Abstract

The player is dealt an initial hand of five cards, all face up. If four of these first five cards are of the same suit, the player is offered the opportunity to proceed to a second video screen in which the remaining nine cards of that suit are displayed to the player. One of these nine cards is randomly selected and added to the player's initial five card hand. The player is assured of achieving at least a Flush with the possibility of improving his hand to a Straight Flush or a Royal Flush depending on the first four cards and the fifth card selected. After this random selection of the fifth card, the player's hand is evaluated to determine what poker hand ranking the player has achieved and the player is paid an award based on the amount wagered by the player in accordance with a pay table. If the player does not receive four cards to a flush on the initial deal or if the player declines to take the fifth flush card, the game continues in the conventional manner of video poker with the player discarding unwanted cards and receiving replacement cards for the discarded hand. The final five card hand is then compared to a pay table to determine whether the player has achieved a winning hand based on conventional poker hand rankings.