Add 'em up video poker

Abstract

During the play of a session of a video poker game that uses only a player's hand to determine winning or losing outcomes, the player accrues points for each hand played. The points can be allocated based on the ending hand achieved by the player. Alternatively, the points can be allocated based on the starting hand dealt to the player. After a predetermined number of hands of video poker, say one hundred hands, the player=s accrued point total is compared to a pay table and the player receives an award based on the point total.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of playing a poker game that uses only a player's hand to determine winning or losing outcomes and in which points are accumulated by the player over a predetermined number of hands comprising: 
 a) dealing an initial player's hand of five cards all face up;    b) selecting none, one or more of the face up cards from the initial player's hand as cards to be held;    c) discarding from the initial player's hand the face up cards that were not selected to be held and replacing each of those cards with a face up card resulting in a final five card player's hand;    d) determining the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand; and    e) awarding the player at least one point for each winning outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further including accumulating a total points of the awarded points over all of the predetermined number of hands and awarding the player a payout based on the total points.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further including awarding the player at least one negative point for each losing outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further including accumulating a total points of the awarded points over all of the predetermined number of hands and awarding the player a payout based on the total points.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  in which the amount of points awarded for each winning outcome is based on the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  in which the player makes a wager to participate in the poker game and the player also receives a monetary payout when the player achieves a winning outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand.  
     
     
         7 . A method of playing a poker game that uses only a player's hand to determine winning or losing outcomes and in which points are accumulated by the player over a predetermined number of hands comprising: 
 a) dealing an initial player's hand of five cards all face up;    b) determining the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand;    c) selecting none, one or more of the face up cards from the initial player's hand as cards to be held;    d) discarding from the initial player's hand the face up cards that were not selected to be held and replacing each of those cards with a face up card resulting in a final five card player's hand;    e) determining the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand; and    f) awarding the player at least one point for each winning outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further including accumulating a total points of the awarded points over all of the predetermined number of hands and awarding the player a payout based on the total points.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7  further including awarding the player at least one negative point for each losing outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further including accumulating a total points of the awarded points over all of the predetermined number of hands and awarding the player a payout based on the total points.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7  in which the amount of points awarded for each winning outcome is based on the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  in which the player makes a wager to participate in the poker game and the player also receives a monetary payout when the player achieves a winning outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand.  
     
     
         13 . A method of playing a poker game that uses only a player's hand to determine winning or losing outcomes and in which points are accumulated by the player over a predetermined number of hands comprising: 
 a) dealing an initial player's hand of at least five cards all face up;    d) determining the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand; and    c) awarding the player at least one point for each winning outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further including accumulating a total points of the awarded points over all of the predetermined number of hands and awarding the player a payout based on the total points.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  further including awarding the player at least one negative point for each losing outcome based on the poker hand ranking of the initial player's hand.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  further including accumulating a total points of the awarded points over all of the predetermined number of hands and awarding the player a payout based on the total points.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  in which the amount of points awarded for each winning outcome is based on the poker hand ranking of the final player's hand.