ in order for a showdown to take place. This, again, is a source of continual player dissatisfaction because player awards are reduced for, on average, 46% of a player's winning hands. Although the dealer's hand must ‘qualify’ for the “Ante/Play” showdown to take place, a nominal bonus, as high as 5-to-1, is paid for three high-quality player hands, whether the dealer qualifies or not. Nonetheless, the dealer ‘qualify’ requirement is a drawback of the “Ante/Play” wager. Also, expert strategy dictates that the player will fold 33% of all Ante/Play hands and surrender his/her Ante to the house. Consequently, the “Ante/Play” wager can be somewhat discouraging due to the necessity to fold 33% of all hands, which will result in losing one's Ante wager to the house and getting no wagering ‘action’ in return.
  “Three Card Poker” does not offer a side wager with the very high awards for rare hands, as does “Let It Ride” and “Caribbean Stud”. This is probably because: (1) there are already two wagering options in the game and adding a third option possibly could confuse some players; and (2) “Three Card Poker” is based on three-card poker hand rankings in which the highest quality hand is a Three-Card Straight Flush. This hand occurs, on average, every 460 hands. So, with a typical one-dollar side wager, the true-odds payoff if $460 is nowhere near the $100,000-level awards for a Five-Card Royal Flush in “Let It Ride” and “Caribbean Stud”.
  To summarize, drawbacks of the game “Three Card Poker” are: (1) the high rate of player losses in the “Pair Plus” wager; (2) the requirement for the dealer to ‘qualify’ in the “Ante/Play” wager; (3) the expert strategy which compels players following the strategy to fold 33% of all “Ante/Play” wagers; and (4) the lack of any side wager paying very high awards for rare poker hands.
  The above examinations of “Double Down Stud”, “Caribbean Stud”, “Let It Ride” and “Three Card Poker” obviously require detailed mathematical analysis and an expert playing strategy for each game. These analyses and strategies have been published for these games; although, they are not contained in the patent documents themselves. To the inventor's knowledge, none of the eight recently-patented poker games described briefly above have had similar mathematical analyses and optimum strategies published. Nor is this information published in the patent documents themselves. Consequently, it is not possible to assess how well these games remedy the noted shortcomings of the four established games. However, each of the eight recently patented games was analyzed using patent documents and the following drawbacks were observed.
  First, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,308 (to Herrmann) uses decidedly non-standard additions to the game of poker, this being Blackjack or “21”. Most traditional poker players would dislike this mixing of games, yet other players would be confused by it. For traditional poker players, there is enough diversity in poker hands to provide a lifetime of enjoyment. For this group of players, introducing another unrelated game is undesirable and unnecessary. For other players the mixing of games would be confusing.
  Second, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,529 (to de Keller) would be very hard, or impossible, to administer in a casino poker setting because more than one player is required for the game, and this is not always possible, especially when a game is just getting started or is breaking up. Additionally, since competition between players is involved, the potential for emotional outbreaks between players exists. Both of these factors would make the game very difficult to administrate.
  Third, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,823 (to Webb) uses a wild card—apparently to increase the frequency of winning hands. Wild cards are a well-known method of increasing winning hand frequency, so their use is nothing new. Invariably, traditional poker players avoid wild card games, viewing them as family-entertainment poker and not worthy of serious attention. Also, casinos would not want to deal this game because pit personnel would have the daunting task of separating card decks that have Jokers from card decks that do not have Jokers. In summary, any wild card game would likely have only limited appeal to traditional poker players and be disliked by casino managers.
  Fourth, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,646 (to Webb) requires the player and the dealer, to sort cards in their hands into HIGH, MID and LOW groupings. There is then a player-dealer showdown for each grouping. This sorting requires more mental attention and effort than many recreational players would want to devote. Also, the inventor discusses at length the occurrence of “copy” hands, or tie hands. The relatively high occurrence of these hands, relative to other poker games, is an additional problem with this invention. Poker players do not view “copy” hands, or tie hands, as an expected outcome or a satisfying conclusion to a poker showdown since, in traditional poker games, these are exceedingly rare.
  Fifth, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,768 (to Caputo) is fundamentally a game of “Let It Ride” poker with the additions of: (1) a sixth card which the player has the option of purchasing with an optional upfront wager; and (2) jackpot awards that are progressive instead of the fixed awards which are integral to “Let It Ride”. One difficulty with this invention is that it requires the casino dealer to continually use two pay tables that are very similar. One of these is for players not purchasing the sixth card and another for players that do purchase the sixth card. These pay tables have to be different because winning hand probabilities are greatly different. As a result, this game would be difficult to administrate. There is also a problem for the casino in that part of each optional wager must fund the progressive jackpot and part of it must fund the basic “Let It Ride” pay table. Since the inventor does not explain how this ratio is derived, game administration would be hampered until a suitable ratio was developed.
  Sixth, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,456 (to Gajor) is a game in which the physical arrangement of cards on a playing surface determines winning hands. This game is only suited for video poker gaming since five or more poker hands are presented for analysis during each hand for each player. In a table poker game setting, this task would be far too great for a dealer on a consistent basis. Also, handling the great number of cards would quickly tire a dealer. Further, in the stud poker application of this invention, no player strategy exists. This is because, aside from the initial wager amount, the player makes no other decisions. Somewhat like a bingo game, cards are simply dealt and evaluated. This game would definitely not appeal to traditional poker players who expect and enjoy strategy and decision-making.
  Seventh, the game in U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,715 (to Friedman) is a game of draw poker in which the player may replace zero, one or two of an initial two-card hand. Then a third card is dealt and winning hands are selected from a pay table. This game essentially mixes the games of draw poker, evidenced in the discard and replace stage, and stud poker, evidenced by dealing the third card. It is not likely that traditional poker players would accommodate this mixing of game types. In each game type individually, there is enough diversity and richness to satisfy traditional poker players. As such, to this group, mixing two game types appears unnecessary and undesirable.
  Eighth, U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,130 (to Jones and Suttle) uses progressive jackpots for rare poker hands. These jackpots have been acknowledged above to increase player interest; so these patents verify a previously acknowledged strong point in the existing game “Caribbean Stud”.
  To summarize, the eight recently-patented casino poker games use either: (1) non-standard additions that would discourage, confuse and drive off many recreational players; (2) content that would be hard to administer in a casino table game setting; (3) content likely to have very limited appeal to traditional poker players; or (4) jackpots which have been previously acknowledged to increase player interest and anticipation.
  Relative to the above games, the inventor sees an unfilled need for a new poker-type game that avoids the shortcomings of existing games. This new game should have: (1) more frequent high-quality poker hands; (2) a higher player win rate; (3) no requirement for a dealer's hand to ‘qualify’; and (4) involve the player strategically in all hands dealt, i.e., the player always makes a strategy decision and never folds. In addition, this new game should: (5) offer very large payoffs for rare high quality poker hands; and (6) be easy to administer.