My idea for a video poker game is to add a skill element for choosing a single draw card when you have a dealt hand with four cards to a royal flush.

Modern video poker games have a "continuous shuffle" system for dealing cards. With the continuous shuffle the exact moment you press the deal or draw button will determine which card/cards you are given by the continuous shuffle. But since we can't possibly "time" when to push the button, or see what cards would be dealt, it makes no difference when we push it.

My wife has a ritual where if she is drawing one card she will press and depress the hold button for that position several times over. I have seen other players move their hands over the screen as if sending a message to the machine. I have closed my eyes and prayed. And as I have frequently said -- people pray in churches and synagogues and casinos -- but when they pray in casinos they really mean it.

Wouldn't it be interesting if we could actually view the cards in the continuous shuffle device when it was a one-card draw for the royal so that when we had one card to draw the machine could offer a "skill element" to the game? To make this "skill element" realistic, the speed of the cards would have to be at some level where the cards could actually be viewed -- and not just a blur. I wonder if that kind of "skill option" would make the game more popular? And in case a game maker or game designer is reading this, it would only be for one card draws to the royal and a special picture-in-picture of the virtual shuffling would appear on the display screen.

And-- you saw the idea here. So if you want it, please cut me in on the deal.

thanks, Alan