Pineapple
Pineapple is an exciting variation of Texas
Hold'Em. You will most often see it called Pineapple,
or Crazy Pineapple. It can be played normally (high
hand winner), or hi/low (high
hand
winner
and low
hand
winner). This
page will describe basic Pineapple rules. In a hi/low
version everything remains the same, just remember there
can be a low winner as well.
The main difference between Hold'Em and Pineapple
is that players are dealt three down cards instead of two. After
the flop, players must discard one of their down cards. After
discarding, play is identical to normal Texas Hold'Em.
We
will cover the following topics on this page.
 Basic
Game Play
Betting
Structures
All-In
Situations
Dealer
Rotation and Position
Blinds
BASIC GAME PLAY
This will tell you the very basics of game
play. Following these basics, we will briefly discuss
some other elementary topics of value.
Pineapple is played
with 2 to 10 people at a table, and with a standard
deck
of
cards
(no
Joker
and
no
Wild cards).
 Play
begins by "posting blinds". Blinds are
forced bets made by the first two players to the dealers
left. The first player puts out the SMALL blind,
and the second player puts out the BIG blind. We
will discuss blinds further in the following sections,
including amounts, rotation, and how they are determined.
Cards
are dealt in order, starting with the first person to the
left of the big blind. Each
player receives 3 cards, face down, followed by the first betting
round.
The
dealer then places 3 cards, face up, in the middle of the
table. These
3 cards are called the "flop", and can be used by the whole
table. After the flop, the second betting round takes
place.
After
the flop, players must choose 1 card from their 3 down
cards to discard.
A
fourth shared card is then placed face up on the table
(this is called the "turn"), followed by
the
third betting round.
The
fifth shared card is placed face up on the table (this
is the last card dealt, and is called the "river" card),
followed by the fouth betting round.
After the fourth betting round is complete, all remaining
players show their cards, and a winner is declared.
A note on how cards are used. A poker
hand is generally made up of 5 cards. In Pineapple,
you get 7 cards total (your 2 personal down cards, and
the
5 community cards.) Out of these 7, you pick the best
5
that will make your hand. You may use any combination
of your down cards and the community cards. You
may use both, one, or none of your down cards if you
wish.
Sometimes the best possible hand is on the board!
We have now covered the basic construct of
the game! When playing Pineapple, you will always
use this basic structure. We will now dig in to
some other elementary topics necessary to fully understand
the
game.
BETTING STRUCTURES
There are three basic "ways" you
can play Pineapple, which really only refer to the betting
structures. The
three types of games you will find are:
 Limit
No
Limit
Pot
Limit
LIMIT
Limit
is the most common in general table games. In this
structure, you join a game with set betting increments.
Limit
games are shown typically as two amounts, one low and one
high. For
example you may see 1$/2$, 5$/10$, and so forth. The
reason for the two different amounts is simple.
The smaller of the
two amounts represents the betting increment that
a bet or raise must be during the first and
second
betting
rounds.
The larger of the
two amounts represents the betting increment that
a bet or raise must be during the third and fourth
betting
rounds.
By increment, what is meant that IF you choose
to bet or raise, it must be done in that amount. If
no bet has been made yet, you are certainly free not to
bet at all (this is called "checking"). There
are generally a maximum of three raises permitted in each
betting round.
For example, take a typical 1$/2$ home game. In
the first and second betting rounds, betting must be done
in 1$ increments. In the third and fourth betting
rounds, betting must be done in 2$ increments.
NO LIMIT
No Limit Hold'Em is common in tournament
play, but is also found in regular "money" games.
When joining a No Limit game, or playing a
round of a tournament, you will only need to know the amount
of the blinds. The big blind represents the minimum
betting increment in all rounds.
At any time in any betting round, a player
may bet any additional amount, up to all the money they
have in front of them.
A note on raises in No Limit. When a player
makes a raise greater than the amount of the blinds, that
raise amount becomes theminimum betting increment for that
round, unless someone makes an even greater raise in later
play. This is often misunderstood, so here is a quick
example.
In a No Limit game with 50 cent and 1$ blinds,
a player raises 3$, for a total bet of 4$ (1$ minimum +
3$ raise). the new betting increment is now 3$. this
means that I cannot make an additional raise of any amount
less than 3$ for the remainder of the round.
POT LIMIT
Pot Limit is very similar to No Limit, with one
fundamental difference. Instead of being able to
wager any amount, players are limited to the amount that
is currently in the pot. For example, if there is
5$ in the pot, the maximum a player may bet is 5$.
ALL-IN
SITUATIONS
It
is important to describe what happens when a player does
not have enough money to cover a bet
that has been made.
First of all, a player is not
obligated to fold because they do not have sufficient funds. If
a bet has been made, and the player wishes to remain in
the hand, they simply put what they have into the pot. What happens next is a division of the pot,
based on the amounts that have been bet. The pot
is divided into a main pot and a "side" pot.
The "main"
amount includes the amount of money already in the pot,
the amount of money that the "all-in" player has bet,
and an equal amount of money from all remaining players. Any
money that is left over is the "side" pot. Consider
this example.
In a No Limit game, player A and B each have
100$ in front of them. Player C only has 20$.
During a hand, all three have wagered 4$ so far, giving
a pot of 12$. Player A then bets 50$. Player B calls
the bet, and player C wants to remain in so he puts in his
last 16$. The main pot would be the original 12$, and 16$
from all players, for a total of 60$. This is what
player C is eligible to win if he/she wins the pot.
The remaining 35$ from player A and B go into the side pot.
Player C has no stake in the side pot, only A and B are
eligible. Any additional money wagered by players
A and B will go directly to the side pot.
The same principle applies in limit games.
DEALER
ROTATION AND POSITION
The dealers position is important in Pineapple,
as it determines who gets cards first, who posts the
blinds, and the betting sequence. In order to be
fair, the dealer position needs to rotate around the
table, making everyone responsible for the same "blind"
money, and giving equal opportunity to have favorable
table positions.
In home games, the deck of cards generally gets passed
around to each player in turn. This makes it
easy to determine who the dealer is, and provides an
easy
way to keep things equitable.
In casinos and cardrooms, the dealer is a fixed non-player
for the duration of the game. The rotation happens
via the use of a "button" (usually a small plastic chip). Each
hand, the button advances to the next player. The
position of the button indicates where the dealer "is",
and thus play progresses from that point.
BLINDS
As mentioned in the basics, two blind bets are made
by the first two people to the dealers left, before cards
are dealt. It is sometimes difficult to explain
blinds, but by reading the above sections on dealer rotation
and betting structures, you should have no problem at
all understanding it.
The amount of the blinds are determined by the stakes
being played.
The BIG blind is usually equal to the 1st round betting
increment. The SMALL blind is usually one-half
of the big blind.
For example, use our earlier 1$/2$ home game. Since
we know that the 1st round betting increment is 1$, we can
deduce that the BIG blind will be 1$, and the small blind
should be 50 cents. It's that simple!
Having read this section, you will be well armed to go
play some Pineapple! though we did not discuss
strategy, these basics will enable you to feel comfortable
with the basic game play.
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