Poker game

Abstract

The method of the present invention involves a poker game in which a player is dealt a plurality of cards from which he makes a plurality, N, of starting hands. Each starting hand has a wager associated with it. After the player sets his starting hands, an opposing house starting hand is created, preferably from a number of cards capable of creating a plurality of starting hands. The player's first starting hand is completed as is the opposing house hand. If the player's first completed hand beats the opposing hand, the player receives an award and the player's next completed hand is compared to the opposing hand. If the player's first completed hand loses to the opposing hand, all wagers are lost and the game is over. This process continues until all N starting hands have been completed and evaluated or until the player loses the nth starting hand resulting in all nth to N wagers being lost.

1 . A method of playing a game of poker comprising:
 (a) accepting a number of N primary wagers from a player;   (b) dealing a number of player cards to the player, the number of said player cards being sufficient to form at least N starting hands, where N is at least greater than one;   (c) allowing the player to organize the player cards into N player starting hands, each of said N player starting hands designated as a first through Nth player starting hand, wherein each of said player starting hands is associated with one of said N wagers;   (d) dealing a number of house cards to the house, the number of said house cards being sufficient to form at least a single house starting hand;   (e) organizing the house cards into a single house starting hand and discarding any remaining house cards;   (f) completing a house poker hand using the single house starting hand;   (g) completing at least a first poker hand of the player using the first player starting hand;   (h) comparing the completed first poker hand of the player to the completed house poker hand;   (i) awarding the player a payout if the player's completed first poker hand is superior to the completed house poker hand;   (j) repeating steps (g) through (i) for the second through Nth player starting hands until either one of the player's completed hands is inferior to the house poker hand or the player has received an award for all N starting hands;   (k) collecting each wager associated with a nth through Nth poker hand if a player's completed nth poker hand is inferior to the house poker hand;   (l) allowing the player to surrender after seeing at least one of the player's cards.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the player must pay at least one of the N wagers to surrender. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the player must pay at least two of the N wagers to surrender. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the amount of the payout awarded to the player is determined, at least in part, by a pay table that is dependent, at least in part, upon the nth poker hand being compared. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the game of poker is Hold 'Em, such that each player starting hand contains two cards, and the steps of completing each hand is performed by dealing five community cards from which the player and house make their best five-card poker hands. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein N is equal to three and the number of player cards is six. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the amount awarded to the player for a superior first poker hand is equal to the wager associated with the first poker hand, and the amount awarded to the player for a superior second poker hand is equal to three times the wager associated with the second poker hand, and the amount awarded to the player for a superior third poker hand is equal to six times the wager associated with the third poker hand. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the player must pay an amount equal to two of the three wagers to surrender. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the step of dealing a starting hand to the house involves dealing six cards to the house from which the house forms a two-card starting hand. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the step of dealing a starting hand to the house involves dealing six cards to the house from which the house forms a two-card starting hand. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the player receives a jackpot if he has a Bad Beat. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the jackpot is a progressive. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the player may place a side wager associated with one or more of the N starting hands and wherein the player receives a secondary award if the associated starting hand is of a specified rank. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the player may place a side wager associated with the poker hand ranking of all of the player cards. 
     
     
         15 . A method of playing a game of poker comprising:
 (a) accepting a number of N primary wagers from a player;   (b) dealing a number of player cards to the player, the number of said player cards being sufficient to form at least N starting hands, where N is at least greater than one;   (c) allowing the player to organize the player cards into N player starting hands, each of said N player starting hands designated as a first through Nth player starting hand, wherein each of said player starting hands is associated with one of said N wagers;   (d) dealing a number of house cards to the house, the number of said house cards being sufficient to form at least a single house starting hand;   (e) organizing the house cards into a single house starting hand and discarding any remaining house cards;   (f) completing a house poker hand using the single house starting hand;   (g) completing at least a first poker hand of the player using the first player starting hand;   (h) comparing the completed first poker hand of the player to the completed house poker hand;   (i) awarding the player a payout if the player's completed first poker hand is superior to the completed house poker hand;   (j) repeating steps (g) through (i) for the second through Nth player starting hands until either one of the player's completed hands is inferior to the house poker hand or the player has received an award for all N starting hands;   (k) collecting each wager associated with a nth through Nth poker hand if a player's completed nth poker hand is inferior to the house poker hand;   (l) allowing the player to make an insurance wager.