Poker Skool | Poker Strategy | Tournaments Guide | Types of Poker Players | Glossary | Advanced Strategy |
Pineapple Poker strategy
Pineapple poker is incredibly similar to Texas Hold ‘Em and because of this the two games also have incredibly similar strategies. Although it may seem obvious, it’s important to get a sound understanding of the rules and structure of Pineapple poker. If you’re already familiar with Texas Hold ‘Em then this should be very simple – you start with 3 hole cards instead of 2. If you have absolutely no idea, then make sure you do your research on how the game plays out and also the best poker hands you can make in the game. New players are easy to spot if they seem hesitant and unsure when they play. You won’t want to let anyone else take advantage of you as a new player, so you’re going to need to be able to show confidence and ability.
Because players receive 3 cards at the start of each hand they have more options than they would in a game of Hold ‘Em, but fewer than if they were playing Omaha. The trouble is, many hands that would look good in Hold ‘Em and Omaha work out completely differently in Pineapple. You want your three cards to be able to give you two possibilities for a good hand – for example the hand A-7-8 gives a player a top pair with an ace but also a straight with the 7 and 8.
As you can tell, it’s really important to get a thorough understanding of good starting hands with Pineapple poker. Not just because you will be able to spot a good hand, but also in case you get a bad one. Some hands will look better than they actually are in terms of being consistent winners. This is because one of the three cards will have to be discarded. For example, if you were dealt 3 aces you’d have a top pair which is a fairly good hand. However, you wouldn’t be able to then build a set since one of those aces has to be discarded. Similarly, triple 4s would make a pretty bad hand since once you have discarded one of them you are just left with a pair of 4s and this is very unlikely to win.
Another difference between Hold ‘Em strategy and Pineapple strategy is that sometimes, it’s better to discard an ace. Typically an ace is a good card, you could grab a top pair with it or if you were especially lucky you could even get a whole set of aces.
Occasionally though, getting rid of the ace may be to your benefit. For example, if you had two queens and an ace and the flop revealed no further aces then you could discard your ace in order to get a better chance of hitting three queens. On top of that, if one of your opponents was looking for an ace in order to make their hand then they may be discouraged to see one of them being taken out of live play.
As with Hold ‘Em, don’t expect overnight success with this game. It takes a lot of patience and discipline in order to know when to play a hand and when to fold. On top of that, it takes a lot of practice to be able to read the moves of your opponents and try to guess how they will play next. If you start playing lower limit games then the risk is smaller while you build up this experience.
