Both Pineapple & Crazy Pineapple poker are close cousins of Texas Hold’em but they're still not quite the same games.

 

Despite how much fun it is to play, somehow Pineapple poker -- and its brethren Crazy and Lazy Pineapple -- have always been more of a private poker game than a casino poker game.

 

Sure, it’s been introduced in small events on the European Poker Tour. But then it was removed again. And it’s never been played at the World Series of Poker.

 

If you want to play Pineapple Poker online, you can only play it for play money right now. But if your friends know anything about poker, you’ll find it at almost every home game around. 

 

If you want to have a go and introduce Pineapple poker to your home game, here's how to play it.

 

How to Play Pineapple Poker

The game play of Pineapple follows the Texas Hold’em rules (check out our Texas Hold’em Rules page for more) but the set-up is slightly different.

 

First, pre-flop:

 

Every player gets three cards instead of two.

Second, everybody evaluates their hands and discards one of them before the first betting round begins (as usual this begins with the player under the gun).

 

NOTE: You don’t have to show the card you’re getting rid of!