What is Pineapple Poker?
Have you ever heard of Pineapple Poker? This is a very popular poker variant (not least because it's a very dynamic style of poker) with slightly eccentric variations. Pineapple Poker will very rarely be played in casinos or poker rooms. This is more of a variation that you will see in private poker games or at friends' homes. Pineapple Poker was first officially introduced in a European Poker Tour tournament, but was removed from the schedule shortly afterwards. This variant has never been played in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament before. Some online poker rooms offer Pinneapple poker tables, but only with play money
The Rules of Pineapple Poker
The Pineapple is largely inspired by Texas Hold'em which you probably know very well
To simply summarize the variation, you should know that in Pineapple you will receive 3 pre-flop cards and not 2 as in Hold'em. After receiving his three cards, each player will analyze them and discard one (he will only keep two). Note that when you throw your card away, you are not obliged to show it to other players
From the moment all players have discarded their discarded cards, the rest of the game will be exactly and in every way identical to a game of Texas Hold'em
The different variants of the Pineapple
The Crazy Pineapple Poker
This is a popular variation of the Pineapple; the Crazy Pineapple. Crazy Pineapple is played in a very similar way to Pineapple, with the difference that the third card that each player throws pre-flop in the original version must be thrown after the flop, just before the turn. As for the other rules, everything will be played exactly like a game of Texas Hold'em
The Lazy Pineapple Poker
This variant is also called the Tahoe Pineapple or, if you prefer, the Zen version of the Pineapple. Why Zen? Because in this variant, you won't have to hurry to throw away your third card as you can keep it all the way to the river. You will have to throw your third card just before the slaughter. This variant could also be called Three-card Hold'em, since apart from the fact that each player will receive three starting cards, everything is identical to a game of Texas Hold'em
The Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple
The Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple is a beloved variant of the high-stakes poker players who travel the world to play in the biggest tournaments possible. In their downtime, Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, to name but a few, were known for their numerous Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple games. This is a variation of Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC). The Pineapple version is faster than the original OFC version. In the original version of the OFC, the maximum number of players is 4, whereas in the Pineapple variation, the maximum number of players is set at 3 (for logistical reasons in particular)
In a game of Open Face Chinese Poker Pineapple, each player will receive 5 cards that they will categorize into 3 rows; 3 cards in the front, 5 cards in the middle, and 5 cards in the back hand
Then each player will receive 3 cards per turn and must keep only 2. Players must have a total of 13 cards; the starting 5 plus the next 8 (2 cards per round over 4 rounds). In total, Pineapple Poker will have 5 rounds. Since in each round following the starting distribution (during which each player receives 5 cards), players receive 3 cards and not 2 as in the OFC, there can only be 3 players per game in this variant (a deck of cards only counts 52 cards). In each round, each player receives 3 cards and keeps 2
At the end of the distribution, the back hand should be stronger than or equal to the middle hand and the middle hand should be stronger than or equal to the front hand. The strength of the hands is dictated by the classic poker hand chart in Hold'em. Since the "front hand" will only have 3 cards, the best possible combination will be a three of an ace
Some strategic advice for the Pineapple
If you're looking for documentation to improve your game in Pineapple Poker, you'll probably not find much. So here are some basic tips before you embark on this variant
Since each player will receive 3 pre-flop cards, it is obvious that the winning hands will be stronger than the hands usually seen in Hold'em. The Pineapple could be seen as a hybrid of Hold'em (2 cards in hand) and Omaha (4 cards in hand). So make sure you have a stronger hand than in Hold'em to venture into a big pool
Receiving 3 preflop cards will also ensure that your opponents will have a preflop pair at a higher frequency and they will also have a set (three of a kind to the flop) at a higher frequency
So, what we have to remember is that you have to be a little more careful and conservative at Pineapple than you are at Hold'em
The starting hands
Depending on which variant of Pineapple you are taking part in, your selection will be different. In a regular Pineapple game, if you receive a hand like A-A-2, it is obvious that you will throw your 2. In a Lazy Pineapple bet, your choice will be different on the river if the board is K-5-2-4. At Lazy Pineapple, the choice of which cards to keep will be self-evident
You should also be aware that in a Lazy Pineapple game, the frequency at which a player will have a three of a kind on a board like the one above, will be much higher than in a regular Pineapple game in which people will often have thrown their 2 preflops