Games of chance with player-specified elements

A method of operating a gaming system including a plurality of instructions, said method comprising:

• (a) accepting a wager from a player through at least one input device to start a play of a card game;
• (b) causing a display device to display a plurality of options to the player, the options including:
• (1) receiving a randomly drawn starting hand of cards for the play of the game;
• and
• (2) selecting one of a plurality of different selectable target hands for the play of the game;
• (c) if the player opts to select one of the plurality of different selectable target hands through said at least one input device, and before any cards which are usable for the play of the card game are displayed for the play of the card game, causing a processor to execute the plurality of instructions to enable the player to select one of said different selectable target hands;
• (d) after the player has selected one of said different selectable target hands, causing the display device to display an initial set of cards associated with the selected target hand;
• (e) causing the processor to execute the plurality of instructions to randomly select at least one additional card;
• (f) causing the display device to display the at least one additional card with at least one of the initial set of cards to form a final hand of cards;
• (g) causing the display device to display the final hand;
• (h) causing the processor to execute the plurality of instructions to evaluate the final hand to determine if the final hand matches said selected target hand;
• and
• (i) based on said evaluation, providing an award to the player if said final hand matches said selected target hand.