Multihand poker game

Abstract

This invention is a multi-handed poker game where the cards are dealt in one or more patterns. In one embodiment, the cards are dealt in a 13 card diamond pattern with multiple hands formed from five card groups within the pattern. In another embodiment, the cards are dealt in pyramids, each pyramid has one top cards and two or more bottom cards, and a player selects first is required to select a top card before he is allowed to select a bottom card to form a poker hand.

1 . An arrangement of at least seven poker hands using a total of thirteen cards wherein each hand has five cards and all of the at least seven hands share one common card, comprising: 
 four hands comprising four pairs of hands, wherein each pair shares two common cards;    one hand that shares at least one of its five cards with each of the other six hands, shares three of its cards with a sixth hand, and three of its cards with a seventh hand; and    two hands that each share three of its five cards with two of said four hands.    
   
   
       2 . The arrangement of  claim 1  having at least seven pay lines instead of at least seven hands and using a total of thirteen symbols instead of using a total of thirteen cards.  
   
   
       3 . An arrangement of at least seven hands using a total of thirteen cards wherein each hand has five cards and all of the at least seven hands share one common card, comprising: 
 a first hand, a second hand, a third hand, and a fourth hands comprising four pairs of hands, wherein each pair shares two common cards;    a fifth hand that shares at least one of its five cards with each of the other six hands, shares three of its cards with a sixth hand, and three of its cards with a seventh hand; and    the sixth hand and the seventh hand that each share three of its five cards with two of said first, second, third, and fourth hands.    
   
   
       4 . A method to play a game comprising the steps of: 
 a) allowing a player to place a wager on one or more hands of cards in a pattern of cards to be dealt;    b) dealing to the player an arrangement of at least seven five card hands using thirteen cards wherein each hand has five cards, one card is common to all hands, and where the cards are displayed in a pattern of five rows and where the five rows comprise one card in the first row, three cards in the second row, five cards in the third row, three cards in the fourth row and one card in the fifth row, the center cards in each row form a column, and where one or more hands are comprised of one center card and four surrounding cards in a diamond pattern, and different hands may have up to four cards in common;    c) comparing one or more of the hands to a paytable;    d) and paying the player according to the paytable.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein two cards are common among four hands.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein one of the five card hands has each of its five cards common to at least two hands.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the number of diamond shaped hands is five, wherein the center card of each of four of the five diamond shaped hands represents the corner card of the fifth hand.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 4  wherein dealing an arrangement of at least seven hands is comprised of: 
 dealing twelve cards face up to the player, where the only card not dealt is the card that the at least seven hands have in common; and    dealing the thirteenth card after allowing the player to increase his wager on one or more of the hands.    
   
   
       9 . A method of playing a card game comprising the steps of: 
 dealing two or more pyramids of cards to a player, each pyramid comprising one or more top cards and two or more bottom cards;    selecting a first card from among the top cards as the first card in a poker hand;    selecting subsequent cards one at a time to form a poker hand from available cards, available cards being any remaining top card or any bottom cards in a pyramid for which the top card has already been selected;    when the poker hand is complete, comparing the poker hand to a pay table; and    paying a winning hand according to a pay table.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the top cards are dealt face up and the bottom cards are dealt face down, and further comprising the step of turning the bottom cards face up in a pyramid after the respective top card is selected for the poker hand.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the number of top cards in each pyramid is one.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the first view of one or more bottom cards shows the rank or the suit associated with the card but not both, and where, after the corresponding top card has been selected, a second view of the one or more bottom cards shows both the suit and the rank associated with the card.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the number of cards in each pyramid is five and the number of pyramids is four.