An overview of the rules and strategy for playing Pineapple Poker games. Download free DH Pineapple Poker 1.0.16 for your Android phone or tablet, file size: 32.22 MB, was updated 2020/05/03 Requirements:android: 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or above. Open Face Chinese Poker for both Apple and Android Devices.
Throw the structure of hold'em and the volatility of Omaha into a blender and you'll end up with a cool, refreshing game of pineapple. With more action, bigger pots and even more thrilling suckouts, this flop game with the silly name might look a lot like your regular limit hold'em game with its button and blinds, but contains two key twists: (1) players receive not two, not four, but threei hole cards and (2) one of them will end up in the muck before the hand is over. Pineapple is not just for home games either. Its spread online at Ultimate Bet with every conceivable limit, and spread live in low and mid-limit mixed games at the Wynn, MGM Grand, and Treasure Island in Las Vegas as well as at a number of the larger Southern California card rooms including the Bicycle Casino and the Commerce Casino. Though pineapple is typically played as a limit game ($3-6, $5-10, etc.), it easily translates to a no-limit or pot-limit structure.
Rules
Pineapple poker has three different variations: pineapple, crazy pineapple, and crazy pineapple hi/lo 8 or better. In 'regular' pineapple each player is dealt three hole cards to start, followed by a pre-flop round of betting. Each player must discard one of their hole cards before the flop is dealt. The flop, turn, and river betting rounds then proceed exactly as in Texas hold'em. In the more popular 'crazy' pineapple variant, players wait until after the flop betting round is complete to discard one of their hole cards, creating a dramatic strategic adjustment. At this juncture, players usually face a decision whether or not to keep a made (but vulnerable) hand or to draw to an even stronger hand like a straight or a flush. Crazy pineapple is often, but not always played hi-lo split, where the best high hand and the best 8 or better low hand are each awarded half the pot. Any combination of a player's hole cards and the board can be used to make their best five-card hand.
Basic Strategy/ Starting Hands
Pineapple is definitely an 'action game' and pots are almost always contested multi-way. As the three hole cards create many more hand possibilities, even conservative players will tend to see a lot more flops. Like in Omaha, hand values increase significantly. While one or two pair is usually enough to take down a hold'em pot, one needs a much stronger hand to survive the showdown in pineapple—typically the nut straight or flush. Someone will almost always flop a flush draw in a multi-way pineapple pot, and the odds to chase it are usually there. Hands like top pair top kicker, or a pair slightly smaller than top pair (J-J-X on a K-8-9 flop) are therefore much more vulnerable than they would be in hold'em.
A quality starting hand in pineapple contains a big pair as well as a big suited draw. Ah-Ad-Qd, Jd-Jh-Kh, and Tc-Th-Jc are all excellent hole card combinations as they give players flush and straight possibilities to go along with the pair. Three suited connectors with a two-flush such as Jd-Qd-Kh are also valuable as well as suited aces with straight possibilities such as Ac-Jc-Td. Small pairs can be playable if they come with other draws (6c-6d-Ac), but do not fare well on their own (4s-4h-Qd). Big offsuit aces, like A-K, A-Q and A-J might be premium hands in hold'em, but they are marginal at best in pineapple without another draw for backup. Three cards from the same suit can also be a trouble hand, as one of your all-important flush outs is already gone.
A player's biggest decision in crazy pineapple happens after the flop, when one hole card must be tossed away. For example, if I have the Kh-Kc-Qh on a flop of Tc-Jh-6h, I need to decide whether to keep my pair of kings intact and discard the Qh, or go for the possible straight or flush by discarding the Kc. In a heads-up pot, it might feel safer to keep the kings, but facing multi-way action, the combination draw holds much more value.
Sound crazy? It is! But it's also a whole lot of fun and an instant cure for the hold'em doldrums. Start small on Ultimate Bet and get ready for some huge action. Or, the next time you're at your local cardroom, ask the floor if they can spread pineapple or add it to a mixed game. It's sure to add spice to any grinder's day.
If you have played Texas Hold'em before, then you already know how to play Pineapple Poker. However, understanding the format will not mean that you will master the game in one hand, no matter how good you are at Texas Hold'em. While the basic structure is the same, the skills necessary to excel in the game involve a twist. The difference being that in Pineapple Poker, you are dealt three hole cards starting out instead of just two, and you get the opportunity to immediately discard one of these cards during the start of the hand. After that, the game proceeds exactly like regular Texas Hold ‘em.
Learning how to discern which cards to hold and which to discard will take some practice. It won't always be the obvious choice. While this game isn't typically found at many online poker sites, it will probably show up more in the future, as players demand new ways to challenge their poker skill sets and develop their talents at different types of poker games. A poker player who can play a variety of variations is a more well-rounded player than those who only know how to play a few different types of poker.
Pineapple Poker play starts out with players placing their initial bets. The small blind (left of the dealer) and the big blind (left of the small blind) must put their bets in first. Three cards are dealt to each player, face down. At this point, one card is discarded by every player; the discard takes place before the flop, and then the first round of betting takes place. All players who wish to remain in the hand must match the big blind; otherwise, they will have to fold. Small blind can match the large blind or lose the small bet and fold. Alternatively, any player can raise, to which other players must call or fold.
After all betting is final three community cards are dealt face up on the table (the flop). After the flop falls, all players must bet again. Betting options at this point are to check, fold, call, or raise the bet to all players. Then another card is dealt face up to the table (the turn) to make four community cards. Another betting round is carried out, just as the two previous ones. A final community card (the river) is dealt on the table, face up. Final betting takes place, and then ultimately the showdown, in which all remaining players must show their cards. The best five-card poker hand made from one or both of a player's hole cards, along with three or four of the community cards, wins the pot. Should two players have equal hands, they will split the pot.
Another variation of this game is Crazy Pineapple Poker, which can also be played in Hi/Lo format. While Texas Hold ‘em has become the reigning king of poker, Crazy Pineapple Poker is slowly becoming more and more popular because it's actually a refined form of Texas Hold ‘em. Crazy Pineapple allows players more options to play, which makes the game more interesting than Texas Hold ‘em. Once you master Crazy Pineapple, you have mastered all Hold ‘em games.
The difference between Pineapple Poker and Crazy Pineapple lies in the point in the game in which you make your one-card discard. Like the rules described above, players in a game of Crazy Pineapple are dealt three cards, but the discard comes after the flop, not before. So after the hole cards are dealt, the first round of betting precedes the flop, and then, once the flop is dealt, players will discard one card. In regular Pineapple Poker (described above), the discard is made before the flop.
The discard decision becomes a critical point in the game for players, as the decision will govern the future of the hand. Analyzing your hand to determine its chances in relation to the flop is sometimes an easy decision, but other times it proves very hard. This is what makes the game completely different from Texas Hold ‘em. It changes the mindset of the game totally, which is what makes playing new variations of poker so fun and challenging.
Pineapple Poker Points Game
Yet another similar variation of Hold'em Poker is Tahoe Poker, which has not caught on yet, but is carried out in the same fashion as Pineapple Poker and Crazy Pineapple Poker with the same starting three-card hand, but in this variation, no cards are discarded at anytime throughout the game. This game is a bit easier than the others, so it might be a good starting point to learn how three cards can win a hold ‘em hand. Once you've developed an understanding of this, you can then move on to Pineapple and then Crazy Pineapple in order to gradually develop your strategy for playing other variations of Hold ‘em Poker.
