How to Play Hot Pineapple Poker

PLAYING TIPS for HOT PINEAPPLE POKER

HOW TO PLAY HOT PINEAPPLE POKER
Hot Pineapple is played like Texas Hold'Em with 2 twists: Start by dealing 4 cards down to each player. Before any betting each player must discard one hole card face down in the middle of the table. (This is an absolute requirement. No player may fold before discarding one of their cards.) These cards are shuffled or mixed together. Five of these discarded cards will be drawn and used as the flop, turn and river. After the flop is dealt each player must discard another card leaving them with 2 cards. These discards are mucked, so be careful not to mix them with the first group of discards. Play continues exactly like Hold 'Em. May be played high, high-low split or high-low eight or better.

SUMMARY of ACTION
Deal 4 hole cards to each player.
Each player selects 1 card from their hand and discards it face down. All players now have 3 hole cards.
Gather and mix/shuffle all discarded cards. Use these cards to deal flop, turn and river.
Bet
Deal 3 cards from discards as flop.
Bet
Each active player selects 1 card from their hand and discards (mucks) it. Each now has 2 hole cards.
Deal 1 card from discards as turn.
Bet
Deal 1 card from discards as river.
Bet
High only: Showdown
High-low split: Declare
Bet
Showdown

In Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple, the flop, turn and river consist of random cards that come from the unseen deck. There is a equal chance that any card may appear. Hot Pineapple is different. The flop, turn and river cards that have been seen and selected by the players. More importantly, many of those cards come back into play as the board cards.

PLAYING TIPS FOR HOT PINEAPPLE POKER
Hot Pineapple Poker strategy has some similarities with Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple strategy, but it also has features that make is significantly different.
One difference with Hot Pineapple compared to Crazy Pineapple is that you are dealt 4 hole cards instead of 3. You will be dealt more playable hands like pocket pairs, suited, connected and high ranked hole cards - hands that you and your opponents will want to at least see the flop with. Hot Pineapple will typically require a strong final hand in order to win.

A second difference is that you also have two important decisions to make involving discarding a card from your hand that can significantly influence the game:

The Pre-flop decision involves selecting a card that may come back into play. For that reason, whenever possible players should discard a card that will help their hand if it re-appears on the board.

The Post-flop decision involves selecting a card that will not be in play. It cannot appear on the board or be held by an opponent. Players get to see the flop before they have to decide which card to throw away and so can optimize their hand by keeping the one that best connects with the flop and discarding the card that least connects.

STARTING HAND SELECTION - WHAT TO KEEP
Starting hands like trips, 3-suited, 3-connected cards are the most desirable Hot Pineapple starting hands. That is because those hands will be improved should the discarded card reappear on the board.

Trips as hole cards increase your chances of making a set, full house or even quads. But they are variable in their strength dependent on their rank. Low sets or low full houses are vulnerable and could cost you a lot of money before you find out if they are a winner or merely second best. Quads are typically the nuts regardless of their rank.

Three hole cards of the same suit improve your chances of making a flush. Your play would be to discard the lowest ranked card and hope it (and 2 others) appears on the board. But, flush value, or lack of value, greatly depends on the ranks. With an ace as high card it's great. Suited to a king is OK. Anything less could be problematic. Drawing to something like a ten-high flush T♥ 6♥ 2♥ would be a poor starting hand decision.

Thus, for most hands the strategy for selecting a starting hand in Hot Pineapple is essentially the same as is used in Texas Hold’em. An important difference is that, on average, you will be dealt many more hands that you will want to continue with. For example, the chances of being dealt a pocket pair are 5 times higher in Hot Pineapple compared to Hold 'Em. Likewise, there will be many more suited hole cards as well as more connected cards.

Reasonable Hot Pineapple Poker strategy is to favor starting hands that are paired, suited aces, other suited and/or connected cards or multiple Broadway cards. A pair, especially a low one, may be split to be kept with a suited ace. Your best bet is to play starting hands that can make 3 of a kind or better.
Should you hold a pocket pair of aces realize that they stand less of a chance of becoming trips than other pocket pairs. You should expect that other players will rarely discard an ace, so they will hardly ever make a set.

HIGH HAND PROBABILITIES
Approximate chances of being dealt the following as your 4 hole cards.

4 Card Hand
3 of a Kind
2 Pair
1 Pair
3 Suited Cards

Percent Probability/Odds
0.92% (107:1)
3.04% (32:1)
30.5% (2:1)
17% (5:1)

PRE-FLOP STRATEGY IMPACTS THE BOARD CARDS
Five of the cards discarded pre-flop will re-appear as the flop, turn and river. In an 8 handed game there is a 62.5% chance that the specific card a player discards will come into play. It is 71% for a 7 handed game. Whenever possible you want to discard a card that will help your hand if it re-appears. For example, if you held 3 of a kind, this is the time to discard one of them. Likewise, when holding 3 of the same suit Granted, you often will not have such clear-cut choices, so it is not always easy to do. Commonly, there will be contradictory pros and cons about what to keep and what to discard, but it is still the goal. You may also find yourself in a dilemma when you hold 2 pair or a big pair and 2 suited cards (e.g. KKA2). It can be helpful to practice by dealing yourself hands and contemplating the pros and cons of discarding.

Another "dilemma" you may face in making this pre-flop decision is that you do not have a card to discard that will help you were it to come back into play. When faced with this situation strategy shifts to attempting to discard one that is less likely to help an opponent's hand. This requires that you give consideration to what specific cards your opponents may be more likely to keep. This is difficult, but often follows a trend. Here is a summary of what other players are likely to do with each card. Playing high only is simple: Players are far more likely to keep their highest cards and discard low cards unless paired or suited to an ace or king.

Ace: As the highest card an ace will almost always be kept. May consider discarding only if not paired, not suited, not connected with other high cards (KQJT), they hold another pair. Even in those circumstances discarding an ace will almost certainly help another player if it reappears on the board.

Broadway cards (Ten through King): Will typically be kept if suited, connected (including gapped) or paired. The higher the rank, the more likely it will be kept.

Medium ranked cards (9 through 6): Will often be discarded unless suited to ace or another high card, is paired or suited-connected. The lower the rank, the more likely it will be discarded.

Low ranked cards (5 through 2): Will discard unless suited to ace or another high card, paired or suited connected. The lower the rank, the more likely it will be discarded. These lowest cards become desirable when playing high-low split and that is discussed in a later section.
Since players are more likely to discard similar ranked cards expect to see the board pair more often. As a result, expect more frequent full houses and quads occurring and fewer straights or flushes being winners.

REMEMBER THE CARD YOU DISCARDED
It is important to remember the card you discarded exactly by both rank and suit. Let's say you are dealt a hand that contains trip eights - 2 red and 1 black. You discard the black 8 knowing that you have a very good chance of it coming back to give you trips. The flop comes with the 8 of clubs and there you are! But was the 8 of clubs the black eight you discarded? Or did you discard the 8 of spades? Wouldn't you love to know for certain that the 4th eight was still out there? The only way you can know that is to remember exactly what card you discarded, so make sure you do. With trips 2 of them will always be the same color. Discard one of those rather than the odd colored card. It will be easier for you to remember. e.g., "red 8".

POST-FLOP STRATEGY
Post flop strategy involves selecting a card to throw away that will not be in play. This decision is made easier since you get to see the flop before you have to select that card. At this point in the game, you have three 2-card combinations available. You should keep the combination that best connects with the flop and discard the card that least connects. To be able to wait until after the flop to make this decision encourages more players to see the flop and remain in the hand post-flop.

Having knowledge of a card that cannot come into play may work to your advantage or disadvantage. For example, consider two straight draw situations in which the flop gives you an open-ended draw. In each example to flop will be 9 8 3. If you hold J T 7 you will be forced to discard one of the cards (7) that completes the straight. Instead of 8 outs you only have 7, so, the chance of completing the straight is reduced. On the other hand, if you held J T 5 you preserve the usual 8 outs. In addition, one less bad card in play gives you a very slightly improved chance of making that straight.

PLAYING HOT PINEAPPLE AS HIGH-LOW SPLIT
Playing High-Low Split will result in players wanting to see a flop with the very lowest combinations like A2 and A3. When suited these add a possible nut flush draw and so are very strong starting hands that have the potential of scooping the entire pot.  When playing high-low split, players will naturally prefer to keep the highest and lowest ranked cards in their hand. As a result, medium ranked cards are more likely to be discarded and appear on the board.

The perfect low starting hand is A23X (X = any card 4 to king). Pre-flop you would discard the harmless odd (X) card, leaving you with A23. Now you have "insurance" in case an ace, deuce or trey shows on the board.

A2 is the nuts from the start. You just have to hope it is not counterfeited by the board. With any other low card holdings, not only do you have to dodge being counterfeited by the board, but you also have to hope of catching a card to make the nut low. In an eight handed game if you are not dealt A2 there is a better than even chance someone else was.

A3, the second best low, is only one board card from making the nut low. There is a chance that a deuce may be discarded so it's a starting hand worth playing. It could also win by itself without improvement, though it can be tough to bet it. It also has about an equal chance of being ruined by someone discarding a three.

23 is also only a single card away from making the nut low. It needs to see an ace on the board to do so. But aces are the most valuable card in high-low split so are rarely discarded. Therefore, 23 stands little chance to make the best low hand. It is even worse for any low hands that are 2 cards from the nut low, like 24 or 34. A4 suited is worth playing primarily for the nut flush possibility, although there is some slim additional hope it might make the nut low.

LOW HAND PROBABILITIES
Approximate chances of these cards as your 4 hole cards.

4 Card Hand
A2XX
A3XX or 23XX

A23X
A24X or A34X or 234X

Percent Probability/Odds
7.2% (13:1)
14.4% (6:1)

1.2% (82:1)
3.6% (27:1)