Courchevel will be very popular for anyone for loves Omaha poker. This game is almost identical to 5-card Omaha in every way, with one twist that we will talk about later.
If you have already guessed that Courchevel is a French word, great work. It’s also the name of an alpine ski resort in France, meaning that you could play Courchevel in Courchevel. There’s no concrete date that the card game was invented, but its estimated to be fairly new, originating around the 1990s.
It may have been created by a group of tourists at the France-Italy border, but it’s hard to know with certainty.
It’s crossed almost every international border since then, even being offered online by PokerStars and played in tournaments around the world.
The Rules of Courchevel Poker
Courchevel will be good for beginners to learn if you know the rules to 5-card Omaha. It’s usually a pot-limit game, meaning that the maximum bet size is always the size of the pot. Here’s our simplified guide on how to Play Courchevel Poker:
Your Objective: Create the best 5-card combination by using two of your cards with three community cards.
Start a game of Courchevel by getting some players together (2-9) and choosing a dealer.
Place the small blind and big blind to the dealer’s left and you’re ready to start distributing cards. Give cards out one at a time, starting with the player in the small blind position.
- When every player has 5 cards, deal one “burn card” and then place one community card face up on the table. This is called the “door card”. The preflop betting round can begin once each player can see this face-up community card.
- When preflop action is complete and players have either matched the bet or folded their cards, expose the next two cards. This gives you a total of three cards face-up on the table, just like a standard flop in poker. From this point on, the game plays like any other kind of poker.
- When all flop action is finished and players have either all checked, matched any bets, or folded their hand, burn one card before flipping over the turn card.
- When the turn betting round is complete, burn a third and final time, then flip up the river card. This gives you a total of 5 community cards.
- This is called “the river” and it’s the last opportunity to make bets.
- When the river is complete, it’s time for the showdown. Players compare their hands to see who has the strongest 5-card combination. Remember, you must use two cards from your hand and three from the community cards.
The hand rankings are the same in Courchevel as in other classic high-hand poker formats. The best possible hand is a royal flush (if you’re lucky enough to see it).
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Where Can You Play Courchevel Poker Online?
Courchevel is tough to play online. There may be players out there, but not enough to support cash games or tournaments on major poker sites. PokerStars has a Courchevel section on their real money cash game tab, but the tables are empty at the moment.
The best way to play Courchevel is at your home games, and now you’ll be able to teach everybody the rules. You’ll just need a deck of cards, poker chips, and some friends.
Just about every other format you can imagine is available online, and PokerStars will let you set up private games using their software. You can organize your own Home Games in 20 different styles of poker, including the classics like Texas hold ‘em, Omaha, 5-card draw, stud, and hi/lo formats. Almost all of the games can be played with Play Money or real cash, it’s up to you and your friends.
Courchevel Strategies You Can Use
The door card, or “spit card,” is a vital part of Courchevel and it affects the entire hand. This card will influence your opponents and gives you an added chunk of information that other poker formats don’t have.
How does the door card affect my hand? Is that card part of a hand combination I am drawing to?
The door card can increase your equity or decrease it. For example, if you have two spades in your hand and the door card is a spade, you know it’s more likely that you will complete your flush draw. Of course, it’s not a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination, but it can improve your odds.
Rarely, the door card will match a pair in your hand and give you three-of-a-kind.
Remember that poker games like Omaha and 5-card Omaha give players more draws. Because there are more drawing hands, it makes premium hands even more important. With so many draws, you want to have a strong one at showdown.
Since Courchevel is so difficult to play online, why not try some more popular poker formats? Anyone who enjoys Courchevel is sure to enjoy pot-limit Omaha on America’s Cardroom. Almost 1 in every 6 players is at the PLO tables, with limits starting at $0.01/$0.02 and peaking at a massive $200/$400.
There are PLO tournaments at ACR, but Texas hold ‘em is still in the spotlight. Get the full list in our America’s Cardroom review, including details about their 100% matched deposit bonus and the ACR software.
