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Pineapple is a variant of community card poker which differs only slightly from Texas Hold’em and is therefore well-suited to casino play. It’s particularly popular in South America and Australia but you should be able to find a game outside these regions if you want to give it a go. Community card poker is a style of play in which the dealer places a pre-determined number of cards face-up on the table to be shared by all players.
The aim of Pineapple is to create the strongest five card hand according to standard high poker rankings.
Pineapple is generally played with blinds so the two players to the left of the dealer will place the small and big blinds respectively.
Pineapple Rules
After the blinds have been placed the dealer distributes three cards to each player and in the standard variant of this game discards one before the flop.
There now follows a betting round in which players may do the following:
- Fold – discard the card
- Check – opt not to bet but remain in the hand
- Call – match the biggest bet placed so far
- Raise – increase the bet
The community cards are now laid by the dealer:
- Flop – three cards
- Turn – one card
- River – one card
Between each one there is another round of betting and if there are at least two players left in the game at this point the showdown takes place and hands are compared.
Hands can comprise any five of the two hole cards and five community cards.
Variants
- Crazy Pineapple – here players discard their unwanted card after the flop.
- Tahoe (Lazy Pineapple) – players discard their unwanted card after the final betting round.
- Super Hold’em – players retain all three hole cards and can use them all to create a hand.