The Crazy Excitement of Crazy Pineapple Poker
Crazy Pineapple poker is a variant of Texas Hold'em poker. All of the rules of Crazy Pineapple poker are the same as in Texas Hold'em, except for these two:
(1) All players are dealt three hole cards instead of two.
(2) During the Flop, all active players choose one card and fold it, thus leaving each one with two hole cards.
The usual betting rules in Texas Hold'em apply for Crazy Pineapple poker. Players can fold, bet, check, or raise, as they deem necessary.
Because of the three hole cards instead of two, complete hands in Crazy Pineapple poker are often better than those in regular Texas Hold'em. For instance, if you are dealt a hand such as 9™¦-9™-8™ in Crazy Pineapple poker, you have a pocket pair (9™¦-9™) and a suited connector (9™-8™). This hand is ultra-versatile for many types of flops. A flop of Q™¦-9™ -3™ will give you a Set of Nines; you discard the 8™ immediately. A flop of 7™-6™¦-A™ will give you a Straight draw and a Flush draw, in which you will promptly discard the 9™¦. This makes hands like 10-9-8 (two of which are preferably suited), Q-J-J and A-A-x (the A-x is suited) very powerful.
In Crazy Pineapple poker you may be seeing the nuts most of the time. That makes it important to detect hands which are strong but which aren't the nuts. For example, you have 8-6-4 in a Flop of 7-9-3. You discard the 4 to give yourself an open-ended Straight draw. Now, if a 10 comes off, you have a Straight made, but you will be in danger if someone plays too aggressively. On a board of 7-9-3-10 (no Flush draw), you may be facing a J-8, probably from someone who played J-8-Q or A-J-8 or something similar. That is not to say that you shouldn't play your strong hands. Just be extra careful with someone who shows plenty of strength. If you have the nuts, induce opponents who have strong hands but not the nuts to place their chips in front of you and break them.
Depending on your starting hand, you should decide whether you should raise preflop or not. With starting hands like 8-7-6 or A™-J™-9™ , you should probably just call and make players enter the pot. With the 8-7-6 hand, you have plenty of implied odds, so it is best to make plenty of players enter. With A™-J™-9™ , you have Straight possibilities (J™-9™ or A™-J™) and the nut Flush possibility (A™-J™) which you want to make plenty of money with. With A-A-K or like hands, however, you should often raise preflop, because A-A is vulnerable to drawing hands that can develop into Straights or Flushes (or even just a Two Pair) and crack your Aces unless you improve.
Crazy Pineapple poker also provides plenty of opportunities to make fancy decisions. Suppose you are dealt A™-Q™-10s and the Flop comes J™-9™¦-8™. In that case, you have a made Straight, but you have the nut Flush draw. Which one will you take? Suppose you are dealt 9™¦-9™ -8™¦ and the Flop comes 9™-7™¦-6™¦. Will you take the made Set or the open-ended Straight Flush draw? Crazy Pineapple poker is still mostly a casual variant of poker, but surely it gives us plenty of opportunities for craziness.
(1) All players are dealt three hole cards instead of two.
(2) During the Flop, all active players choose one card and fold it, thus leaving each one with two hole cards.
The usual betting rules in Texas Hold'em apply for Crazy Pineapple poker. Players can fold, bet, check, or raise, as they deem necessary.
Because of the three hole cards instead of two, complete hands in Crazy Pineapple poker are often better than those in regular Texas Hold'em. For instance, if you are dealt a hand such as 9™¦-9™-8™ in Crazy Pineapple poker, you have a pocket pair (9™¦-9™) and a suited connector (9™-8™). This hand is ultra-versatile for many types of flops. A flop of Q™¦-9™ -3™ will give you a Set of Nines; you discard the 8™ immediately. A flop of 7™-6™¦-A™ will give you a Straight draw and a Flush draw, in which you will promptly discard the 9™¦. This makes hands like 10-9-8 (two of which are preferably suited), Q-J-J and A-A-x (the A-x is suited) very powerful.
In Crazy Pineapple poker you may be seeing the nuts most of the time. That makes it important to detect hands which are strong but which aren't the nuts. For example, you have 8-6-4 in a Flop of 7-9-3. You discard the 4 to give yourself an open-ended Straight draw. Now, if a 10 comes off, you have a Straight made, but you will be in danger if someone plays too aggressively. On a board of 7-9-3-10 (no Flush draw), you may be facing a J-8, probably from someone who played J-8-Q or A-J-8 or something similar. That is not to say that you shouldn't play your strong hands. Just be extra careful with someone who shows plenty of strength. If you have the nuts, induce opponents who have strong hands but not the nuts to place their chips in front of you and break them.
Depending on your starting hand, you should decide whether you should raise preflop or not. With starting hands like 8-7-6 or A™-J™-9™ , you should probably just call and make players enter the pot. With the 8-7-6 hand, you have plenty of implied odds, so it is best to make plenty of players enter. With A™-J™-9™ , you have Straight possibilities (J™-9™ or A™-J™) and the nut Flush possibility (A™-J™) which you want to make plenty of money with. With A-A-K or like hands, however, you should often raise preflop, because A-A is vulnerable to drawing hands that can develop into Straights or Flushes (or even just a Two Pair) and crack your Aces unless you improve.
Crazy Pineapple poker also provides plenty of opportunities to make fancy decisions. Suppose you are dealt A™-Q™-10s and the Flop comes J™-9™¦-8™. In that case, you have a made Straight, but you have the nut Flush draw. Which one will you take? Suppose you are dealt 9™¦-9™ -8™¦ and the Flop comes 9™-7™¦-6™¦. Will you take the made Set or the open-ended Straight Flush draw? Crazy Pineapple poker is still mostly a casual variant of poker, but surely it gives us plenty of opportunities for craziness.
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