Gaming devices and methods for enriching subsequent gaming activity based on current gaming activity
View Patent ↗Systems, apparatuses and methods for identifying positions of card hands that will be accorded some heightened value or enrichment on a future hand(s) of the game. In one embodiment, a player of a poker game may be notified in connection with a current hand that some preset progress or other partial progress is made towards a potentially favorable result, where that progress is made known to the player so that the player knows it is coming on a subsequent poker game.
1. A video poker apparatus comprising:
a display;
a user interface configured to generate signals in response to inputs from a player to facilitate player participation in the poker game;
a wager input device structured to receive physical items associated with currency values;
a processor coupled to the display, user interface, and wager input device, and configured to:
receive a signal indicating receipt of a physical item associated with a currency value;
increase the credit amount stored in the memory based on the currency value associated with the received physical item;
receive a first game initiation signal from the player interface including a first wager amount to initiate a first poker game, the first wager amount deducted from the credit amount stored in the memory;
determine whether a randomly received award in the first poker game is to be used with a subsequent poker game, where if the processor determines that the randomly received award in the first poker game is to be used with the subsequent poker game, specify a plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game and present the specified plurality of cards via the display;
evaluate a first poker hand in the first poker game for first poker awards;
increase the credit amount stored in the memory by any first poker awards in the first poker game;
receive a second game initiation signal from the player interface including a second wager amount to initiate a second poker game after any first poker awards in the first poker game have increased the credit amount stored in the memory, the second wager amount deducted from the credit amount stored in the memory;
apply the specified plurality of cards as a subset of a second dealt poker hand associated with the second poker game, and randomly select cards for remaining positions of the second dealt poker hand;
determine a poker result for the second poker game; and
increase the credit amount stored in the memory by any second poker awards associated with the determined poker result of the second poker game.
2. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to present, via the display, a visual indication indicating that the randomly received award in the first poker game is to be used with the subsequent poker game.
3. The video poker apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to specify the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game by presenting, via the display, visual representations of specific cards of a virtual deck that will be used with the subsequent poker game.
4. The video poker apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to specify the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game by presenting, via the display, a textual representation of a card group forming a subset of a predetermined winning poker result having a payout associated therewith.
5. The video poker apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to specify the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game by presenting, via the display, indicia having corresponding specific cards or a card group in a correlation table.
6. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the player has randomly received an award for use with a subsequent poker game by determining whether randomly-presented cards used in the first poker game match predetermined card characteristics set to trigger the random receipt of the award for use with the subsequent poker game.
7. The video poker apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to specify the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game to be the same randomly-presented cards used in the first poker game that matched the predetermined card characteristics.
8. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the player has randomly received an award for use with a subsequent poker game by determining whether one or more randomly-presented cards provided at particular card positions of the first poker hand in the first poker game matches predetermined card characteristics.
9. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to select the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game from a plurality of available groups of cards.
10. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to specify the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game as specific cards from one or more electronic decks of cards.
11. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to specify the plurality of cards to be used with the subsequent poker game as card groups sharing at least one common characteristic from one or more electronic decks of cards.
12. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the poker result corresponds to a predetermined winning poker result, and if so, to provide a payout based on the poker result.
13. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the poker result is based on the specified plurality of cards and the randomly select cards.
14. The video poker apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to facilitate player participation in the hand associated with the subsequent poker game prior to determining the poker result for the hand.
15. The video poker apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to randomly select one or more additional cards, and to facilitate player selection of a five-card hand by retaining five of the cards from a group comprising the specified plurality of cards, the randomly selected cards, and the randomly selected one or more additional cards.
16. The video poker apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
facilitate player retaining of any one or more of the cards of a group comprising the specified plurality of cards and the randomly selected cards;
facilitate player discarding of any of the cards of the group that were not retained;
provide replacement cards in place of the discarded cards; and
determine the poker result based on the retained cards and the replacement cards.