How to play Pineapple/Crazy Pineapple

In most respects, pineapple has exactly the same format as Texas hold’em. It’s a communal card game with four betting rounds, one preflop, one on the three-card flop, one on the turn, and a final one on the river. The difference from hold’em is that each player is initially dealt three hole cards instead of two. In pineapple, one card is discarded before the flop, and in crazy pineapple, one card is discarded after the flop. It is then played exactly like hold’em (any combination of cards from your hand and the flop can be used to make your best five-card poker hand). It can be played high or hi-lo, in which case the usual low rules apply.

Crazy pineapple (also known as ‘Irish’) is the more common variant, but this is still quite a niche game, which is rare (but not impossible) to find online. It sounds like an easy game to pick up when used to playing hold’em, and it is. However, you’d be surprised how much difference receiving that extra hole card makes to the game as a whole, and the relative strength of your hand.

When playing dealer’s choice, and somebody suddenly decides to pick crazy pineapple, you can often sit back and watch the players go bananas betting every kind of pocket pair or draw under the sun, tearing their hair out over tough on-the-flop-discard decisions and wailing when that nut draw they decided they could do without pops up on the river. Play it for a while and you won’t wonder about the name. Don’t be fooled by the endless possibilities presented by 50% extra hole cards – this is a game which requires more patience and controlled hand selection than hold’em.

Crazy Pineapple Starting Hand Tips

Tips for choosing Omaha starting hands start to become relevant as the number of hole cards you receive increases (although there is no restriction on the number of hole cards used with the board to form a hand). Generally speaking, if you notice an upturn in the possibilities your hand presents and the likelihood of your best hand ending up better on average than you’re used to in hold’em, then so will everyone else. Top pair on its own, for example, is less likely to be ahead on the flop, and pretty unlikely to be winning by the river. The option to use just one hole card with the board means that that one-card draws are possible; all in all the winning hand will tend to be stronger than in either Omaha or hold’em.

The third card is not an irrelevant appendage; Ah Ac 9d is considerably worse than Ah Ac Kc for obvious reasons. You have three combinations of two cards, and if they all work together in some way, so much the better. There is even more reason here not to get too attached to the big pairs, as when a flop of, for example, 6h 7h 8c is seen by five players, each holding three cards, you’ve got to worry that AA in the hole is not really going anywhere.

The most interesting decisions involve hitting both a made hand and a fabulous draw on the flop. Holding Ad 7d 7h on a board of 7c 2d 10d presents an obvious dilemma – discard the made hand (second best possible hand at this juncture – trip 7s) and keep the nut flush draw, or get rid of the draw and keep the set. Even more problematic are potential straight flush draws vs made hands – the number of people in the pot and previous betting all influence these decisions. The discard is usually made after the round of betting on the flop. It’s a good idea to pay attention to other players’ betting before letting go of your card (unless you have an obviously useless third card) as it might hint, for example, that your pretty good made hand is actually a dog and the draw remains your best shot at winning the pot.

Note on Crazy Pineapple 8-or-better

This game, even more than the high-only variety seems to encourage loose pre-flop play, but choosing starting hands with scooping potential is really the best way to play for profit, especially against slightly better opponents. AA2 suited is what you want to see, but failing that, three low cards with a suit and an Ace, or AK2, or any high hand which can end up scooping if no low hand qualifies. Raising on the low only in a multiway pot is potentially costly, as on a board of 2 3 4 J 5 anyone with an Ace is getting a share of the nut low (the wheel: A 2 3 4 5).

Other Variations

There are also extra-crazy pineapple games floating about for those who aren’t satisfied with just three cards. Players can be dealt four hole cards and then discard one preflop and one on the flop, playing the hand as hold’em after that. Or perhaps discard one on the flop, one on the turn. Leave players at a homegame enough room and they will come up with all sorts of hybrid games. Between hold’em and Omaha lies a big grey area where new poker variants are experimented with for fun, although you won’t find these games online or in many cardrooms.