Systems and methods for allowing players to play poker games having multiple decks

A method for operating a system for providing a poker-type card game to a plurality of players, the system including a plurality of user computing devices associated with the plurality of players, a database for storing a plurality of player decks, and a server computer including a controller coupled to each user computing device and the database, each of the user computing devices configured to receive input from a corresponding player and including a display device for displaying the game on a game screen, at least one of the user computing devices including a gaming machine including an acceptor device configured to accept physical media associated with a monetary value to establish a credit balance associated with a player, the controller including a memory device and a processor coupled to the memory device, the memory device including a game program including computer-executable instructions that are executed by the processor, the method including the processor performing the steps of:

• receiving a signal from the gaming machine indicating a wager or fee initiated by the player, adjust the credit balance by an amount of the wager or fee, and initiating the game including displaying the game screen on each of the plurality of user computing devices;
• accessing the database and retrieving the plurality of player decks, each of the plurality of player decks including a set of randomly-ordered playing cards;
• assigning a player deck of the plurality of player decks to each of the plurality of players;
• and,
• conducting a round of the game including:
• initiating a dealing cycle to distribute a player hand to each of the plurality of players, each of the player hands including a plurality of cards being distributed from a corresponding player deck assigned to the player, the dealing cycle including distributing one playing card from a corresponding assigned player deck to each player in a sequential order beginning with a starting player;
• detecting a triggering condition occurring during the dealing cycle, wherein the triggering condition includes each playing card included in an assigned player deck matching a previously distributed playing card;
• when the triggering condition is determined to be met responsively reassembling each assigned player deck by adding each card previously distributed to a player to the corresponding assigned player deck, shuffling each reassembled assigned player deck, and conducting another dealing cycle with the shuffled reassembled player decks to distribute the player hand to each of the plurality of players;
• determining an outcome of the round as a function of each of the player hands and providing an award to at least one of the players as a function of the received wagers and the outcome;
• and
• remove each corresponding player hand from each corresponding player deck to form a modified player deck and shuffle each modified player deck for use in a subsequent round of the game.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

• receive requests to initiate a game from a plurality of user computing devices associated with the plurality of players, each of the user computing devices configured to receive input from a corresponding player and including a display device for displaying game on a game screen, at least one of the user computing devices including a gaming machine including an acceptor device configured to accept physical media associated with a monetary value to establish a credit balance associated with a player;
• receive a signal from the gaming machine indicating a wager or fee initiated by the player, adjust the credit balance by an amount of the wager or fee, and initiate the game and display the game on and display the game on on each of the plurality of user computing devices;
• access a database and retrieve a plurality of player decks being stored in the database, each of the plurality of player decks including a set of randomly-ordered playing cards;
• assign a player deck of the plurality of player decks to each of the plurality of players;
• and,
• conduct a round of the game including:
• initiate a dealing cycle to distribute a player hand to each of the plurality of players, each of the player hands including a plurality of cards being distributed from a corresponding player deck assigned to the player, the dealing cycle including distributing one playing card from a corresponding assigned player deck to each player in a sequential order beginning with a starting player;
• detect a triggering condition occurring during the dealing cycle, wherein the triggering condition includes each playing card included in an assigned player deck matching a previously distributed playing card;
• when the triggering condition is determined to be met responsively reassemble each assigned player deck by adding each card previously distributed to a player to the corresponding assigned player deck, shuffling each reassembled assigned player deck, and conducting another dealing cycle with the shuffled reassembled player decks to distribute the player hand to each of the plurality of players;
• determine an outcome of the round as a function of each of the player hands and provide an award to at least one of the players as a function of the received wagers and the outcome;
• and
• remove each corresponding player hand from each corresponding player deck to form a modified player deck and shuffle each modified player deck for use in a subsequent round of the game.