Poker Tournament Management System

Abstract

A Poker Tournament Management System (TMS) is disclosed for providing an audiovisual presentation to tournament administrators and participants, wherein a plurality of tournament parameters are displayed and incremented according to a predetermined or user-defined schedule. Various chapters of the presentation that correspond to a level of play are preferably of the same length and each chapter may include an audio and / or visual alert to signal the beginning / end of each chapter, as appropriate. Thus, tournament players and administrators may be apprised of a change in tournament level without constantly scanning the display. The TMS may be authored by sequentially recording portable network graphics or the like to a computer-readable medium such that the medium controls the display of tournament time, and not a clock of a computer system or the like.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 659,661 entitled “POKER TOURNAMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM” filed on Mar. 8, 2005 in the name of John M. Packes, Jr. and Anthony Packes, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE[0002]This disclosure relates generally to data processing, and in particular, relates in various embodiments to contest management.BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE[0003]Games and varieties of poker have been taking place around the world for centuries. In the 1970s, a casino entrepreneur named Benny Binion created a structure and rule set for poker tournaments. The rule set included a consistent amount of chips that each player started with, and a progressive increase of required minimum bets or wagers (including, for example, “antes,”“small blinds,” and big blinds”) by players, over a period of time for which the tourna...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]In using a ubiquitous medium such as DVD, the disclosed TMS alleviates virtually all issues with current computer-based tournament management systems, including the prohibitive cost of current computer-based tournament management systems, specialized hardware installation requirements, computer configuration / maintenance / management and software installation, software interface learning curve, computer instabilities and vulnerabilities to user error or malicious programming, reliance on a computer's internal clock for tournament timing purposes, and the like.

[0014]In sum, the disclosed TMS provides an affordable and extremely reliable poker tournament management system to players, clubs, card rooms and even casinos of all sizes. With the disclosed TMS, tournament administrators do not need to purchase or install any new hardware or software, exponentially decreasing the cost to host a poker tournament.

Problems solved by technology

The systems are typically very expensive, and require specialized hardware and software, as well as installation.

Further current systems are vulnerable to failure as they typically are run on computers, typically running an operating system which itself is prone to failure.

If the computer's clock is not correct or is inconsistent (e.g. background processes are running and taking up computer resources), the tournament integrity may be compromised.

Also worth noting is that tournament data including length, structure, and other parameters are typically propagated by one or more tournament administrators before a tournament, another area where the tournament is prone to failure as incorrect starting parameters may result in the system failing, and interfaces are typically not user-friendly.

Also the tournament configuration may not be completed before the scheduled start of the tournament, delaying the tournament and making participants angry.

Smaller card rooms, as well as home and club tournaments, are not equipped with extravagant poker tournament management systems for a number of reasons, including prohibitive cost of the systems, lack of computer(s) on which to run the system, lack of monitors able to receive computer output on which to display the tournament information, installation costs / restrictions, limited space considerations, unwillingness for administrators to learn new software, or other reasons.

This makes tournaments exponentially more difficult for smaller entities to manage and administer, and less pleasurable for the participants to play.

Participants do not enjoy as robust a tournament experience as they are unable to reliably track tournament status information, which can be disadvantageous to their performance in the tournament.

In conclusion, small poker rooms, and individuals hosting poker tournaments generally do not have the resources to have a practical tournament management system, making tournaments more difficult to host and less enjoyable for the players.

Images