Pair 9 Poker Plus

Abstract

Pair 9 Poker Plus is a card game wherein a five card hand is dealt and a single card discard made such that a first and a second two card hand remains of the selected four cards to be held by a player. The first two card hand is ranked according to poker and so a pair of aces is high and the second two card hand is ranked according to baccarat rules where a ten, jack, queen or king are zero, the tens digit of the sum of two cards is not part of a point value and so a nine is the highest ranking hand by point value.

What we claim is: 
     
         1 . Apparatus for playing a game including a special purpose computer processor for executing instructions regarding game play including an instruction for displaying a five card player hand on an output device, an input device for receiving a command for discarding one of the displayed five cards for the special purpose computer processor, the input device for further receiving a further command for allocating two of the remaining four cards of the five card player hand as a first hand for play and the other two of the remaining four cards as a second hand for play, a memory coupled to the special purpose computer processor for storing a selection of discard and first and second hand choices of the machine and the output device for displaying a player's first and second hands, the special purpose computer processor, responsive to a first ranking of the first two card hand according to a high ranking for a pair of aces and a second ranking of the second two card hand according to a high ranking for a nine point value where the tens digit is not counted, declaring a winner via the output device between the machine and the player based on the scoring of one of the first and second hands. 
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a communications interface for communicating with a remote computer system, the remote computer system making the machine selection of discard and hand choice for comparison with the player first or second two card hands. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising the output device rewarding a player with one of a game score, one further play of the game and a monetary reward. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising the special purpose computer processor calculating a tie between one of the machine first hand and the player first hand or the machine second hand and the player second hand, the special purpose computer processor holding a wager in memory and outputting a further machine and player hand. 
     
     
         5 . A computer program product for implementing instruction logic for a card game comprising first computer logic for causing a display of a five card player hand, second computer logic for receiving a player selection of a card of the five card player hand and for receiving a player selection of a first two card hand for play and a second two card hand for play from the remaining for cards of the five card player hand after discard, third computer logic for assembling a five card machine hand for play including a first two card machine hand and a second two card machine hand from the five card machine hand after a discard per the machine computer logic; fourth computer logic for ranking the first machine two card hand against the first player two card hand and the second machine two card hand against the second player two card hand; and fifth computer logic for determining a winner between the machine and the player for first or second two card hands by rules of poker and baccarat scoring respectively. 
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 5  wherein said first computer logic causes display of a five card hand using a random selection of five cards front a randomly ordered plurality of between five and eight decks of fifty-two cards. 
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 5  wherein said fifth computer logic determines a tie in ranking between the machine and the player and causes a new deal of the associated tie five card hands of the machine and player. 
     
     
         8 . A method of playing a card game with a plurality of decks of cards in random order comprising dealing a five card hand to a player, receiving a single card discard choice from the player and receiving selections by the player of first and second two card hands for play from the remaining four cards of the dealt five card hand, the selections by the player for comparison with one of a dealer and a machine selection of first and second two card hands for play, where the first two card hand of any of a dealer, machine or player is evaluated whereby a pair of aces is a highest ranking and the second two card hand of any of the dealer, machine or player is evaluated whereby a nine is a highest ranking hand in point valuation and a ten, jack, queen and king are scored at zero point value, an ace as one point, the cards valued 2 through 9 are valued at their face value and the tens digit of the sum of two card values of the second hand is not counted in the point ranking, the units digit of the sum of the two cards of the second hand being counted. 
     
     
         9 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  wherein, in the event of a tie between one of the first machine or dealer card two card hand and the first player two card hand, five card hands are dealt so that machine or dealer and player may resolve the tie. 
     
     
         10 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  wherein a further card may be purchased after discard for a predetermined value by a player to obtain a possibly different five card hand. 
     
     
         11 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  wherein wagering comprises placing an initial bet, the initial bet being allocated upon the dealing of a five card hand among a bonus bet, a first hand bet, a second hand bet, an insurance bet or an ante. 
     
     
         12 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 11  wherein wagering by a player is between a house minimum bet and a house maximum bet value. 
     
     
         13 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  wherein ranking of two card hands comprises: first rank, a pair of aces; second rank, a pair of kings; third rank, a pair of queens; fourth rank, a pair of jacks; fifth rank, a pair of tens; sixth rank, a pair of nines; seventh rank, a pair of eights; eighth rank, a pair of sevens; fourteenth rank, a nine point value; fifteenth rank, an eight point value; sixteenth rank, a seven point value and twenty-third rank, a zero point value. 
     
     
         14 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 13  wherein an insurance bet placed before a five card hand is dealt or displayed cannot be greater than an initial bet. 
     
     
         15 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  wherein a failure for a player to select a discard comprises a foul hand. 
     
     
         16 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  wherein the card game is played with a 52 card deck with jokers; jokers being valued as a choice of a predetermined range of point values or as a desired card value in deuce through Ace and choice of suit by the player. 
     
     
         17 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 14 , the insurance bet comprising a player betting on receiving a zero point value for a second two card hand. 
     
     
         18 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  on a mobile telecommunications device for communicating with a remote computer having computer logic for controlling card game house rules. 
     
     
         19 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 8  permitting an additional wager after allocating a place bet among first and second two card hands up to a percentage of the allocated place bet. 
     
     
         20 . The method of playing a card game as recited in  claim 19  wherein the additional wager is awarded at less than the value of the additional wager according to a predetermined percentage less than 50% of the additional wager.