7 Cards Poker-Mahjong

Abstract

The invention is similar to the Poker card game and simpler than Mahjong that can be easily learned and played at home among friends or in the Las Vegas type casinos. The standard 52 poker cards are used. The game can be played by two people up to a maximum of seven people. Each player is dealt with six cards face-down to start the game. Then, each player takes turn to either get a card from the remaining deck or take the discarded card from the preceding player. The objective is to come up with a 7-card hand with the winning pattern. The winning pattern consists of 2 cards of the same ranking (a Pair) and 5 cards of the poker hand (Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush and Straight). Unlike the Poker game, there is no betting and bluffing. A simple logic and choice are made in the anticipation of the 7 th card in order to derive and achieve a winning hand before the other players do. The winner collects a wager from each player depending on the specific winning hand. Each winning Hand is assigned a token value. ROYAL-FLUSH is the most difficult, thus, it has the highest token value. STRAIGHT is the easiest, thus, it has the lowest token value.

What I claim as my invention is: 
     
         1 . A method of playing a game using the standard 52 poker cards where:
 a) a minimum of 2 players with up to seven players can participate;   b) to start the game, each player is dealt with six cards face-down;   c) the card is dealt, determined by random dice throw, one card at a time clockwise to each player till all players have six cards;   d) each player takes turn to either take in the discarded card from the preceding player or get a card from the deck;   e) After six cards are dealt to all players, the first player (determined by random dice throw) can only get a card from the deck;   f) If the 7-card combination is not the winning hand, a card is discarded to keep the hand at 6 cards all the time;   g) If the 7-card combination is the winning hand after the card is picked from the deck or is from the discarded by any player in the present round, the player display the winning hand on the table face-up for everyone to see and one round of the game is terminated;   h) The player with the winning hand collects a wager from the players depending on the specific winning hand and the condition it is achieved.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising that the 7-card winning hands are defined as followed:
 A PAIR, two cards with the same ranking; 
 The remaining 5 cards have to be in one of the following Poker combination:
 a) STRAIGHT—five cards in ranking sequence of different suits; 
 b) FLUSH—five cards of the same suit of random ranking sequence; 
 c) FULL-HOUSE—three cards of the same rank and two cards of the same rank; 
 d) FOUR-OF-A-KIND—four cards of the same rank with one card of anything; 
 e) STRAIGHT-FLUSH—five cards in ranking sequence of the same suit with no Ace; 
 f) ROYAL-FLUSH—Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 in ranking sequence of the same suit. 
 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising that the player with the winning hand collects a wager from other player based on the following token system (it is left to the House or players to determine what does each token represents):
 a) ROYAL-FLUSH: 20 tokens 
 b) STRAIGHT-FLUSH: 10 tokens 
 c) FOUR-OF-A-KIND: 5 tokens 
 d) FULL-HOUSE: 3 tokens 
 e) FLUSH: 2 tokens 
 f) STRAIGHT: 2 tokens 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a) if the winning card is from the deck on the very first time the card is drawn, the wager in  claim 3  is doubled and collected from all players; 
 b) if the winning card is from the deck after the first time the card is drawn, the wager in  claim 3  is collected from all players; 
 c) If the winning card is from the discard by any one of the player, the wager in  claim 3  is collected only from the player who discarded the card; 
 d) If the winning card is of the single-choice type, then 2 tokens are added to the wager in  claim 3 . Example of the single-choice types are (see X):
 in the middle of a straight: 3-4-X-6-7, 3-X-5-6-7; 
 one of the PAIR: 3-4-5-6-7-J-X. 
 
 e) to avoid ambiguity, when the player draws (or is dealt) a card from the deck, the player shall look at the card first before mixing it with the six cards in the hand. 
 f) If it is the winning card, it shall then be displayed on the table separately from the six cards to show that it is the single-choice type; 
 g) more than one player can produce a winning hand from the discarded card; 
 h) the player who discarded the winning card is obliged to pay the wager in  claim 3  to all the players with the winning hand; 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising that if no player comes up with a winning hand after the last card is drawn (or is dealt) and discarded, before the cards are shuffled and a new round of game is started, each player contributes 5 tokens to the pot. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising that the next player with the winning hand will not only collect the normal wager but also the wager in the pot.