Pineapple is Texas Hold'em with one extra hole card. Each player is dealt
three cards instead of two, and in most versions throws one away during the
hand, ending up with an ordinary two-card Hold'em hand. The versions differ
in one thing: when the extra card goes, if it goes at all. Sources don't
always agree on the timing, so a home game should settle which version it is
playing before the first hand.
Everything not covered here is as in Texas Hold'em (Texas Hold'em): the blinds, the
order of betting, the flop, turn and river, and the showdown.
21.2 Each player is dealt three hole cards, face down
The deal is Hold'em's (20.2) with one more round: each player gets three
cards face down. The board is dealt the same way, three on the flop and one
each on the turn and river (20.3).
21.3 Blinds, betting order and structures are Hold'em's
Pineapple uses two blinds, the player left of the big blind acts first
before the flop, and the first player still in left of the button acts first
after it, exactly as in Hold'em (20.4 to 20.7). It is played fixed-limit,
pot-limit or no-limit. The Deuces Wild card room in California, for example,
spreads Crazy Pineapple at fixed limit with a bet and three raises, or at
no-limit and pot-limit.
21.4 Pineapple: the discard comes before the flop, and sources differ on exactly when
In plain Pineapple you throw one card away before the flop is dealt. Sources
split on whether that is before or after the first betting round:
(a) Before any betting. pagat.com and Poker Skill have each player discard
before the pre-flop betting starts, so the betting is on two cards.
(b) After the pre-flop betting. PokerNews describes a betting round first,
then the discard, then the flop, so you bet with three cards and choose
which two to keep once you've seen the action.
Holding A-A-K, under (a) you choose your two cards before anyone has bet;
under (b) you bet with all three and choose after seeing who called and who
raised. Agree which one you're playing.
21.5 Crazy Pineapple: you keep all three cards until the flop
In Crazy Pineapple you hold three cards through the pre-flop betting and see
the flop with them. Most sources then have the flop betting played with
three cards and the discard made after it, before the turn: pagat.com,
DeucesCracked and Poker Skill all describe it that way, and the Deuces Wild
card room's filed rules put the discard "after the flop and before 4th
street". Poker Skill notes that some rule sets instead discard as soon as the
flop is dealt, so the flop betting is on two cards.
Example: you hold Q-J-4 and the flop is Q-4-9. Under the usual rule you bet
the flop holding two pair; under the early-discard rule you must first choose
between Q-J (top pair) and Q-4 (two pair) before anyone bets.
21.6 Lazy Pineapple (Tahoe): nobody discards before showdown
In Lazy Pineapple, which pagat.com calls Tahoe, you keep all three cards for
the whole hand and bet every round with them. The catch is at showdown: only
two of the three may play (21.8). DeucesCracked describes the same game as a
discard made after the river betting, just before showdown; the result is
the same, since the third card can't play either way.
21.7 After the discard, the hand is read as Hold'em
Once you are down to two cards, Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple hands are made
exactly as in Hold'em: the best five from your two cards and the board,
using two, one or none of your own (20.10). The discarded card is out of
the hand for good and can't be used.
21.8 Lazy Pineapple: at most two of your three cards play
With three hole cards and no discard, your hand may use two, one or none of
them with the board, but never all three. So three hearts in your hand and
two on the board is not a flush: you can use only two of yours, which with
the board's two makes four hearts. Three of a rank in your hand is a pair,
not three of a kind, unless the board helps.
The showdown order, the need to show your cards to win (20.13), splitting a
tied pot and the odd chip are the same as in Hold'em; see Showdown and Pots. The
discards are not part of anyone's hand and are not shown. A Pineapple or
Crazy Pineapple player shows two cards; a Lazy Pineapple player shows all
three.
21.10 A player who doesn't discard has a fouled hand
Card-room rules treat the discard as compulsory. The Deuces Wild card room's
filed Crazy Pineapple rules say a player who fails to discard has a fouled
(dead) hand. We found no published rule that lets a player keep playing with
three cards in Pineapple or Crazy Pineapple.
The discard isn't a bet, so being all-in doesn't excuse you from it. Deuces
Wild's rules require every active player to discard, and Poker Skill says
everyone still in the hand must. Example: in Crazy Pineapple a player goes
all-in before the flop and is called. The flop is dealt, both players throw
a card, and only then are the turn and river dealt. Nobody reaches showdown
holding three cards.
21.12 Hi-lo versions split the pot with an eight-or-better low
Crazy Pineapple is often played high-low: the best high hand and the best low
hand of five different cards eight or lower share the pot, and the high hand
takes it all if no low qualifies. The Deuces Wild card room's Crazy Pineapple
is a hi-lo game. In Tahoe hi-lo each half may use at most two hole cards, and
the two may be different cards for the high and the low. How the low is read
is Hand rankings, and how the pot splits is Pots and Omaha Hi-Lo and Big O.
A close relative, Irish, deals four hole cards. You keep all four through the
flop betting, then throw two away before the turn and play on as Hold'em.
pagat.com lists it alongside the Pineapple games. It has its own chapter, Irish.
A bomb pot (Home-game customs) skips the pre-flop betting: everyone
antes and the flop comes straight away. Plain Pineapple's discard, which
belongs to the pre-flop round, then has no natural place, so a home game that
deals Pineapple bomb pots should say whether players discard before the flop
is turned or with the flop. Crazy Pineapple and Lazy Pineapple work as usual,
since their discards (or lack of one) come later. This is a matter of house
rules; we found no published rule for it.