8 Card Poker/Pineapple variant
May 23rd, 2026 at 1:18:03 PM
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Pineapple is a variant of Texas hold'em poker - each player is dealt 3 cards, there is a round of betting and then each player discards (face down) one of their three cards. From that point, Pineapple is played like the standard Texas hold'em game.
However, there is a variant of Pineapple in which the player does not discard any of his 3 hole cards and may use 0,1,2, or 3 of the hole cards in combination with the 5 community cards to make the best possible 5-card hold'em card.
That variant of the game is what I am trying to understand. It essentially involves using 8 cards to make a 5 card poker hand.
Has anybody here ever calculated the probability of 5-card poker hand categories - straight flushes, boats, flushes, straights, 4oak, 3oak, 2 pair, one pair, etc, - when starting with 8 random cards?
I think using simulation would be the easiest route, a looping code would yield more rigorous results but would presumably involve a long run time. (each 8 card hand would need to be arranged 56 ways and evaluated.) I've started to try to use combination math but some of the issues are overwhelming; 8-card hands containing a 7-card flush and a 6-card straight and one pair, and that sort of stuff. Simulation is probably easiest.
Can anyone tell me the approximate probability of flushes, straights, trips, two pair, one pair, etc., when making the best 5 card poker hand from 8 cards?
However, there is a variant of Pineapple in which the player does not discard any of his 3 hole cards and may use 0,1,2, or 3 of the hole cards in combination with the 5 community cards to make the best possible 5-card hold'em card.
That variant of the game is what I am trying to understand. It essentially involves using 8 cards to make a 5 card poker hand.
Has anybody here ever calculated the probability of 5-card poker hand categories - straight flushes, boats, flushes, straights, 4oak, 3oak, 2 pair, one pair, etc, - when starting with 8 random cards?
I think using simulation would be the easiest route, a looping code would yield more rigorous results but would presumably involve a long run time. (each 8 card hand would need to be arranged 56 ways and evaluated.) I've started to try to use combination math but some of the issues are overwhelming; 8-card hands containing a 7-card flush and a 6-card straight and one pair, and that sort of stuff. Simulation is probably easiest.
Can anyone tell me the approximate probability of flushes, straights, trips, two pair, one pair, etc., when making the best 5 card poker hand from 8 cards?
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
May 23rd, 2026 at 2:23:09 PM
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Personally I don't know but perhaps one approach is to look at the distribution of ranks within the 8-cards. Thus starting with 44 431 422 4211 41111 moving onto 332 3311 3221 32111 (where 41111 and 32111 only care about flushes if they could make a SF). As you get to other distributions, you might be able to do them by brute force.
