Non-commission pai gow poker games, devices, systems and methods thereof

Abstract

Methods of playing commission-free pai gow poker games are disclosed. The commission-free pai gow poker games have multiple features, including a novel push mechanism and a novel copy-fostering mechanism, that provide a gaming establishment with an adequate house edge without the need to charge a commission on player wins. The features of the commission-free pai gow poker games may be incorporated in one or more instruction sets or software configured in one or more mechanical devices and/or electronic devices. Furthermore, the features may be configured in one or more displays in communication with one or more servers as desired. Furthermore, the commission-free pai gow poker games may be offered in a non-gaming media environment as desired.

1 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . A method of playing a modified pai gow poker game comprising the steps of:
 providing an electronic shuffling system comprising an electronic shuffling device configured to perform a shuffling operation, a display device coupled to the electronic shuffling device, and a detector;   responsive to receiving a wager, actuate the electronic shuffling system to generate a random card hand selected from the group of card hands consisting of five cards, six cards, seven cards and eight cards from the standard poker card deck of physical playing cards for each of the one or more players and a dealer;   identifying each card in the random card hands for each of the one or more players and the dealer using the detector;   evaluating a dealer's card hand to determine whether said dealer's card hand comprises a dealer's pai gow hand having no poker elements other than the value of individual singleton cards;   identifying a highest value card of said dealer's pai gow hand;   comparing the highest value card of the dealer's card hand with a push condition to determine if the push condition is satisfied, the push condition comprising the highest value card of the dealer's card hand being the same value as a preselected card value, wherein the preselected card value is selected from the group of single cards consisting of ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine; and   responsive to the push condition being satisfied settling said round of play as a push, whereby the wager received is neither won nor lost.   
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 23 , further comprising the steps of:
 shuffling the standard poker card deck using the electronic shuffling device;   determining by a shuffle verifier that the shuffling was a legitimate shuffling operation; and   identifying the legitimate shuffling operation on the display device.   
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein said preselected card value comprises at least one card of a contiguous range of cards selected from the group consisting of ace or lower, king or lower, queen or lower, jack or lower and ten or lower. 
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein said preselected card value comprises at least one card of a non-contiguous combination of cards selected from the group of cards consisting of ace or queen, ace or jack, ace or ten, ace or nine, king or jack, king or ten, king or nine, queen or ten, queen or nine, jack or nine, jack or eight, ace or queen or jack, ace or queen or ten, ace or jack or ten, ace or jack or nine, ace or ten or nine, ace or ten or eight, ace or nine or seven, king or jack or ten, king or jack or nine, king or ten or nine, king or ten or eight, king or nine or seven, queen or ten or nine, queen or ten or eight, queen or nine or eight, queen or nine or seven, jack or nine or eight, jack or nine or seven, and jack or eight or seven. 
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein said preselected card value comprises at least one card of a non-contiguous combination of single cards and a contiguous range of cards selected from the group of cards consisting of ace or queen or jack or lower, ace or jack or ten or lower, ace or ten or nine or lower, king or jack or ten or lower, king or ten or nine or lower, queen or ten or nine or lower, and jack or nine or eight or lower. 
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein said player input is received through one or more player interfaces displayed on one or more communication devices, wherein the one or more communication devices are remote from the electronic shuffling system 
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 23  wherein each of a player's card hand and a dealer's card hand comprises at least one of the following:
 eight playing cards subdivided into a five-card long side and a three-card short side, seven playing cards subdivided into a five-card long side and a two-card short side, six playing cards subdivided into a four-card long side and a two-card short side, six playing cards subdivided into a three-card long side and a three-card short side, and five playing cards subdivided into a three-card long side and a two-card short side. 
 
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 24 , further comprising the step of verifying, using the detector, that the standard poker card deck has been placed in the deck-receiving device. 
     
     
         31 . A system for providing a modified pai gow poker game comprising:
 an electronic shuffling system comprising an electronic shuffling device configured to perform a shuffling operation and a detector, wherein the shuffling system is configured to:
 shuffle the standard poker card deck using the electronic shuffling device; 
 distribute a random card hand of physical playing cards from a standard poker card deck to form a player's hand and a dealer's hand in the round of play; 
 identify each dealt card using the card reading detector; 
 determine if the dealer's hand comprises a dealer's pai gow hand, wherein a dealer's pai gow hand is a hand of cards having no poker ranking other than the value of an individual singleton card; 
 identify a card having the highest ranking among the cards forming the dealer's hand responsive to the dealer's hand being a dealer's pai gow hand; 
 compare the highest ranked card of the dealer's hand with a preselected card rank; and 
 settle the round of play if the highest ranked card of the dealer's hand is of the same rank as the preselected card rank, wherein the entire wager is neither won nor lost, wherein settling the round of play is facilitated by the at least one data processing device in communication with the communication network. 
   
     
     
         32 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein the player's hand and dealer's hand each comprise at least seven cards. 
     
     
         33 . The system according to  claim 31 , wherein the preselected card rank is a card of a rank of nine or greater. 
     
     
         34 . The system according to  claim 31 , further comprising the step of verifying, using the detector, that the standard poker card deck has been placed in the deck-receiving device.