Playing Card Deck and Methods of Game Play Combining Poker And Slot Symbols

Abstract

A deck of playing cards is provided in which the cards are each marked with equally-distributed ranks and suits, and are further marked with unequally distributed slot machine symbols. The deck enables games in which hands may be ranked according to whether they constitute winning combination of slot machine symbols combined with their ranking as poker hands. The playing cards may be provided in the form of a physical deck or as digital images shown on a digital display.

That which is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A deck of playing cards, comprising cards upon which are marked (a) a rank and a suit such that the cards of each suit are equally numerous, and (b) a slot machine symbol chosen from an unequally-distributed set of slot machine symbols. 
     
     
         2 . The deck of claim  0  in which the deck consists of fifty-two cards, four suits of cards ranked from two to ace. 
     
     
         3 . The deck of  claim 2  in which the slot machine symbols comprise at least one of cherries, lemons, bells, oranges, plums and bars. 
     
     
         4 . The deck of claim  0  in which the cards consist of digital images made visible on an electronic display. 
     
     
         5 . The deck of claim  0  in which set of slot machine symbols are distributed in decreasing frequency. 
     
     
         6 . The deck of  claim 5  in which the deck consists of fifty-two cards, four suits of cards ranked from two to ace, and in which the slot machine symbols are distributed such that (a) the range of poker hands which can be formed among three cards with the slot machine symbol increases with the frequency of that same slot machine symbol, (b) no three-of-a-kind poker hand can be formed with cards having the same slot symbol, and (c) no tying poker hands can be formed with cards having the same slot symbol. 
     
     
         7 . The deck of  claim 5  in which each card is marked with a slot machine symbol. 
     
     
         8 . The deck of  claim 7  in which the set of slot machine symbols consists of six slot machine symbols, distributed in groups of five, six, eight, ten, eleven and twelve among the fifty-two cards. 
     
     
         9 . The deck of  claim 2  in which the slot machine symbols comprise at least one of cherries, lemons, bells, oranges, plums and bars. 
     
     
         10 . The deck of claim  0  in which the cards consist of digital images made visible on an electronic display. 
     
     
         11 . A deck of playing cards comprising fifty cards ranked from two to ace, marked in four equal suits and further marked with slot machine symbols chosen from an unequally-distributed set of slot machine symbols. 
     
     
         12 . A method of playing a card game comprising:
 a) dealing a hand of a fixed number of cards to a player from a deck of cards each having (a) a rank and a suit such that the cards of each suit are equally numerous, and (b) a slot machine symbol chosen from an unequally-distributed set of slot machine symbols,   b) ranking the hand based on its ranking within a ranking system including poker hand rankings in addition to slot symbol combinations.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising the steps of:
 a) placing a bet prior to dealing the hand, 
 b) providing an option of discarding and replacing cards in the hand, and 
 c) paying a win amount based upon whether the ranking of the hand exceeds a defined threshold rank. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the defined threshold is a fixed rank and the win amount is defined by a pay table. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the step of placing a bet comprises placing an ante by each of multiple players into a pot, the step of dealing a hand comprises dealing a hand to each of multiple players, and the defined threshold is the second highest ranking hand among the players. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the step of paying a win amount comprises paying a win amount proportional to the number of players. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the step of dealing a hand consists of dealing a hand of three cards, and the step of ranking the hand comprises the steps of:
 a) determining whether the hand includes three of the same rank, 
 b) determining whether the hand includes three of the same slot machine symbol, 
 c) ranking the hand more highly by rank if it has three of the same rank than three of the same slot machine symbol; and 
 d) ranking the hand by its poker hand ranking among hands having three of the same slot machine symbol. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the step of dealing dealing a hand comprises the step of displaying the cards to a player as digital images shown on an electronic display.