Online Poker » Dealers Choice Games » Pineapple Stud

Pineapple Stud is a poker variant that is especially similar to Seven Card Stud, which is one of the most popular variants itself. This means that many players who are already familiar with Seven Card Stud should be able to pick up Pineapple Stud fairly easily because it shares the same betting structure and hand rankings.

Pineapple Stud Rules

A game of Pineapple Stud begins with dealer distributing four cards to each player. Players then decide on one card to flip as their first up card, two cards to remain face down as their hole card, and one card to discard.

Once each player has selected an up card, two hole cards and a card to be discarded, the first round of betting is held. Once all players have either folded or called the highest bet, an additional card, often called Fourth Street, is dealt face up to all players who called the bet, which is immediately followed by a second round of betting. Again, all players still participating must either fold or call the current bet. Another card, called Fifth Street, is dealt face up to each player. This is followed by a third round of betting following the same procedure as the previous two. Players each receive another face up card, called Sixth Street, and begin a fourth betting round. Once the betting round has been resolved, players are each dealt their final card, Seventh Street, face down.

At this point, all remaining players should have two face down cards and five face up cards. A final betting round is held. If two or more players have not folded by the end of this betting round, each player flips over his or her face down cards. Whichever player can make the best poker hand out of their seven cards wins the pot.

The primary difference between Pineapple Stud and standard Seven Card Stud is that each player is initially dealt four instead of three cards, although once they have discarded one of these cards the game continues just as if it were Seven Card Stud. However, this extra card effectively limits the game to six participants, as each player could potentially be dealt eight cards total, which would not leave enough for a seventh player. More experienced players tend to fold more often, making it possible to for more players to participate.

Pineapple Stud Betting Structure

Pineapple Stud is played in fixed limit, spread limit and pot limit variations. Fixed limit is the most popular, and may look something like $5/$10. In a fixed limit game, the first two betting rounds use the lower limit to determine the size of bets and raises. Likewise, the higher limit is used in the final three betting rounds. Each betting round also generally has a cap of a bet and three raises, although some players use a cap of four raises. After a cap has been set, players may only call or fold.