Video Poker Game with Multiple Initial Hands

Abstract

A video poker machine that displays multiple initial hands. A player is presented with two or more initial poker hands and can choose which of these initial hands to play. The hands that are not chosen are discarded, and the hand that is chosen can be played to completion. Depending on the rank of the final hand, the player can win an award.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present general inventive concept is directed to a method, apparatus, and computer readable storage medium for a video poker game allowing for multiple initial hands.

2. Description of the Related Art

Video Poker is a popular wagering game, although the game has become somewhat dated. Casinos are always looking for new and exciting variations of the game in order to attract and retain players.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an aspect of the present invention to provide an improvement over video poker machines.

The above aspects can be obtained by a gaming machine that includes (a) executing instructions on a processor on a digital computer to perform the following operations: (b) receiving a wager from the player; (c) dealing and displaying at least two initial hands; (d) receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand out of the at least two initial hands; (e) receiving a selection of hold cards out of the selected hand; (f) receiving an indication from the player to draw, and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a final hand; and (g) awarding any earned awards to the player based on a rank of the final hand.

These together with other aspects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is drawing illustrating one type of a video poker machine that can be used to implement the present inventive concept, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method to implement a video poker game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a second exemplary method to implement a video poker game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a first phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a second phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a third phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a fourth phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a final phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an alternative second phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an alternative final phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a sample physical hardware configuration that can be used to implement the methods described herein, according to an embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

The general inventive concept relates to a game involving video poker. Video poker is a well known game in the art, for example see U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,014, which is incorporated by reference here in its entirety.

Methods of the current inventive concept provide a video poker game that initially offers a player multiple hands to choose from. The player will select one hand to play out of the multiple hands and the remaining hands will be out of play. The one hand selected will then be the hand that the player can play out, e.g., select hold cards, and then draw (replace the non-hold cards) to form a final hand, which then can be paid to the player as a winning hand if the final hand is a winning rank.

FIG. 1 is drawing illustrating one type of a video poker machine that can be used to implement the present inventive concept, according to an embodiment.

An electronic video poker machine of the kind illustrated can be used to implement the present invention, although other electronic machines can be used as well, such as table-top models, downloadable client-server units, personal computers running software implementing the present methods, a remote client running software on an online casino, etc.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method to implement a video poker game, according to an embodiment.

The method can begin with operation 200, which receives an initial wager. This can be done as known in the art. For example, a player can initially cash in with cash or a ticket/voucher, and credit the credit meter with a number of credits. These credits can be wagered on each game by pressing buttons on the video poker machine.

From operation 200, the method proceeds to operation 202, which displays and deals at least two initial hands of five cards face up to the player. The cards are dealt from a standard virtual deck of cards, although non-standard decks can be used as well such as a deck with wild cards (jokers), etc. Typically, each hand is dealt from a separate deck, although in another embodiment a same deck can be used to deal all of the cards displayed.

For example, operation 202 can deal two rows of five cards each, each row being a separate hand. Alternatively, three hands can be dealt, or any number of hands (e.g., 2-15 hands). The player will view the hands dealt and decide which of the hands the player thinks is the best hand to continue playing. The player will then continue to play the preferred hand and the remaining hands will be discarded, with no payouts made on them.

From operation 202, the method proceeds to operation 204, which receives a selection from the player of which hand to play. The player can select which hand to play (the selected hand) by for example, pressing a respective button alongside the selected hand. Once the player has selected the selected hand, the remaining hands can be erased (or faded) from the display, having no further function in the game. All of the cards in the remaining hands (not the selected hand) are now “dead cards.” When the initial hand is selected, the dead cards are typically put back into the deck (in random positions) used for the draw so that the viewing of these cards in the initial hands has no effect on the draw for the selected hand.

From operation 204, the method proceeds to operation 206, which allows the player to select hold cards in the selected hand. The player can select hold cards by touching individual card(s) (on a touch screen device) that the player wishes to hold (designating them as hold cards). The player may also use buttons, a keyboard, mouse, etc., to indicate his or her choice of hold cards. If a hold card is touched (or selected), then it becomes a non-held card (discard), i.e., its hold card status is removed. The player can continue to select hold cards until the player presses a “draw” button which instructs the machine to draw.

From operation 206, the method proceeds to operation 208, which determines if the player has pushed the draw button yet. If not, the method returns to operation 206, which allows the player to continue to select hold cards. In other words, this can be considered a “loop” as the machine is waiting for the player to press the draw button while allowing the player to also select the player's selected hold cards. If the player wishes to hold all of the dealt cards, the player should select all cards as hold cards and draw (press the draw button).

If the determination in operation 208 determines that the player has drawn (by pressing or clicking a draw button), then the method proceeds to operation 210, which draws (replaces the non-hold cards in the selected hand). The cards which are not designated by the player as hold cards are non-hold cards (or discards). The discards are replaced with newly dealt cards from the deck to form a final hand.

In the embodiment where each of the at least two hands dealt (in operation 202) are dealt from a same deck, then all of the cards in the hands which were not the selected hand (the dead cards) should typically be put back into the deck before the draw. This is to avoid confusing the player by having him try to remember all of the cards that have been dealt out of the deck, making the optimal strategy of the game extremely difficult.

From operation 210, the method proceeds to operation 212, which determines a rank of the final hand. This can be done by comparing cards in the final hand to a paytable of ranks to determine the respective rank. If the rank of the final hand does not meet a minimum paying rank, then the hand can be considered to have the rank of “losing hand.”

From operation 212, the method proceeds to operation 214, which determines whether the final hand is a winning rank. If not, then the method proceeds to operation 218, wherein the game ends.

If in operation 214, the method determines that the final hand is a winning rank, then the method proceeds to operation 216, which pays an award to the player. The award is determined based on the actual rank of the final hand and the amount of coins bet for the initial wager (in operation 200).

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a second exemplary method to implement a video poker game, according to an embodiment. The method illustrated in FIG. 3 is similar to that in FIG. 2, but the methodology used to select the selected hand and hold cards is slightly different.

Operations 300-302 and 312-318 of FIG. 3 correspond to operations 200-202 and 212-218 of FIG. 2, thus for descriptions of these operations in FIG. 3 please see the respective descriptions for FIG. 2. However, in operation 304, the player can select hold cards in any of the initial hands dealt in operation 302. Each of the initial hands can have a draw button associated with it.

From operation 304, the method proceeds to operation 306, which determines whether any of the draw buttons have been pressed. If not, the method returns to operation 304, which allows the player to continue to select hold cards.

If in operation 306 a draw button has been pressed, then the method proceeds to operation 310. The hand associated with the draw button pressed becomes the selected hand, and all remaining hands can be erased. Then, a draw is conducted in the selected hand, as the game replaces the non-hold cards in the selected hand with newly dealt cards to form a final hand.

The operation illustrated in FIG. 3 requires one less action by the player then in FIG. 2. In the method illustrated in FIG. 2, the player chooses the selected hand, selects the hold cards, and then draws. In the method illustrated in FIG. 3, the player selects the hold cards, then chooses the selected hand which automatically also draws for the selected hand. See FIGS. 7A-7B for an illustration of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a first phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

The player indicates (via buttons) how much the player wishes to bet. In this figure, the player bets 9 coins and then presses the “deal” button to begin the game (operation 200).

FIG. 4B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a second phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

After the player presses the “deal” button in FIG. 4A, the video poker machine then deals (operation 202) three hands (in this embodiment, although other numbers of hands can be dealt as well). The player will inspect each of the hands and decide which of the hands the player wishes to play. Optimally, the player should choose the hand that has the highest expected value.

It is noted that in this embodiment, each hand is dealt from a separate deck. This is apparent because the same card (three-clubs) appears in both the second and the third hand. In an alternate embodiment, all hands can be dealt from the same deck (but then when a hand is selected as the selected hand, the cards from the unused hands will be put back into the deck and shuffled).

In view of the three hands, the player should optimally pick the third hand. The first (top) hand has a relatively low expected value since the correct play would be to only hold the ace high. The second hand is better in that the player would optimally hold the low pair of fives. The third hand is best because the player would optimally hold the low pair of threes. The third hand is better than the second hand because according to the paytable being used (displayed), four 2s-4s with a kicker of 5 to king pays 400, while four 5s-king pays 255. Therefore, the third hand (bottom) would have a slightly higher expected value than the second (middle) hand.

The player is not required to play optimal strategy and can choose any hand to play he or she wishes. In this example, the player presses (operation 204) the “select 2” button because the player (erroneously) decides to play the second (middle hand).

FIG. 5A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a third phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

After the player presses the “select 2” button in FIG. 4B, the game now removes the unselected hands (the top and bottom) so that the player can select hold cards in the selected hand (operation 206) in order to play out the selected hand. The player can touch individual cards (or indicate cards in another manner such as a keyboard or mouse) to give cards “hold” status as hold cards.

FIG. 5B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a fourth phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

From FIG. 5A, the player has decided to hold both 5's, the hold cards being indicated by the “hold” indicator. The player now presses (“yes” in operation 208) the “draw” button to indicate that he or she is done selecting hold cards and is ready to replace the non-held cards (discards).

FIG. 6 is a drawing illustrating a sample output of a final phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

After the player presses the “draw” button in FIG. 5B, the game now replaces the non-held cards with newly dealt cards from the deck (operation 210). In this case, the draw cards are five-spades, two-clubs, ace-diamonds, to form a final hand of three of a kind (three 5's). Three of a kind pays 15 coins for nine coins bet (according to the active paytable), thus the player is paid (operation 216) 15 coins which is added to the player's credit meter (marked “credits”). The game is now over.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrated the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the flow of the game can be accomplished as illustrated in FIG. 3. FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3

FIG. 7A is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an alternative second phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

Operations 300-302 have been performed, and now the player can select his or her hold cards in operation 304. Note that each hand has a respective draw button, hand 1 (the top hand) has a “draw 1” button, hand 2 (the middle hand) has a “draw 2” button, and hand 3 (the bottom hand) has a “draw 3” button. Pushing the respective draw button will both select that hand as the selected hand but also draw as well. So before pressing any of the draw buttons, the player will select his or her hold cards. The player can even select hold cards across different hands, as the player is free to experiment with playing each hand in different manners until the player has decided which hand he or she wants to select and how to play that hand.

Once the player has selected which of the initial hands the player wishes to select as the selected hand, and the player has also selected the hold cards for that hand, then the player will press the respective draw button for the selected hand. In this example, the player decides to press the “draw 3” button (“yes” in operation 306).

FIG. 7B is a drawing illustrating a sample output of an alternative final phase of an exemplary game, according to an embodiment.

After the player has pressed the “draw 3” button in FIG. 7A, the game now removes the unselected hands (the top (first) and middle (second) hand) and implements a draw in the selected third (bottom) hand. The game replaces the non-hold cards with new cards dealt from the deck (operation 310), which are: 10-spades. 3-diamonds, 3-spades, to form a final hand of four 3's. According to the active paytable, four 3's with a kicker of 10 pays 400.

Allowing the player to choose a selected hand out of a number of initial hands provides the player a large advantage, which would typically need to be offset by the house or casino that offers the game. Table I below illustrates a sample “double double bonus” paytable for one coin, although of course any type of video poker game/paytable can be used with the methods described herein. Payouts for other amounts of coins bet can be determined simply by multiplying the respective payout for a hand by the number of coins bet.

TABLE I
Hand	payout one coin	payout for five coins
ROYAL FLUSH	800	4000
STRAIGHT FLUSH	50	250
4 ACES + 2-4	400	2000
4 2-4 + A-4	160	800
4 ACES + 5-K	160	800
4 2-4 + 5-K	80	400
4 5-K	50	250
FULL HOUSE	9	45
FLUSH	6	30
STRAIGHT	4	20
3 OF A KIND	3	15
TWO PAIR	1	5
JACKS OR BETTER	1	5
NOTHING	0	0

Table II below illustrates a number of initial hands offered to the player (in operation 202) and the average expected return to the player (assuming that the player plays optimally) using the paytable in Table I.

TABLE II
Number of initial hands Return
1                       0.989808
2                       1.384570
3                       1.693661
4                       1.953827
5                       2.182449

For example, a single hand the double double bonus paytable in Table I has a player return of 98.9808% (this is a standard game since it only offers one initial hand). To offer two initial hands to the player gives the player an expected return of 138.4570%, giving the player a huge advantage. To offer five initial hands to the player gives the player an expected return of 218.2449%.

In order to offer a profitable game for the casino, the casino can offset the player advantage in numerous ways. One way is that the game can offer the player a reduced (or depressed) paytable. The game can require extra coins. For example, a two initial hand game can require the player to bet 7 coins for a payout using Table I on 5 coins (thus the player is betting two extra coins). Table III below illustrates numerous different initial hands offered, their base return (see Table II), a number of coins bet for a 5 coin payout, and the total return of the configuration. For example, the first row in table III represents a standard video poker game with one initial hand with 5 coins bet which pays at 5 times the paytable in Table I (e.g., pays as if 5 coins were bet). The second row represents a video poker game which offers the player two initial hands, requires the player to bet 7 coins and pays the player at 5 times the paytable in Table I (e.g., pays as if 5 coins were bet). Thus, the player is essentially betting two extra coins (instead of betting 5 coins which is a common wager amount, the player bets 7 coins) for the advantage of choosing between two initial hands even though the payout is as if the player bet 5 coins. In the second row of Table III the return for this configuration is 98.898%.

	TABLE III
	Hands offered	Base return	Coins bet	Total return
	1	.989808	5
	2	1.38457	7	0.98898
	2	1.38457	8	0.86536
	3	1.693661	9	0.94092
	4	1.953827	10	0.97691

The returns in Table III may be too low as the party that offers the game (the casino, game producer, etc.) may wish to raise (or perhaps lower) the total return. This can be done by modifying some of the payouts on the paytable which will in turn affect the total return of the game.

Table IV below illustrates four different possible paytables that deviate from Table I. For example, the first column is a paytable for a game which offers two initial hands and takes (player bets) 7 coins, the second column is a paytable for a game which offers two initial hands and takes (player bets) 8 coins, the third column is a paytable for a game which offers three initial hands and takes (player bets) 9 coins, and the fourth column is a paytable for a game which offers four initial hands and takes (player bets) 10 coins.

TABLE IV
	2 hands/	2 hands/	3 hand/	4 hand/
Hand	7 coins	8 coins	9 coins	10 coins
ROYAL FL	4000	4000	4000	4000
STRT. FL	250	270	255	250
4 ACES + 2-4	2000	2000	2000	2000
4 2-4 + A-4	800	800	800	800
4 ACES + 5-K	800	800	800	800
4 2-4 + 5-K	400	400	400	400
4 5-K	255	270	255	260
FULL HSE.	45	90	60	45
FLUSH	30	40	35	35
STRAIGHT	20	20	20	20
3 OF A KIND	15	15	15	15
TWO PAIR	5	5	5	5
JACKS+	5	5	5	5
NOTHING	0	0	0	0
RETURN	99.082%	99.097%	99.125%	99.163%

Another method that can be used to adjust the total returns in Table III is to offer a random multiplier. The random multiplier can be triggered at random and can multiply all awards to the player by a particular amount, thereby increasing the total return. Table V below illustrates

TABLE V
Coins bet	hands	base return	average multiplier	total return
5	1	.989808	1	98.98%
7	2	1.38457	1.002	99.10%
8	2	1.38457	1.146	99.17%
9	3	1.693661	1.055	99.27%
10	4	1.953827	1.017	99.35%

For example, in Table V, the first row represents a standard video poker game with only one initial hand offered to the player. In the second row, the player bets 7 coins for a 5 coin payout while receiving two initial hands (see Table III). Multiplying every win by 1.002 will increase the player return from 98.898% (from Table III) to 99.10%, which may be more desirable to the game distributors. However, it is not practical to multiply every award the player earns by 1.002, as this may result in odd award amounts as well as this would be tantamount to a paytable multiplied by 1.002, but then the payouts on the paytable would have fractions of a coin in them, which is not desirable.

Instead, a multiplier of 1.002 can be achieved by triggering a random multiplier which could be triggered based on a 1/500 probability for each new game, and upon triggering of the multiplier the award will be multiplied 2. The player can be notified of the multiplier at any point in time, such as the start of the game, or upon the awarding of an award. Of course other, more complex multiplier schemes can be used as well, with different multipliers and different probabilities for achieving each.

As a further mechanism for raising the total return of a particular game, the game can award an extra win at random. Table VI below illustrates the different games described above and an average bonus that can be awarded in order to increase the total return (from Table III).

TABLE VI
Coins bet	hands	base return	average bonus	total return
5	1	98.9808%	0	98.98%
7	2	138.457%	0.002	99.10%
8	2	138.457%	0.126	99.14%
9	3	169.3661%	0.052	99.29%
10	4	195.3827%	0.017	99.39%

The first row represents the standard video poker game with only one initial hand. The second row represents the 7 coin bet/5 coin payout with 2 initial hands which from Table III has a 98.898% return (this is equivalent to 0.98898). To raise this return to 99.10%, an average bonus of 0.002 can be given per game. To avoid giving a tiny bonus on each game, a larger bonus can be awarded randomly that averages out to an addition of 0.002 each game. For example, one out of 500 games (determined randomly) can receive a random 2*7 (since 7 coins are bet)=14 coins, although since the player has already bet 7 coins the player will receive 7 free coins. These free coins can either be used to augment the current bet, augment the next bet, or just increase the player's credit meter. Thus, in other words, when a random trigger occurs (e.g., with a probability of X %), the player can receive Y free coins in order to augment a particular game's overall mathematical return. The free coins can be awarded at the start or end of any game.

As a further way to increase a particular game's mathematical return, the game can award additional free initial hands (in operation 202). Table VII shows a number of coins bet in the left column and for each number of coins bet a probability for the player receiving a particular number of initial hands. For example, with 5 coins bet, the player will receive one initial hand 100% of the time, for a standard game of video poker. With 7 coins bet, the player will receive two initial hands 99% of the time and three initial hands 1% of the time. This game is similar to the 7 coin game in Table III (which has a return of 98.898%) but 1% of the time (determined randomly), the player will receive three initial hands (instead of two) which bumps of the return of the game (expected value) to 99.12%. in addition to splitting the distribution between two different numbers of initial hands, more than two numbers of initial hands can be used as well (e.g., a game can offer 2, 3, or 5 initial hands depending on a random determination, or any other combination).

TABLE VII
coins	# of initial hands
bet	1	2	3	4	5	expected value
5	100%					98.98%
6	49.5%	50.5%				99.10%
7		99.0%	1.0%			99.12%
8		34.5%	65.5%			99.19%
9			64.5%	35.5%		99.22%
10				86.0%	14.0%	99.29%

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a sample physical hardware configuration that can be used to implement the methods described herein, according to an embodiment.

A processing unit 803 can be a microprocessor and associated structure (bus, cache, etc.) The processing unit is capable of executing programmed instructions which are pre-coded and stored that will implement the methods described herein. The processing unit is connected to an output device 800 (e.g., LCD, speaker, touch-screen, etc), an input device 801 (keyboard, touch-screen, mouse, buttons, etc), and a network connection 802 (e.g. a connection to a WAN, LAN, Internet, etc.) The processing unit is also connected to a ROM 807, a RAM 808, and a storage device 805 (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD, hard disk, EPROM, or any other storage device). A computer readable storage medium 806 can be read by the storage device 805 and can store programs to implement methods described herein. The processing unit 803 is also connected to a bill acceptor/cashout mechanism 804, which can receive cash deposits or tickets from the player to credit the player's credit mater and can also make payments to the player when the player cashes out by issuing physical coins or a ticket redeemable for cash. Cashing out can also be accomplished playing an online version using an electronic payment mechanism (electronic funds transfer) or by sending a physical payment (e.g., check) to the player.

The methods described herein are intended to be played in legal establishments which can allow the player to wager credits which are directly redeemable for real money (cash or coin).

It is also noted that any and/or all of the above embodiments, configurations, variations of the present invention described above can mixed and matched and used in any combination with one another. This also includes any prior document incorporated by reference, and any feature described herein can also be applied to any such documents.

Moreover, any description of a component or embodiment herein also includes hardware, software, and configurations which already exist in the prior art and may be necessary to the operation of such component(s) or embodiment(s).

Further, the operations described herein can be performed in any sensible order. Any operations not required for proper operation can be optional. Further, all methods described herein can also be stored on a computer readable storage to control a computer.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method to play a wagering game, the method comprising:

executing instructions on a processor on a digital computer to perform the following operations:

receiving a wager from the player;

dealing and displaying at least two initial hands;

receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand out of the at least two initial hands;

receiving a selection of hold cards out of the selected hand;

receiving an indication from the player to draw, and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a final hand; and

awarding any earned awards to the player based on a rank of the final hand.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the player receives no payout on the hands that are not the selected hand.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the at least two initial hands are dealt from separate decks.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein all of the at least two initial hands are all dealt from a same deck, and cards from the hand(s) not selected as the selected hand are put back into the same deck and shuffled before the replacing.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the wager requires at least one additional coin, wherein the additional coin is not reflected in the awarding.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least two initial hands comprises exactly two initial hands.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least two initial hands comprises exactly three initial hands.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a number of the at least two initial hands varies and is determined randomly.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a number of the at least two initial hands is determined randomly and will be A hands X % of the time and B hands Y % of the time, wherein A and B are different values.

10. A method to play a wagering game, the method comprising:

executing instructions on a processor on a digital computer to perform the following operations:

receiving a wager from the player;

dealing and displaying at least two initial hands;

receiving a selection of hold cards;

receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand out of the at least two initial hands, and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a final hand; and

awarding any earned awards to the player based on a rank of the final hand.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the player receives no payout on the hands that are not the selected hand.

12. An apparatus to play a wagering game, the apparatus comprising:

a processing unit programmed to execute pre-stored instructions to perform the following operations:

receiving a wager from the player;

dealing and displaying at least two initial hands;

receiving, from the player, a choice of a selected hand out of the at least two initial hands;

receiving a selection of hold cards out of the selected hand;

receiving an indication from the player to draw, and replacing non-hold cards in the selected hand to form a final hand;

awarding any earned awards to the player based on a rank of the final hand; and

an output unit to display results of the processing unit.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the player receives no payout on the hands that are not the selected hand.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the at least two initial hands are dealt from separate decks.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein all of the at least two initial hands are all dealt from a same deck, and cards from the hand(s) not selected as the selected hand are put back into the same deck and shuffled before the replacing.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the wager requires at least one additional coin, wherein the additional coin is not reflected in the awarding.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least two initial hands comprises exactly two initial hands.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least two initial hands comprises exactly three initial hands.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein a number of the at least two initial hands varies and is determined randomly.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein a number of the at least two initial hands is determined randomly and will be A hands X % of the time and B hands Y % of the time, wherein A and B are different values.