Blackjack is a highly popular and widely played game, both in casinos and online. Spanish 21 is a card game that is similar in play to Blackjack except that certain cards, such as the tens, are removed from the deck. The removal of these cards allows for desirable rules to be utilized including payouts that are different than Blackjack payouts. Spanish 21 is a patented game and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,888, which is owned by the assignee of this invention.
Blackjack and Spanish 21 are table games in which cards are dealt to the players and the dealer. Each player's goal is to beat the dealer. The dealer deals an initial two cards to each player in order from the dealer's left to the dealer's right. Each player has an opportunity or turn to make decisions regarding his hand. The player to the leftmost of the dealer, from the dealer's perspective, is the first player to make decisions about his hand. After that player has made all his decisions related to any additional card(s) he receives, then the other players, in turn, make their card decisions, in the same left-to-right order that was used when the initial two cards were dealt. Like the leftmost player, each such player makes all her/his decisions related to any additional card(s) being received by that player before any next player is able to express his or her decision(s) about receiving any additional card(s). After all table players are finished with their hands, the dealer makes decisions about his hand using set rules.
Such a method of play, which is common to both Blackjack and Spanish 21, can contribute to slow play of these games since the next-in-turn players are waiting to express their decisions about their hands while one player, higher in the order of dealt cards, is taking his turn related to receiving any additional card(s). In addition, relatively slow play occurs since each player that has already completed play must wait for any other player who has not completed play before the next round of the game can start. The known method for handling Blackjack and Spanish 21 card decisions has worked well in non-computerized environments. However, with the advance of computerized gaming table implementations, the present invention is able to increase the speed of play for these two table games, as well as any other game based on, derived from or sufficiently related to Blackjack.