A player makes a wager to participate in the game and the player is dealt two distinct hands at the beginning of the game. Each hand is dealt from its own separate complete deck of cards. The player selects one of the hands to play and the unselected hand is voided or removed from use. The player plays out the selected hand according to the conventional manner of play of the game. The player wins or loses based on a payout schedule applied to preselected winning hand combinations and based on the number of coins wagered by the player. The game can be applied to any variation of draw poker, stud poker or Twenty-One. The game can be played in a live game version or an electronic video gaming machine can be programmed to display the game and provide the payouts to the player.