Card game and method for playing a card game

Abstract

A system and method for playing a card game are disclosed. The card game may be played with a real deck of cards and an associated playing surface or with a virtual deck of cards as part of a virtual card game on a processor-based platform. The method comprises placing at least one wager by betting an amount of credits during a current round of play, dealing at least nine playing cards face up in a grid of at least three columns by three rows, placing a hold on any cards that make up one or more predetermined winning combinations or portions of the one or more predetermined winning combinations, if any, removing any non-held cards from the grid, dealing one playing card face up in each position of the grid once occupied by a non-held card, comparing at least the rows and columns of the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the rows or columns have a winning card combination; and paying any winning card combination according to the wager amount bet and odds associated with any winning combination for the current round of play.

1 . A method of playing a card game, comprising the steps of: 
 dealing a plurality of cards face up in a grid defined by a discrete number of columns and rows, wherein each of the discrete number of columns and rows is greater than one;    selectively placing a hold on any of the plurality of cards;    removing the non-held cards from the grid;    dealing one card face up in each position of the grid previously occupied by the non-held cards;    comparing at least one of the rows and the columns of the grid to one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine a winning card combination; and,    indicating any winning card combination.    
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: 
 placing at least one wager prior to dealing the plurality of cards; and,    paying any winning combination according to the at least one wager and the odds associated with any winning combination.    
   
   
       3 . (canceled)  
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of: 
 dealing a plurality of cards face up in a grid defined by a discrete number of columns and rows, wherein each of the discrete number of columns and rows is greater than one, comprises the step of:    dealing nine cards face up in a grid defined by three columns and three rows.    
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the card game is played with one or more standard playing card decks.  
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the card game is played with a subset of two combined standard playing card decks.  
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the game is played as a virtual game with the cards displayed electronically.  
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the game is played via a global information system.  
   
   
       9 . A method of playing a card game, comprising the steps of: 
 predetermining one or more winning combinations of playing cards;    dealing a plurality of randomized playing cards face down in a grid defined by at least three columns and by at least three rows;    placing at least a first bet on the playing cards dealt face down according to the one or more predetermined winning combinations;    revealing the playing cards in the grid;    selectively placing a hold on any of the plurality of playing cards that make up at least a portion of the one or more predetermined winning combinations;    replacing the non-held cards from the grid with playing cards face up in each position of the grid previously occupied by the non-held cards; and,    indicating any winning card combination.    
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 9 , further comprising the step of: 
 comparing the face up playing cards in the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the rows, columns or diagonals have a winning card combination.    
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the step of: 
 comparing the face up playing cards in the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the rows or columns have a winning card combination, comprises the step of:    comparing adjacent face up playing cards in the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any adjacent cards match a winning card combination.    
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the step of: 
 comparing the face up playing cards in the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the rows or columns have a winning card combination, comprises the step of:    comparing the face up playing cards in the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the cards located in a single row, column or diagonal that match a winning card combination are separated by another card.    
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 9 , further comprising the step of: 
 comparing the revealed cards in the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the rows, columns and the diagonals have a winning card combination.    
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the predetermined winning combinations are selected from the group consisting of standard winning combinations from the card games of pinochle, Kasino, and wild cards including the one-eyed Jacks and one-eyed King.  
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the step of: 
 dealing a plurality of randomized playing cards face down in a grid defined by at least three columns and by at least three rows, comprises the step of:    dealing a plurality of randomized playing cards from at least a first deck of playing cards face down in a grid defined by at least three columns and by at least three rows; and,    wherein before the step of:    replacing the non-held cards from the grid with playing cards face up in each position of the grid previously occupied by the non-held cards, the steps comprising:    removing the non-held cards from the grid; and,    regrouping the removed non-held cards back into the at least a first deck of playing cards.    
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein after the step of: 
 revealing the face value of the playing cards in the grid, the step further comprising:    placing a kicker bet on the revealed cards for a chance to increase the winnings from the final round of play.    
   
   
       17 . A system for implementing a virtual card game, the system comprising: 
 at least one processor to execute playing of the virtual card game, and wherein the playing of the virtual card game comprises the steps of dealing a plurality of playing cards face up in a grid defined by a discrete number of columns and rows, placing a hold on any cards that make up one or more predetermined winning combinations or portions of the one or more predetermined winning combinations, if any, removing any non-held cards from the grid, dealing one playing card face up in each position of the grid once occupied by a non-held card, comparing at least the rows and columns of the grid to the one or more predetermined winning combinations to determine if any of the at least rows or columns have a winning card combination, and indicating any winning card combination according to the wager amount bet and odds associated with any winning combination for the current round of play;    a program memory interfacing to the at least one processor to store software associated with the virtual card game;    a user interface connecting to the at least one processor to allow a player of the virtual card game to select various functional inputs of the virtual card game;    an image memory interfacing to the at least one processor to store image data of the virtual card game to be displayed;    a display controller interfacing to the image memory to extract image data from the image memory in a controlled manner and to convert the image data to video data; and    a display interfacing to the display controller to accept the video data from the display controller such that the video data is presented to the player on the display.    
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the user interface connecting to the at least one processor to allow a player of the virtual card game to select various functional inputs of the virtual card game, further comprises: 
 at least a first actuator operatively connecting to the at least one processor for placing a hold on one or more cards.