Royal deal poker

Abstract

A card game and method for playing the card game are provided for a plurality of players. The card game is a variety of poker and utilizes only Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 cards, and two Joker cards from two standard 52-card decks. Because deuces through nines have been eliminated, the present invention allows a much higher frequency of royal flushes over conventional poker games. In the present invention, players make a bet, then cards are distributed. The players are allowed to modify their bet or fold. Additional cards are then distributed. Players must beat the dealer's hand in order to win the game. Payouts are determined by ranks of the players' hands. The card game may be played on a game table or on a computer implemented device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of playing a card game, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing eight Ace cards, eight King cards, eight Queen cards, eight Jack cards, eight 10 cards, and two Joker cards;   shuffling the cards;   prompting by a dealer for a plurality of players to place bets;   placing ante bets and optional bonus envy side bets by the plurality of players;   dealing three cards by a dealer to each of the plurality of players face down and dealing five cards by the dealer to the dealer face down;   wherein each player is enabled to identify the three cards dealt to the player;   selecting to place a play bet equal to the ante bet or fold by each of the plurality of players;   dealing by the dealer an additional two cards to each of the plurality of players who did not fold face down;   upturning by the dealer the cards dealt to the dealer;   comparing values of the cards of each player with a value of the cards of a dealer;   awarding payouts for ante and play bets based on a hand ranking system, comprising:
 if a first value of the cards of a given player is greater than a second value of the cards of the dealer, the given player is paid a payout according to a pay table; and 
 if the first value is less than the second value, the dealer takes the ante bet and bonus envy side bet; 
   if the first value is equal to the second value, the ante bet and bonus envy side bet push; and   processing by the dealer the envy bonus bets according to the pay table.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 requiring a minimum ante bet by the players.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the ante bet is limited to $5-$100. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bonus envy side bet is limited to $1-$25. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 each player plays one or two hands per round of play.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the number of players is limited to one to seven.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a natural royal flush is assigned a payout of 100 times the play bet, five aces is assigned a payout of 75 times the play bet, other five of a kind is assigned a payout of 30 times the play bet, a wild royal flush is assigned a payout of 20 times the play bet, a natural four aces is assigned a payout of 12 times the play bet, wild four aces is assigned a payout of 8 times the play bet, other four of a kind is assigned a payout of 4 times the play bet, a flush is assigned a payout of 3 times the play bet, a full house is assigned a payout of 1 times the play bet, a straight is assigned a payout of 1 times the play bet, three of a kind is assigned a payout of 1 times the play bet, a two pair results in a push, a one pair results in a push, and a high card results in a push.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a natural royal flush is assigned a payout of 500 times the bonus envy side bet with a $75 bonus envy to participating players of the bonus envy side bet, a natural five aces is assigned a payout of 500 times the bonus envy side bet with a $50 bonus envy to the participating players of the bonus envy side bet, wild five aces is assigned a payout of 300 times the bonus envy side bet with a $25 bonus envy to the participating players of the bonus envy side bet, other five of a kind (10-K) is assigned a payout of 200 times the bonus envy side bet, a wild royal flush is assigned a payout of 80 times the bonus envy side bet, a natural four aces is assigned a payout of 25 times the bonus envy side bet, a wild four aces is assigned a payout of 12 times the bonus envy side bet, other four of a kind is assigned a payout of 6 times the bonus envy side bet, a full house is assigned a payout of 1 times the bonus envy side bet, a flush is assigned a payout of 1 times the bonus envy side bet, a natural straight is assigned a payout of 1 times the bonus envy side bet, a wild straight results in a push, and three of a kind results in a push.   
     
     
         9 . A method for playing a card game, the method comprising the steps of:
 executing, with a processor, a program stored on a non-transitory memory of a computer implemented device, the program directing the computer implemented device to perform the following:   (a) prompting a player to input an ante bet and optionally a bonus side bet;   (b) storing the input ante bet and optionally the bonus side bet in a memory;   (c) generating a first distinct set of cards by the computer implemented device, the first distinct set of cards consisting of three randomly selected cards from a virtual deck of cards consisting of eight Ace cards, eight King cards, eight Queen cards, eight Jack cards, eight 10 cards, and two Joker cards, and storing the first distinct set of cards in the memory;   (d) generating a second distinct set of cards by the computer implemented device, the second distinct set of cards consisting of five randomly selected cards from the virtual deck of cards, and storing the second distinct set of cards in the memory;   (e) displaying the first distinct set of cards on a display;   (f) prompting a decision by the player to place a play bet equal to the ante bet or fold, executing the decision of the player with the following actions:
 1. if the player decides to place the play bet, rewrite the stored ante bet to twice its original value; 
 2. if the player decides to fold, display a message indicating an end of a round and return to step (a); 
   (g) generating a third distinct set of cards by the computer implemented device, the third distinct set of cards consisting of two randomly selected cards from the virtual deck of cards, and storing the third distinct set of cards in the memory;   (h) displaying a player's hand consisting of the first and third distinct set of cards on the display;   (i) displaying a dealer's hand consisting of the second distinct set of cards;   (j) comparing the player's hand to the dealer's hand; and   (k) accessing a database to determine payout.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 requiring a minimum ante bet from the player.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the ante bet is limited to $5-$100. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 requiring a minimum bonus side bet from the player.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the bonus envy side bet is limited to $1-$25. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a natural royal flush is assigned a payout of 100 times the play bet, five aces is assigned a payout of 75 times the play bet, other five of a kind is assigned a payout of 30 times the play bet, a wild royal flush is assigned a payout of 20 times the play bet, a natural four aces is assigned a payout of 12 times the play bet, wild four aces is assigned a payout of 8 times the play bet, other four of a kind is assigned a payout of 4 times the play bet, a flush is assigned a payout of 3 times the play bet, a full house is assigned a payout of 1 times the play bet, a straight is assigned a payout of 1 times the play bet, three of a kind is assigned a payout of 1 times the play bet, a two pair results in a push, a one pair results in a push, and a high card results in a push.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a natural royal flush is assigned a payout of 500 times the bonus envy side bet with a $75 bonus envy to participating players of the bonus envy side bet, a natural five aces is assigned a payout of 500 times the bonus envy side bet with a $50 bonus envy to the participating players of the bonus envy side bet, wild five aces is assigned a payout of 300 times the bonus envy side bet with a $25 bonus envy to the participating players of the bonus envy side bet, other five of a kind (10-K) is assigned a payout of 200 times the bonus envy side bet, a wild royal flush is assigned a payout of 80 times the bonus envy side bet, a natural four aces is assigned a payout of 25 times the bonus envy side bet, a wild four aces is assigned a payout of 12 times the bonus envy side bet, other four of a kind is assigned a payout of 6 times the bonus envy side bet, a full house is assigned a payout of 1 times the bonus envy side bet, a flush is assigned a payout of 1 times the bonus envy side bet, a natural straight is assigned a payout of 1 times the bonus envy side bet, a wild straight results in a push, and three of a kind results in a push.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 steps (a)-(c), (e)-(g), and (h-k) are repeated for additional players playing simultaneously.