Strategy & How to Play Picked Pineapple Poker

PLAYING TIPS for PICKED PINEAPPLE POKER

HOW TO PLAY PICKED PINEAPPLE POKER
Picked Pineapple is played like Texas Hold'Em with this twist: Deal 3 cards to each player. Before any betting or other action each player must discard one hole card face down in the middle of the table. (All players must do this. No player may fold before discarding one of their cards.) These cards are shuffled or mixed together. Five of these discarded cards are drawn and used as the flop, turn and river. Play continues utilizing the rules and procedures of Hold 'Em.
May be played high or high-low split.

SUMMARY of ACTION
Deal 3 hole cards to each player.
Each player selects 1 card from their hand and discards it face down.
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
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

As one might expect, Picked Pineapple Poker strategy is very similar to Texas Hold’em strategy since, in both games you will end up with 2 hole cards. There is an enormous amount of information to guide you in playing Texas Hold' Em. That information is also very helpful in playing just about any version of Pineapple. It is well worth your time to learn from those sources so, these playing tips are not going to get into any of that knowledge. We will focus on the differences between Picked Pineapple compared to Hold Em.

THE PICKED PINEAPPLE BOARD CARDS ARE DIFFERENT
In Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple, the flop, turn and river are made of random cards that come from the unseen deck. There is a equal chance that any card may appear. In Picked Pineapple that is not the case. The flop, turn and river cards have been seen and selected (picked) by the players. They are not random. In an 8 handed game there is a 62.5% chance that the card a player discards will come into play. It is 71% for a 7 handed game.

PLAYING TIPS for PICKED PINEAPPLE
These playing tips focus on the two differences of Picked Pineapple compared to Hold Em:

1. Players are dealt 3 hole cards. Those cards yield three 2-card combos to choose from instead of just one. Your chances of receiving a hand that you will want to continue with increase. This also holds true for your opponents.

As a result, expect that more players will be in each hand. In multi-way pots it will take a stronger final hand in order to win.

2. The board cards in Picked Pineapple poker consist of cards that have been seen and selected by the players. The board may be more likely to contain some cards and less likely to contain others depending upon how valuable they seem to players. Predicting what those cards might be is difficult, but it is one of the objectives in playing Picked Pineapple.

The decision as to which card to discard can be just as important as deciding which two cards to keep. Whenever possible, players will discard a card that will help their hand if it comes back into play.

STARTING HAND SELECTION
Starting hands that were disadvantageous to play in Pineapple or Crazy Pineapple - hands with 3 coordinated cards, like trips, 3-suited, 3-connected cards - now become the most desirable Picked Pineapple starting hands. That is because those hands can be improved by the discarded card should it reappear on the board.

Trips as hole cards increase your chances of making a set or 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.

All three hole cards of the same suit (monotone hole cards) improve your chances of making a flush. Your play would be to discard the lowest ranked card and hope it reappears on the board. But, their 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 with T♥ 6♥ 2♥ would be a poor starting hand decision.

Unfortunately, powerful starting hands such as these do not come along often. Many times, you will have an odd card that does not mesh with your other two cards and so provides little or no value to your hand if it reappears.

Thus, for most hands the strategy for selecting a starting hand in Picked Pineapple is essentially the same as is used in Texas Hold’em. An important difference is that, on average, you will be dealt more hands that you will want to continue with. For example, the chances of being dealt a pocket pair are nearly tripled. Likewise, there will be about twice as many 2-suited hole cards as well as more connected cards.
Reasonable Picked Pineapple Poker strategy is to favor starting hands that are paired, suited aces, other suited and/or connected cards or multiple Broadway cards. Your best bet is to play starting hands that can make 3 of a kind or better.

PLAY BEFORE THE FLOP
Assuming you have a good enough hand to at least see the flop, your next consideration is deciding on which of your three cards to discard. The objective is that a player should attempt to discard a card that will help his hand if it re-appears. Sometimes this is very clear on what to do as when your hole cards are something like:
Trips (8♣ 8♦ 8♥) You hope to draw a full house
All suited (A♠ Q♠ 3♠) You discard the 3♠ and hope to draw the nut flush.
All connected (J♣ T♦ 9♠) You discard the 9♠ and hope to draw the nut straight

Often the third card does not connect with the other two at all. That makes for another easy decision, but in that case you will be discarding a card that provides you with no benefit whatsoever if it appears on the board. For example: K♣ Q♣ 6♦.

At other times there may be contradictory pros and cons about what to keep and what to discard.
A♠ A♣ 9 ♣ A pair of aces vs. suited ace
K♣ Q♠ 8♠ Two big connected cards vs non-nut suited cards

PREDICTING OTHER PLAYERS
It is important to consider what cards other players are most likely keep and which they are more likely to discard. They are faced with the same situations and will likely follow the same reasoning as you. This makes predicting what specific cards your opponents may discard difficult. But some general trends might be observed:

Ace: As the highest card an ace will almost always 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.

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 discard unless suited to ace or another high card, 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.

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 sevens - 2 red and 1 black. You discard the black 7 knowing that you have a very good chance of it coming back to give you trips. The flop comes with the 7 of clubs and there you are! But was that the black 7 you discarded? What if you discarded the 7 of spades? Wouldn't you love to know for certain that the 4th seven was still out there? The only way you can know that is to remember exactly what card you discarded, so make sure you do. (If you are dealt 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 7")

SOME HOLE CARD PROBABILITIES
Approximate chances of being dealt these hands with 3 hole cards in Picked Pineapple compared to 2 hole cards in Hold 'Em.

Pocket Pair: 17% for Crazy Pineapple vs. 5.9% for Hold 'Em.
2-suited cards: 55% for Crazy Pineapple vs. 24% for Hold 'Em.

Approximate percent probabilities of being dealt the following as your 3 hole cards.

3 Hole Cards
Straight Flush
3 of a Kind
3 Connected
3 Suited
Pair

Percent Probability
0.22%
0.24%
3.26%
4.96%
16.9%

Odds Probability
454:1
416:1
30:1
19:1
5:1

TIPS FOR PLAYING HIGH-LOW SPLIT
Playing High-Low Split poker typically stimulates participation and pots are almost always multi-way. High-Low Split will result in players keeping more very small 2-card combinations. Additionally, there is far less reason to discard an ace. Players will keep the very lowest ace-combinations. When suited these add a possible nut flush draw and become very desirable starting hands. A2 is the nuts from the start. Players rarely discard aces so A2 is not likely to be counterfeited although someone certainly might throw away a deuce. A3 is one board card away from the nuts and has a shot at winning even without improvement but can be difficult to play. It also has about an equal chance of being ruined by someone discarding a three. Even though 23 is also only one card from the nuts it is considerably less desirable to play. Without improvement it is only the third best starting low and it lacks nut flush potential. Since aces are rarely discarded, 23 or any other low hand that does not include an ace stands less of a chance to make the best low hand.

Approximate probabilities of being dealt the following LOW hands as your 3 hole cards.
In an eight handed game if you were not dealt A2 there is about a 20% chance someone else was.

3 Hole Cards
2AX
3AX or 32X
32A
42A or 43A or 432

Percent Probability
2.4%
4.8%
0.3%
0.9%

Odds Probability
40:1
20:1
332:1
110:1