System, method, and device for conducting a wagering game

1. A method of conducting a wagering game for at least one player using an electronic gaming table and physical game pieces marked with a plurality of ranked indicia, said method comprising:

defining a subset of ranked indicia for collection, said subset of ranked indicia including one or more, but not all, of said plurality of ranked indicia marking said physical game pieces;

receiving a physical item associated with a monetary value at the electronic gaming table to increase a credit balance maintained at the electronic gaming table;

receiving an ante wager via an input device at said electronic gaming table;

dealing a player hand of game pieces in response to receipt of said ante wager;

forming a final player hand comprising only the game pieces in said player hand marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of ranked indicia by excluding game pieces from said player hand that are not marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of ranked indicia;

conducting a first evaluation of said final player hand based only on the quantity of game pieces in said final player hand; and

determining whether to issue a pay out based on the evaluation of said final player hand.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said game pieces are playing cards and said ranked indicia comprise playing card values 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an election to fold and surrender said ante wager or place a play wager; and

forming a final player hand when said election was received to place a play wager.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

dealing a dealer hand; and

forming a final dealer hand using only game pieces in said dealer hand marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of ranked indicia by excluding game pieces from said dealer hand that are not marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of indicia, wherein

said first evaluation comprises comparing the quantity of game pieces in said final player hand to a quantity of game pieces in said final dealer hand, and

said step of determining comprises issuing a pay out for said final player hand when said final player hand has a greater quantity of game pieces than said final dealer hand and collecting at least said ante wager for said final player hand when said final player hand has a lesser quantity of game pieces than said final dealer hand.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising conducting a second evaluation comparing the ranked indicia of the playing cards in said final dealer hand and said final player hand when said final player hand and said final dealer hand contain an equal quantity of game pieces.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining a pay table of hand rankings associated with pay outs, wherein

said first evaluation comprises comparing said final player hand to said pay table, and

said step of determining comprises issuing the pay out, if any, associated with the hand ranking of said final player hand according to said pay table.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining a side wager pay table of hand rankings and associated pay outs;

receiving a side wager from at least one player prior to dealing said player hand; and

resolving said side wager by comparing said final player hand to said side wager pay table and issuing the pay out, if any, associated with said final player hand.

8. A method of conducting a wagering game for at least one player at a gaming machine having a data processor in communication with a display, a player interface, a wager accepting device configured to accept a physical item associated with a monetary value, and a data storage device, said data storage device operable to store game pieces marked with a plurality of ranked indicia and a predefined subset of said rank indicia for collection, said predefined subset of ranked indicia including at least one, but not all, of said ranked indicia, and said data processor adapted to execute program instructions to cause the gaming machine to execute the steps of:

receiving a physical item associated with a monetary value to increase a credit balance maintained on the gaming machine;

receiving an ante wager through said player interface funded from said credit balance;

dealing by said data processor a player hand of game pieces in response to receipt of said ante wager;

receiving an election through said player interface to fold and surrender said ante wager or place a play wager;

forming a final player hand by said data processor upon the election to place a play wager, wherein said final player hand is formed comprising only the game pieces in said player hand marked with ranked indicia from said predefined subset of rank indicia by excluding game pieces from said player hand that are not marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of ranked indicia;

conducting a first evaluation of said final player hand by said data processor based only on the quantity of game pieces in said final player hand; and

determining whether to issue a pay out by said data processor based on the evaluation of said final player hand.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said game pieces are playing cards and said ranked indicia are playing card values.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

dealing a dealer hand; and

forming a final dealer hand using only game pieces in said dealer hand marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of rank indicia by excluding game pieces from said dealer hand that are not marked with ranked indicia within said predefined subset of ranked indicia, wherein

said first evaluation comprises comparing the quantity of game pieces in said final player hand to a quantity of game pieces in said final dealer hand, and

said step of determining comprises issuing a pay out for said final player hand when said final player hand contains a greater quantity of game pieces than said final dealer hand and collecting at least said ante wager for said final player hand when said final player hand contains a lesser quantity of game pieces than said final dealer hand.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising conducting a second evaluation comparing the ranked indicia of the game pieces in said final dealer hand and said final player hand when said final player hand and said final dealer hand contain an equal quantity of playing cards.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

defining a pay table of hand rankings associated with pay outs, wherein

said first evaluation comprises comparing said final player hand to said pay table, and

said step of determining comprises issuing the pay out, if any, associated with the hand ranking of said final player hand according to said pay table.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

defining a side wager pay table of hand rankings and associated pay outs;

receiving a side wager from at least one player prior to dealing said player hand; and

resolving said side wager by comparing said final player hand to said side wager pay table and issuing the pay out, if any, associated with said final player hand.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein the playing card values within the subset of ranked indicia comprise the 10 , ace, jack, queen, and king.

15. The method of claim 5 , wherein the final player hand is determined to be a winning hand when a highest ranking game piece of the final player hand is of a higher rank than a highest ranking game piece of the final dealer hand.

16. The method of claim 4 , further comprising determining whether said final dealer hand is a qualifying hand, the qualifying hand being based on a number of game pieces forming the final dealer hand, wherein said pay out depends on said dealer hand being the qualifying hand.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the number of game pieces forming the qualifying hand is three or more.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the ante wager is returned when the final dealer hand is not the qualifying hand.