Granted Patent B2

US 8,834,247 · App. 11/357,501 · Granted Sep 16, 2014

Abstract

Claims (38)

1. A gaming machine for playing a card-based wagering game comprising:

a wager input device for receiving inputs from a player during the wagering game, the inputs including a wager amount; and

at least one display for displaying a plurality of cards, the plurality of cards arranged in a hand, the hand indicating a randomly selected outcome selected from a plurality of outcomes, the plurality of outcomes including a qualifying-hand outcome corresponding to a qualifying hand and a plurality of winning outcomes corresponding to winning hands, the winning hands ranging from a lowest winning hand to a highest winning hand, wherein the qualifying hand is greater than the lowest winning hand, and the gaming machine, in response to the randomly selected outcome being the qualifying-hand outcome, awards a player a bonus hand.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the bonus hand comprises a plurality of cards from a modified deck of cards.

3. The gaming machine of claim 2 wherein the qualifying hand includes a four-of-a-kind and the deck of cards only include cards equal to or higher than the four-of-a-kind.

4. The gaming machine of claim 1 wherein the gaming machine, in response to the randomly selected outcome being one of the plurality of winning outcomes, awarding the player an award based on a basic game pay table.

5. The gaming machine of claim 4 wherein the bonus hand has a randomly selected outcome, and the gaming machine, in response to the bonus-hand randomly selected outcome being one of a plurality of bonus winning outcomes, awarding the player an award based on a modified pay table.

6. The gaming machine of claim 5 wherein the awards in the modified pay table are generated by applying a multiplier to the awards of the basic game pay table.

7. A method of conducting a card-based wagering game on a gaming system, the method comprising:

receiving a monetary wager via a wager-input device associated with the gaming system;

converting the monetary wager into an opportunity for a player to play the wagering game on the gaming system;

initiating the wagering game on the gaming system;

generating a random number via a random-number generator configured to output random numbers;

correlating the random number output by the random-number generator to a wagering-game outcome via a processor;

displaying a representation of dealing a player a poker hand on a display, the poker hand including a plurality of winning hands ranging from a lowest winning hand to a highest winning hand and a qualifying hand being greater than the lowest winning hand;

in response to the poker hand being one of the plurality of winning hands, awarding the player an award amount; and

in response to the poker hand being the qualifying hand, the gaming system awarding the player at least one bonus hand.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the card-based wagering game comprises a pay table listing a plurality of awards, and the awarding the player the award amount comprises awarding the player a corresponding one of the plurality of awards from the pay table.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein, in response to the player's hand being the qualifying hand, further comprising modifying the pay table for the bonus hand.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the modified pay table lasts for a predetermined number of hands.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the modified pay table lasts for a predetermined period of time.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the modified pay table lasts until the at least one bonus hand is a non-winning hand.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the modifying comprises applying a multiplier to at least some of the plurality of awards in the pay table.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising increasing the multiplier for a subsequent hand if the at least one bonus hand is a winning hand.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the increasing the multiplier continues until the subsequent hand is a non-winning hand.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising decreasing the multiplier for a subsequent hand if the at least one bonus hand is a losing hand.

17. A method of playing a card-based wagering game on a gaming system, the method comprising:

receiving a wager to play the card-based wagering game on a wager-input device associated with the gaming system, the wagering game including a plurality of winning outcomes, the plurality of winning outcomes including a lowest winning outcome and a qualifying outcome, the qualifying outcome being different from the lowest winning outcome;

converting the monetary wager into an opportunity for a player to play the wagering game on the gaming system;

initiating the wagering game on the gaming system;

generating a random number using a random-number generator configured to output random numbers;

correlating the random number output by the random-number generator to a first wagering-game outcome via a processor;

displaying the first wagering-game outcome on a display;

the gaming system awarding a player an award in response to the first wagering-game outcome being one of the plurality of winning outcomes; and

displaying a second randomly selected wagering-game outcome in response to the first wagering-game outcome being the qualifying outcome on the display.

18. A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions for directing a gaming device to perform the method of claim 17 .

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the awarding a player an award in response to the first wagering-game outcome being one of the plurality of winning outcomes is performed by a controller.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the controller is external to the gaming machine.

Assignments (11)