Method and apparatus for payouts based on community cards

Abstract

An apparatus for playing a community card poker game and methods of distributing house winnings responsive to a community card outcome of the game are disclosed. In one exemplary embodiment the method of distributing house winnings to one or more players of the game may be based on one or more rankings of a community card outcome. In response to a community card outcome, one or more players may receive a portion of the house winnings according to a predetermined payout table. A portion of the house winnings may be distributed to one or more players as a fixed payout or as a progressively building payout. A fixed payout may depend on the ranking of the hand formed from the community cards. A progressive payout may provide a greater house winnings distribution resulting from less frequent payouts by awarding a payout on a higher ranking community card hand.

1 . A method of distributing house winnings accumulated during play of a game having community cards, the method comprising: 
 presenting a game to one or more players, wherein presenting the game comprises providing community cards and accepting wagers on a game outcome, such that the community cards generate a community card outcome;    settling wagers with at least one player of the game based on the game outcome;    accumulating house winnings from at least a portion of accepted wagers during play of the game;    inspecting at least one community card outcome;    determining whether the community card outcome merits a distribution of at least a portion of the accumulated house winnings accumulated during play of the game; and    if the community card outcome merits a distribution, then distributing at least a portion of the house winning to at least one player of the game.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the game is played in a Class II jurisdiction.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the game comprises Texas Hold'em Bonus.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein distributing comprises distributing all of the house winnings to at least one player and the one or more players do not need to place a wager on the game to be eligible for the distribution based on the community card outcome.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the community card outcome merits a distribution comprises comparing the community card outcome to a pay table to determine if the rank of the community card outcome warrants a payout.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein distributing at least a portion of the house winning comprises a progressive payout.  
     
     
         7 . A method of offering a game in class II type game comprising: 
 dealing one or more cards to one or more players, wherein cards dealt to a player are player's cards;    dealing one or more community cards;    accepting one or more wagers from one or more players on players respective player hands;    reviewing one or more player hands, wherein the one or more player hands are associated with a player and are created from any combination of one or more player's cards and one or more community cards;    determining which of the one or more player hands are winning hands and which of the one or more player hands are losing hands;    collecting wagers associated with losing hands to create accumulated winnings from the wagers based on player hands;    providing an payout to players associated with winning player hands;    determining a community card outcome;    comparing the community cards outcome against a predetermined community card outcome; and    awarding at least a portion of the accumulated winnings from wager to players based on the comparing to thereby return at least a portion of accumulated winnings from wager to players.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the game comprises Texas Hold'em Bonus.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining a community card outcome comprises generating a community card hand using community cards.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein awarding comprises providing a progressive payout.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein awarding comprises providing a payout based on a payout table.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein awarding occurs after each round of play.  
     
     
         13 . A method of distributing house winnings of a game having community cards, the method comprising: 
 accepting one or more wagers from one or more players;    presenting a game to the one or more players, the game including one or more community cards and the game having an outcome and the community cards having a community card result;    determining if the outcome of the game is a winning outcome as to each of the one or more players and, if so, awarding winnings funded at least partially by the one or more wagers accepted from the one or more players;    generating a house pool funded by the one or more wagers accepted from the one or more players on the game;    determining if the community card result is a predetermined winning community card result and, if so, distributing at least a portion of the house pool to at least one of the or more players.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the game is played in a class II jurisdiction and players do not wager on the community card result.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the house pool is generated from the one or more wagers from a single table.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the house pool is generated from the one or more wagers from multiple tables.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the distributing at least a portion of the house pool is distributed on a progressive basis.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the distributing at least a portion of the house pool is distributed based on a pay table.