VIDEO POKER GAMES
One or more additional “bonus hand” cards that have no playing value are added to the deck of playing cards that is used in a video poker. When a “bonus hand” card appears in the player's initially dealt hand of cards, the player receives a second bonus hand of the initially dealt hand of cards. Alternatively, if the bonus hand card appears as one of the replacement cards during the draw step of video poker, the player is provided with another poker hand. In general, any type of triggering event is provided which awards the player another hand of video poker for no additional charge if the triggering event occurs during the player of the video poker hand.
1 . A method of playing a card game comprising:
a) providing a deck of playing cards comprising at least a standard fifty-two card deck with at least two additional bonus hand cards;
b) displaying an initial first hand of at least five cards all face up;
c) if the initial first hand contains one bonus hand card, displaying an initial second hand having the same four cards face up other than the bonus hand card as the initial first hand plus one additional face down card;
d) if the initial first hand contains two bonus hand cards, displaying an initial second hand having the same three cards face up other than the bonus hand cards as the initial first hand plus two additional face down cards and displaying an initial third hand having the same three cards face up other than the bonus hand cards as the initial first hand plus two additional face down cards; and
e) selecting none, one or more of the face up cards from the initial first hand as cards to be held, discarding the unselected cards and the bonus hand cards and displaying replacement cards for the discarded cards resulting in a final first hand;
f) if the initial second hand has been displayed, selecting none, one or more of the face up cards from the initial second hand as cards to be held, discarding the unselected cards and the additional face down cards and displaying face up replacement cards for the discarded cards resulting in a final second hand;
g) if the initial third hand has been displayed, selecting none, one or more of the face up cards from the initial third hand as cards to be held, discarding the unselected cards and the additional face down cards and displaying face up replacement cards for the discarded cards resulting in a final third hand; and
h) determining the poker hand ranking of the resulting cards of the final first hand, the final second hand and the final third hand.
2 . The method of claim 1 further including the steps of:
a) a player making a wager;
b) paying the player a pre-established amount based on the amount of the wager if the resulting cards of the final first hand comprise a predetermined poker hand ranking;
c) paying the player a pre-established amount based on the amount of the wager if the resulting cards of the final second hand comprise a predetermined poker hand ranking; and
d) paying the player a pre-established amount based on the amount of the wager if the resulting cards of the final third hand comprise a predetermined poker hand ranking.
3 . The method of claim 2 in which the same cards are held in the initial first hand, the initial second hand and the initial third hand.
4 . The method of claim 1 in which the same or different cards are held in the initial first hand, the initial second hand and the initial third hand.