Introduction
The purpose of this page will be to show how to play the initial hand decision in the poker game Pineapple. For those who don’t know, Pineapple is played like Texas Hold ‘Em, except the player is dealt three hole cards and must discard one after an initial round of betting and before the flop. This is not to be confused with Crazy Pineapple, where the discard decision is made just before the Turn, or Lazy Pineapple, where the player holds onto all three throughout the game.
This page only endeavors to cover the decision on which card to discard and the power of each starting hand. Through the page you will find expected value statistics. This is how much the player can expect to get back based on a one unit ante. For example, an expected return of 1.000 would be breaking even.
A term you will see a lot on this page is “penalty,” which I get from video poker. It means discarding a card which could be potentially helpful. To be specific, a rank penalty is the card you discard after being dealt a three of a kind. This is a heartbreaking hand to get in Pineapple, because you must throw one of the cards away. Not only does this lower the value of your hand, but there is one less card in the deck to improve your pair. Suit penalties are much more common. If your discard is suited to one of the cards you’re keeping, it lowers the chances of making a flush. The ideal situation is no penalty of either kind.
Assumptions
This page assumes a six-player game where nobody ever folds or raises. Each player antes one unit and the best hand at the end wins.
Three of a Kind
The strategy for being dealt a three of a kind is simple — hold any two cards.
The following table shows the expected return of holding any two cards when dealt a three of a kind.
Dealt Three of Kind
| Rank | Expected Return |
|---|---|
| A | 2.425 |
| K | 1.925 |
| Q | 1.563 |
| J | 1.297 |
| 10 | 1.084 |
| 9 | 0.899 |
| 8 | 0.777 |
| 7 | 0.687 |
| 6 | 0.624 |
| 5 | 0.571 |
| 4 | 0.521 |
| 3 | 0.483 |
| 2 | 0.448 |
Pair without Suit Penalty
The strategy with any pair is simple — hold the pair.
The following table shows the expected return for both viable ways to play when dealt a pair and a singleton, when the singleton is not suited to either of the cards in the pair. Either you keep the pair or the singleton and either card in the pair. As you can see, the table shows holding the pair is always has the greater expected value, by far.
