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Hold'em and Pineapple family

Pineapple poker rules

3 Cards / Discard Before Flop

Hole cards
3
Board
1 community board
Betting
No-Limit
Players
2-7 players
Pot
High hand
Family
Hold'em and Pineapple family

What is Pineapple?

Pineapple is Hold'em with a third hole card. After preflop betting, each active player privately chooses one card to discard and continues with two.

The flop, turn, river and showdown are then standard Hold'em: best five cards from any combination of your two hole cards and the board.

No-Limit, 2-7 players; the gentlest introduction to three-card games.

Starting cards

3 private cards.

How to play

  1. Deal 3 cards, then preflop betting.
  2. Each active player privately chooses ONE card to discard. Resolve discards; each player now holds 2 cards.
  3. Deal the flop, then flop betting.
  4. Deal the turn, then turn betting.
  5. Deal the river, then river betting and showdown.

Special rules

Discarded cards are permanently dead. Opponent discards remain private. No-Limit betting.

Showdown

Make the best five-card hand using 0, 1, or 2 hole cards and the community board.

Hand rankings in Pineapple

High Hand

  1. Royal Flush
  2. Straight Flush
  3. Four of a Kind
  4. Full House
  5. Flush
  6. Straight
  7. Three of a Kind
  8. Two Pair
  9. One Pair
  10. High Card

Royal Flush is the highest possible Ace-high Straight Flush.

Common mistakes

  • Holding three cards into the flop: in Pineapple the discard resolves before the flop is dealt.
  • Treating a discarded card as live: discards are permanently dead and stay private.
  • Confusing it with Crazy Pineapple, where the discard comes after flop betting.
  • Crazy Pineapple

    Crazy Pineapple keeps all three cards through flop betting and discards afterwards; Pineapple discards before the flop.

See how Pineapple lines up against every other game in the poker variants comparison table.

Pineapple FAQ

How many cards are dealt in Pineapple?

Three private cards. After preflop betting each player discards one and plays the rest of the hand with two.

Is Pineapple No-Limit or Pot-Limit?

No-Limit on SophiesPick, for 2 to 7 players.

Do opponents see my discard?

No. Discarded cards are permanently dead and remain private.