So Crazy Pineapple, a poker variant to put the fear of God into any player? Last year at the World’s at Manchester I gave this a go as I had nothing else to do and lasted about four levels before going out. I thought I would give it another go as….well you guessed it….I wasn’t in the main event on the final table and there are only so many palaces, museums and churches you can visit on a given day!
I took the initiative of googling Crazy Pineapple and found some suggested strategies, as well as how to play. Three cards pre-flop and pot limit betting, post-flop there is a round of NL betting and then one card is discarded and it’s NL Holdem from there on.
A starting stack of 10,000 chips allowed for plenty of play. 60 entries with 6 getting paid. I had a good start picking up a straight with the first hand and increasing my stack by 4000. The strategy I read suggested playing tight and not limping into too many pots. I followed this advice and found myself leaking chips. Seeing flops were expensive as the other players on the table seemed to believe it was compulsory to say pot instead of raise or call pre-flop.
I was out drawn in level 4 and found myself down to 6000 chips then I got moved to a different table. Immediately the cards started falling for me and my stack increased to around 30,000. Players were dropping out regularly and we had to point out to the TD that 18 players should really be two tables of 9 not three tables of 7 6 and 5.
Incredibly I found myself on the final table with 85K playing only my second ever game of Crazy Pineapple. This is usually where I am at my best, beating the bubble. It didn’t take long for three to drop out and find myself in the money. Unfortunately I took a big hit to the small stack with JJ v A2 on a Q 4 2 flop, yes the turn was an A after all the chips were in. He had called my pre-flop pot bet with AK2 and had discarded the K after the flop. I was down to 19K and reraised all in against Jon Rees with J 9, he calls and shows 10 9 and I double up.
A call on the button and the SB also calling gave me an opportunity to put in a big bet from the BB and they both fold. I show 9 4 spades and tell them I had a flush draw.(my other cards was the Ace of spades)
Next hand I get dealt trip 10s, it looked pretty but was never going to beat many hands and I fold it to two all ins and there are only four of us left.
A raise and I look down at KKJ and I shove all in and get a call. Flop is 2 7 5, and my opponent has AK off and no A on turn or river has me doubling up to about where I started 88K
A few hands later I get it all in with A 10 on a A K 10 board against 99 and I`m up to over 200K
I finally get AA and find somebody putting their chips in on a J high board. He has J 10 and I had discarded a J.
That left two of us to go heads up and after a few hands I get it all in with Q 7 on a Q 7 3 board. He has 10 10 and the same guy who hit the A on the turn against my JJ gets a 10 on the turn and he has me covered so I finish second for 650 euros and a silver medal.
Will definitely be playing this next year
